Grant-writing expert fills a need via UWRF

Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post, Ubud, Bali

The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) 2005 commenced on Oct. 6 with a "soft opening" of workshops against a cool, overcast sky, fresh from the morning's showers.

At the Toko-Toko Gallery, Restaurant and Bungalows on Jl. Raya Campuhan Sanggingan, a group of about a dozen students listened intently as their instructor, Barbara Thorpe, led them on a step- by-step lesson on the ins and outs of grant writing.

A professor at the newly established California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI), Thorpe has a Doctorate of Education and a Masters in Public Health, and is also a registered nurse who has written several books on alternative healing. Furthermore, she is Associate Vice President of the university's Research and Sponsored Programs office, which provides services to help academics procure research and other funding.

"I got involved in grant writing by accident," said Thorpe, who has written over US$5 million worth of grant proposals to date, including one that was key to establishing the CSUCI in 2002.

Her "accidental" entry into the field occurred following the much-reported Los Angeles riots of 1992, which compelled her to try and uncover a particular social need of the affected community that might have contributed to triggering the riot. With her experience in public health and nursing, she went out into the field to research the community's healthcare and social welfare needs with a Spanish-English bilingual team.

Initially funded by a local community nursing program run by nuns, Thorpe and her team conducted 30-minute interviews of the mixed-immigrant community over several weeks, and covered 750 families while focusing on existing healthcare and social welfare conditions.

"What we found was that the only institution these immigrant families trusted was schools," said Thorpe, "so we identified a need for a public healthcare program based in schools."

She drew up a proposal toward this end, and procured state funding to establish a pilot program that was replicated in other target neighborhoods.

Armed with a 65-page PowerPoint presentation, Thorpe's workshop provided a veritable A to Z of grant writing and the grant proposal evaluation process, supplemented with anecdotes and real-life examples addressing students' particular fields, as well as insider tips.

Each student received a complete guide to grant writing, including a planning grid to help them outline the objectives and methods of proposed programs, a matrix on the different types of grants available and their particular decision-making criteria, a proposal style guide, a list of print and online grant resources, and finally, terminology and vocabulary lists to aid students in communicating their projects to grant providers.

"You're going to learn you have to use (grant providers') language," underlined Thorpe.

The packet also included sample proposals as well as a copy of a successful one developed by Thorpe to establish a seniors lifelong educational program at CSUCI.

The workshop thus not only taught students how to write a grant proposal, but also to write a successful one, beginning with identifying grant providers -- from federal and state to special-purpose and community, and from corporate to non-profit grants - into whose broader mission their projects might best fit.

"Although I have received funding before, I had never thought about how to structure my mind in applying for a grant," Sudarsono, a rehabilitation specialist with the Reef Check marine environmental organization, commented after the one-day workshop.

Following a morning covering technical aspects of grant writing, Thorpe presented organizational and strategy skills, then broke up the students into smaller groups to work on a practical exercise in project planning.

The groups were then asked to elect a "representative" to present their project outline, as other students were encouraged to provide feedback and additional input on the plan.

While the students had varying levels of experience about the subject, the atmosphere of the proactive, participatory workshop was one of comfortable exchange, with students openly sharing and building upon their knowledge.

One of the most pertinent points Thorpe emphasized repeatedly in proposing a project was that "We don't whine when stating our need. We don't look at the lack or the gap -- the statistics will speak for themselves".

Kadek Krishna Adidharma, an environmental engineer and translator who was attending in a personal capacity, said the workshop "laid down the bare bones of the technical side" to grant writing. "It was also good for brainstorming projects -- I got a lot of ideas during the workshop," he added.

Kadek hopes to procure funding to translate literature from Bahasa Indonesia and Balinese into English and vice-versa.

"While the workshop emphasized non-profit grants, (the information provided) is still useful for arts grants," he said, "and gave an introduction to all kinds of funds available out there."

Another student, Marianne Spain, an occupational and environmental health consultant based in Georgia, the United States, and who signed up for the workshop while holidaying in Bali, also found the session to be extremely informative and comprehensive in her line of work.

Natalie Giusti, a research assistant with the World Wide Fund's Asia Pacific Forest Program in Bali, who also attended in a personal capacity, said the workshop was "very useful, especially the sample materials and tips, the list of grant resources and (proposal) checklists... and the mix of people with different experiences".

But the nine-to-five session "was a little long for a day -- there wasn't enough time to cover all the material in detail," she added.

Sudarsono concurred, suggesting that the workshop be expanded to two days. "The group simulation was particularly effective toward setting up a similar structure for a real project," he said.

Thorpe herself mentioned that "for a session like this, I would usually get students on the Net to check out online resources themselves". Once she returns to California, she plans to use the workshop developed for UWRF - the first workshop she has conducted involving external participants -- as a model for a grant-writing session targeting faculty.

"It's wonderful and I'm thrilled. And I have to say I lucked out, (as) all have such fascinating projects," she said.

She was clearly impressed by the scope of potential development projects represented by the group, such as the East Bali Project, a self-sustaining educational development and localized job-creation initiative under the non-profit Indonesia Australia Language Foundation; an emergency maternity care and medical transportation project for isolated areas planned by the non-profit maternity care and midwife Balinese foundation, Bumi Sehat; and a revitalization project targeting western Sumatra -- including the disaster-hit areas of Nias and Aceh -- through the promotion of eco-marine tourism under Reef Check.

"Initially, I had proposed an alternative healing workshop (to organizers)," said Thorpe.

But as Kadek summed up for the group,"There is a lot of need for this kind of (grant-writing) workshop in Bali."