Which countries are eligible?
DFID Global School Partnerships supports partnerships between UK schools and schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Find out which countries are eligible for the grants programme.

If your partnership is not eligible for DFID Global School Partnerships funding, please see if you can apply for other funding.

Where can we get an application form?
Application forms and guidance notes for Reciprocal Visit grants and Global Curriculum Project grants are available to download from this website.

What supporting documents do we need?
For Reciprocal Visit grants and Global Curriculum Project grants all schools in a partnership need to contribute to the application form and part of the assessment process takes into account the extent to which partner schools have worked together on the application.

It can take some time to get all the information you need from all schools in a partnership so please make sure you start filling out the application form in plenty of time.

For Reciprocal Visit grants the head teachers of all UK schools will need to sign the application from. Head teachers at the Southern schools will need to provide a letter, fax or e-mail which shows their support for the application.

For Global Curriculum Project grants the head teachers from all UK and Southern schools will need to sign the application form.

You can also submit relevant parts of your partnership agreement, your School Improvement Plan and any other supporting documents if the are relevant to your application.

Please ensure that all partner schools read the guidance notes carefully.

What types of school are eligible?
Pre-schools, primary schools, middle schools, secondary schools, special schools and sixth form colleges are all eligible. Further education and tertiary institutions are not eligible to apply.

International schools in Southern countries are not eligible for funding. These are schools that offer a curriculum of one country but that are located in another country, and where the majority of staff and pupils are expatriates.

Some schools have ‘international’ in their name, but do teach the local curriculum. If you’re not sure if your partnership is eligible please contact us to check.

We have a number of partner schools in different countries; can we apply for more than one grant?
No. The grants are awarded to a partnership and none of the schools within that partnership can apply for another grant with a different partner school. If you have more than one partner school you will need to decide which partner school it is most appropriate to apply with.

Each school can only be awarded one Reciprocal Visit grant and one Global Curriculum Project grant. This means that if you are awarded a Reciprocal Visit grant you cannot apply again with a different partner school, even if it is at a different time. Similarly, if you successfully apply for a Global Curriculum Project grant, you can not apply again with a different partner school.

Is there funding for students?
In the second and third year of the Global Curriculum Project grant there may be some fundingavailable for a minimum of two secondary-aged students from each school to travel.

How are the applications assessed?
All applications are assessed against the assessment criteria.

Reciprocal Visit applications are assessed by the DFID Global School Partnerships team in the UK. Global Curriculum Project grants are assessed by an independent panel consisting of members from DFID, development education experts and other education professionals.

Please see our guidance notes and assessment criteria for further information.

Can we get funding for visits that have already taken place?
No. You can only apply for funding for visits that will take place during the funding period. The grant must be used to fund at least one visit in each direction.

We visited our partner school last year; can we use the whole grant to fund their visit to us?
No, the grant must be split between partner schools to enable equal activity in both countries and equal numbers of teachers from each school must visit their partner school within the funding period.

We’re applying for a Global Curriculum Project grant; can we spend all the money on travel?
No. For Global Curriculum Project grants each school in the partnership must allocate some of the grant money to teacher travel and some to curriculum development costs. Again, this is to encourage equality of activity in both countries.

Can applications be submitted by e-mail?
Yes, but we will need a hard copy of all application forms with original signatures.

If you are waiting for signatures to be returned to you from your partner school you can submit your application to us by e-mail, but we will not be able to consider your application until we receive the original signatures as well.

If you have any other questions, please contact us.