Eligibility for grants under the QII Partnership is limited to projects that are financed by the World Bank Group and that have an approved Project Concept Note. This provision applies to both Standard Grants and to Just-in-Time Grants. Projects that are (i) under preparation; (ii) in early stages of implementation; or (iii) under consideration for additional financing are eligible for support from the QII Partnership. Specifically,
· A grant proposal is eligible if it is linked to a WB project in preparation stage with an approved Concept Note and a P-Code generated specifically for it, or if it is linked to a WB project in implementation stage but requiring enhanced consideration to quality infrastructure elements
· A grant proposal is not eligible if its linked to the preparation of a future project for which there is no approved Concept Note. Therefore, a QII child TF cannot be linked to an existing P-code created for another activity.
Task teams from the following operational units are eligible to submit proposals for grants:
· Energy Global Practice
· Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice
· Transport and Digital Development Global Practice
· Water Global Practice
Project Grants will be provided under two funding windows:
· Window 1: Standard Grants for up to $700,000 (for a duration of up to 24 months)
· Window 2: Just-in-Time Grants for up to $70,000 (for a duration of up to 10 months)
Project teams seeking support from the QII Partnership should demonstrate how the grants will promote enhanced attention to the following elements:
· Economic Efficiency: achieving value for money over the full project lifecycle; supporting adoption of value-for-money and/or full life-cycle cost considerations in procurement; mixed and flexible use of infrastructure; leveraging of parallel finance for World Bank-financed projects; and project level public-private partnership structuring.
· Safety: enhancing physical and operational safety and durability through improved construction standards; use of management information systems and smart design.
· Environmental and Social Sustainability: minimizing harmful environmental impacts; improving welfare for all groups in society, with particular attention to needs of traditionally excluded groups, including gender considerations; increasing accessibility (particularly for elderly and disabled citizens); encouraging citizen engagement in planning.
· Local Economic and Social Contribution: support of enhanced competitiveness of local firms, particularly small and medium enterprises, through technology transfer and human capital development; facilitation of job creation and productivity growth; support for preservation of cultural heritage; support for citizen security and reduction of crime and violence.
· Resilience to Natural Disasters: achieving resilience against natural disasters through better understanding of disaster risk to avoid the creation of new risk and reduce existing risk in infrastructure planning, design, construction, use, and operation; adequate systems for disaster preparedness and response.
Each activity funded under QII grants must have clearly-defined its Outcomes and Outputs as defined below:
· Output: Products generated by the proposed activities, such as reports, engineering standards, manuals, TORs, publications, workshops, etc. The key distinction between an output (a specific good or service) and an outcome is that the outcome reflects changes due to the utilization of the outputs
· Outcome: The likely or achieved short-term and medium-term effects of the grant's outputs in beneficiaries' behavior, knowledge, skills, status or way of functioning.
– Note that QII activities are expected to produce an impact on the preparation and/or implementation of the WB projects to which grants are linked.
