"Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." —Francis of Assisi
Al Madad Foundation awards grants to organisations working in the areas of Education and Art, as well as commissions independent research and reports, in order to serve our mission of addressing the needs of refugee and displaced children.
A decade of working in partnership to provide non-formal education programmes has provided us with the experience and insight to seek out solutions to problems that were faced by all of us who work in this field. Today we are always looking for answers - and that innovation which might transform a programme, making it more effective, impactful or safer, for the children involved.
AMF currently makes two grants per year, in Education (advertised in August) and Art (advertised in December). We also commission independent research into specific areas that we have identified, during the course of our work, as needing improvement or requiring further study.
As well as those detailed in our policies, we also look to promote the following specific values through the projects we fund:
Safety above all Working with children means that extra precautions must be taken regarding child safeguarding and safety in general (e.g. Health and Safety procedures).
Increasing service user feedback Effectively obtaining service user feedback is an important part of any international development project, and helps to demonstrate due respect to the communities in which they operate and to achieve their goals more quickly. We recognise that this can often be difficult to obtain, especially in situations where service users have limited access to internet-enabled devices, and are therefore particularly keen to see creative methods of collection ‘built in’ to projects.
Benefitting the sector We appreciate that a great deal of work goes into preparing grant applications for submission, and endeavour to make the process as easy as possible. Additionally, as a significant amount of time is given to considering each short-listed application, we are pleased to provide feedback to all applicants, regardless of whether or not a grant is awarded.
Tailoring creative solutions With the help of our consultants, experts and partners, we work to gain a better understanding of specific local challenges and develop innovative strategies for overcoming them.
Promoting capacity building We seek to include capacity building wherever possible, and to ensure that as many of our projects as possible have an impact beyond their end date.
Enhancing learning through monitoring and evaluation When designing our programmes, we take into consideration the complexities on the ground, the volatile situation of the regions we target, and the overall risk involved in our work. This is complemented by adapted monitoring and evaluation tools that enhance our learning and strategic planning.