Switch course ▾
Session 5. Reporting, Integrity and Your Resourcing Plan
Objective. Write an honest progress report, apply basic financial and anti-corruption safeguards, respond to red flags with a clear protocol, and present a one-page twelve-month resourcing plan to a school board.
Winning a grant is the beginning of a relationship, not the end of a task. Funders remember how you report, how you handle money and whether you tell them bad news early. Integrity is also protection: a school with open records and clear rules can answer any question calmly. This session shows how to write a short honest report, set simple safeguards, respond to red flags, and plan a year of resourcing that does not depend on one hope.
Key ideas
Reporting is how you earn the next grant
- Most funders ask for a progress report and a final report. Report against your own objectives and indicators from session 2: what we planned, what happened, the numbers, the money spent, what we learned and what we will change.
- Keep records from day one: a folder with receipts, attendance sheets, signed lists, photos taken with consent, copies of reading checks without names. Writing a report in the last week from memory is how errors and invented numbers appear.
- Tell the truth early. If books arrive two months late or a teacher leaves, write to the funder before the deadline, say what you will do, and ask in writing for approval if you must move money between budget lines.
Money handling that protects everyone
- Keep project money and records separate from personal money. Use two signatures for payments and for acceptance of goods, and give receipts for every cash contribution received from parents.
- For purchases, compare at least three written quotes where the funder or school rules require it, and keep them. The person who chooses the supplier should not be the only person who checks the delivery.
- Show parents and staff a one-page summary of what was received and spent. Openness is the cheapest protection against rumours.
Ethics and anti-corruption basics
- Transparency International defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. In grants it can look like paying someone to be 'selected', demanding a share of the money, inflated or fake invoices, a supplier who is a relative of the decision maker, or gifts to influence a decision.
- The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is a global treaty of preventive measures and rules, including transparency in procurement. The OECD Public Integrity Handbook offers principles on integrity and conflicts of interest. You need not read the law to act well: never pay to win, never hide a conflict of interest, never falsify a record.
- Protect children and data too: get consent before using photos or stories of pupils, never publish names or marks, and share only what the funder truly needs. Follow national law and the funder's own code of conduct; where they differ, ask.
A resourcing plan: many small, honest sources, one calendar
- A school that depends on one grant is fragile. Build a one-page twelve-month plan: top three needs, the source you will approach for each, who leads, the date, and what you will do if the answer is no.
- Match effort to size. Writing a three-page proposal for a small sum may cost more time than it returns; a conversation with a local partner may be the better first step. Count staff hours as a real cost.
- Treat a refusal as information. Ask politely for feedback, thank the funder, improve, and reapply or choose another source. Present the plan to your school board in five minutes: need, ask, who, when, and the risks you will manage.
Stop - Record - Ask - Report
A report that earns trust
A good progress report is short and follows the plan. Use the same headings as your results framework: what we planned, what happened, the numbers against each indicator, money received and spent against each budget line, problems, lessons and changes. Put the numbers in a table and the meaning in two or three sentences. Where something went worse than planned, say so plainly and add what you did about it.
Keep evidence as you go, so that the report is assembled, not remembered. A folder with receipts, signed attendance lists, reading check sheets without names and photos taken with consent is enough. Before sending, ask a colleague who did not write the report to check that every number can be traced to a document.
Integrity as everyday habits
Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. In school projects it rarely looks dramatic; it often begins as a favour: a supplier chosen because he is a cousin, an attendance list 'rounded up', a gift that comes with an expectation. Simple habits prevent most of it: declare any family or business link before a decision, let two people sign for money and goods, compare written quotes where rules require, and publish a one-page summary of income and spending.
Know where to ask. National law, ministry regulations and each funder's code of conduct apply, and they may differ. If you are unsure, ask the head, the education department or the funder's named contact before acting, and keep a note of the answer. The goal is not to fear mistakes but to make honest behaviour easy and secret behaviour hard.
Examples from the classroom
The letter that went early
Scene. Books for a Fergana school arrive two months late. In week three of the delay, Aziz writes one page to the funder: what happened, the new dates, and one budget line moved from shelves to printing, with the reason. The funder replies within days and approves the change in writing. In the final report the delay is one sentence with a reference to that letter.
Insight. Early honest news makes the funder a partner in solving the problem, and a written approval protects the school.
The committee member who stepped aside
Scene. A parent committee in Tashkent chooses a supplier for 100 books. Malika, a member, realises one bidder is her brother-in-law. She tells the chair before the discussion, leaves the room for the vote and the minutes record the declaration. The committee still picks another bidder with the best written quote.
Insight. Declaring a link in advance protects both the person and the decision, and turns a risk into an ordinary, recorded step.
A refusal turned into feedback
Scene. A Samarkand school is not selected in its first application. Jasur writes a polite thank-you and asks, if the funder allows, for two comments on how to improve. The reply says the results were clear but the budget lines were not justified. The school adds justification sentences, recruits a partner and applies to a different call. The resourcing plan lists the refusal as information.
Insight. A refusal is data. Treating it as feedback keeps relationships open and improves the next application.
Common pitfalls
- Writing the report in the last week from memory, with rounded or invented numbers.
- Hiding a delay or a changed budget line until the funder discovers it.
- Agreeing to 'small' favours, such as a supplier who is a relative, without telling anyone.
- Posting pupils' photos, names or marks in public reports without consent.
Report, Red Flags and the Resourcing Plan
- Open the Activity Kit: a SAMPLE progress report draft with problems, six red-flag scenarios, the Stop-Record-Ask-Report protocol and a one-page resourcing plan template. (5 min)
- Pairs (15 min): read the draft report. List what a funder would not trust (vague results, no numbers, hidden delay). Rewrite the results paragraph in 80 words with the numbers given, one honest problem and one change.
- Trios (15 min): take two red-flag scenarios each. For each, decide: is this a conflict of interest, a bribe request, falsifying a record, or a child-data risk? Apply the protocol and write what you would do in the first 24 hours and whom you would tell.
- Whole group (10 min): compare. Where did trios differ, and which red flags look innocent at first? Agree one rule for your cluster, for example that every gift above a small value is logged and reported to the head.
- Part B, Twelve-month plan and board briefing (20 min): alone fill the one-page resourcing plan for a real need of your school. Then, in pairs, give a 3-minute briefing to the board and answer two tough questions from your partner: 'Why this need first?' and 'What if the answer is no?'
- Alone (5 min): write your final leadership task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which sentence in the draft report would worry a funder most, and what would you write instead?
- Which red flag looked innocent at first, and what in the protocol helped you see it?
- What did the board's tough question show you about your plan?
Reflect
- What would you do tomorrow if someone offered to 'help' your school win a grant for a share of it?
- Who at your school would you trust to challenge your spending, and have you ever asked them?
- What is the first small source of resources you will approach, and in which month?
Try it tomorrow
- Draft a one-page income and spending summary for a school collection and show it to two parents.
- Write your own rule for gifts, for example what is logged and who is told, and share it with your head.
- Choose one funder or partner you will thank this month and send a short, specific message.
Further reading and links
Report honestly and early, never pay or hide to win, and build a plan with many small honest sources rather than one big hope.