Note: Final decisions have been communicated to applicants by email. 

In April Education Out Loud launched our first call for concept notes on Operational Component 2 supporting civil society roles in promoting the transparency and accountability of national education sector policy and implementation. By the deadline in June we had received a total of 461 proposals from 53 countries. It is indeed very encouraging that so many organisations have learned about EOL and have invested time and efforts in drawing up concept notes representing a great variety of experience and ideas regarding social accountability efforts.

The assessment and decision-making process regarding the applications is designed to include the following stages

• Before the end of June a basic assessment of applicant eligibility was conducted: did applicants submit the required documentation; were they based in GPE countries; had the proposals been submitted by civil society organisations etc. (cf the Applicant Guidelines). Approximately 75% of the submitted proposals did in fact meet the established criteria
• Subsequently a substantive review of the remaining proposals was conducted assessing the proposals according to the criteria listed in the guidelines (context analysis; project strategy; relevance; organisational capacities; and learning approach)
• During the month of August members of our Regional Independent Selection Panels are doing a final review of the best proposals, including looking at country diversity, and ensuring a good blend of different thematic issues to be addressed
• In early September our Global Independent Selection Panel is meeting to take final decisions on expectedly no more than 10 proposals which will be offered a year Zero grant.
• All OC2 applicants will receive a letter from EOL via email informing them on the status of their proposal.