As an organisation, we work internationally and plan to include international activity within the Multi-Year Fund period, however we were marked down for our answer to this criterion at Stage 1. Can we opt out at Stage 2?

If an applicant is not working internationally, then they have the option at Stage 2 to not respond to this section. Those that did select that they were working internationally were duly assessed and assuming that the assessor has confirmed that the applicant is working internationally, then we would duly expect these applicants to respond to this section in Stage 2.

However, if an organisation is working internationally and this is a key part of their programme, they cannot opt out of unfortunately.

If the Stage 1 assessment flagged weaknesses/areas for development, then the applicant now has the opportunity at Stage 2 to address these, both in the submission and business plan.