IntermediateSITUATIONAL
A key community partner withdraws support mid-project threatening a grant deliverable. How would you respond to protect the program and maintain community trust?
Public Health Specialist
General

Sample Answer

When a local clinic pulled out of our mobile vaccination pilot six months in, I paused to map immediate risks to the grant’s 9-month timeline and $150,000 budget. I called the clinic lead within 24 hours to understand concerns, then convened a 5-person response team (funding officer, legal, community liaison, program coordinator). We redistributed clinic tasks across three smaller partners, negotiated a one-month deadline extension with the funder by sharing a revised timeline and mitigation plan, and secured a temporary contract with a community health worker network that added 300 patient contacts. We kept affected residents informed via weekly updates and a town-hall that 120 people attended. We delivered the core deliverable on time and kept community trust intact.

Keywords

Immediate stakeholder communication within 24 hoursRapid reallocation of tasks and partners to cover gapsTransparent updates to funder and community with metrics (300 contacts, 120 town-hall attendees)