TOPS Small Grants Program: Cycle II RFA Released  

TOPS announces the release of the Cycle II RFA under its Program Improvement Awards (PIA) category in the TOPS Small Grants Program. Beginning June 2013, TOPS is planning to increase the number of PIA grants available and has changed the concept paper review schedule to a more open-ended procedure to provide greater access to applicants and for an increased flexibility in receiving and reviewing concept papers from implementing organizations. PIA concept papers are accepted any time and will be reviewed on a periodic basis, four times per year. The RFA contains the new submission calendar.TOPS PIA grants are issued for a one year period for a maximum of $100,000. For more information and guidance visit our TOPS Small Grants Program page.

FY14 RFA Guidance: FFP Consultation Process, June 27

If you had the chance to help FFP design a better RFA, what input could you provide? What have you learned from your experience as implementers about how development food aid programs could be structured better? Are there opportunities for new responses that could bring lasting results? USAID's Office of Food for Peace has asked TOPS to engage the FSN Network community to answer just these questions.

We're planning a consultative workshop for June 27 from 9 AM -1 PM EDT. In preparation, please let the FY13 RFA Guidance be your guide. What changes would your organization like to see? What improvements can you suggest? Please be on the lookout for more updates from Tim Ogborn who will be managing this consultation on behalf of TOPS. Register now with Julia Crowley at jcrowley@savechildren.org  indicating whether you plan to attend in-person or remotely.

Behavior Bank Now Available on FSN Network 

The Food Security and Nutrition Network Behavior Bank is now online. The bank features results from Barrier Analysis and Doer/NonDoer Studies conducted by food security and other practitioners globally. (click here for a description of Barrier Analysis and resource links.) You can browse the database by country, region, and behavior studied to look for results for a particular area/behavior, or to look for patterns of barriers and enablers for a particular behavior or set of behaviors. We welcome submissions of new studies from the community of practice. Add your own study to the Behavior Bank. Guidance on how to add your study is provided. As people add studies, we hope to map out determinants for key behaviors across countries and regions and learn from those patterns.

TOPS Micro Grants Revised and Enlarged

TOPS announces that it has revised and enlarged its Micro Grant small grant program to encourage greater flexibility in strengthening capacity for effective programming, which the Micro Grants are  intended to support. TOPS has raised the ceiling from the original $20,000 maximum award to $50,000. The intent of the Micro Grant program is still to encourage innovative capacity strengthening activities for partners and TOPS would encourage applicants to base their training budgets at around the original funding level. Additional funding would be available for assessment and documentation of promising practices, to contribute to gathering the evidence base for effective programming and future capacity building. To access the RFA document for description of the program and for instructions on applying, click here.

TOPS and FSN Network Meeting Resources

TOPS and the FSN Network hold a variety of capacity strengthening and knowledge sharing events in both the United States and overseas. They provide peer learning opportunities as community members bring their technical experience and individual perspectives to bear on issues relevant to food security and nutrition implementation. To view past events and resources from those events, click here.