Theoretical basics of grant financing: concepts, components and typology

Abstract

The article investigates the theoretical foundations of grant financing, reveals approaches to the definition of a grant, which allowed to clarify the elemental structure and essence of the definition of grant financing as a form of financial support provided to organizations or individuals for the implementation of certain projects, research, programs or initiatives. The features, functions and components of grant funding are unified. Different approaches to the typology of grant funding are substantiated, in particular, by such classification criteria as: sources of funding, areas of activity, mechanism of provision, duration, amount of funding, type of project, terms of use, etc. The study conducted a SWOT analysis of grant funding, outlining its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. At the same time, the role of key partners and international financial organizations with which Ukraine cooperates in grant financing is identified, including the following: European Union, United Nations Special Fund (UNDP), World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), United Nations Development Fund (UNDEF), International Renaissance Foundation (EBRD), etc. These organizations and their programs are important sources of financial support and technical assistance for the implementation of various projects in different sectors of the economy and communities of Ukraine, which is especially important in the context of decentralization. The author outlines the problematic aspects of grant funding under martial law in Ukraine, among which are bureaucratic obstacles, lack of transparency and efficiency in the distribution of grants, funding instability, lack of a long-term strategy, insufficient attention to monitoring and evaluation, but the author sees great potential for the development of grant funding in Ukraine, which made it possible to provide a number of recommendations to mitigate them, in particular, needs to increase transparency and accounting of grant funding, simplify grant procedures, develop long-term strategies, engage the private sector, develop funding mechanisms, etc.