The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) calling for concepts from civil-society organisations (CSOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) to apply for grant funding opportunities.
The agency will fund qualifying applicants with a maximum grant amount, per project, of US$ 30,000. However, in exceptional cases US$50,000 may be considered, UNDP said in its announcement made on 2 October.
The main goal of this Community Based Adaptation (CBA) funding is to further enhance the capacities of local communities across priority landscapes, and seascapes, by building their social and ecological resilience to climate change, the UN agency said.
According to the UN agency, the goal of the CBA programme will be supported by programme-level outcomes aimed at: socio-economic and climate resilience enhancement in select landscapes, and seascapes, through implementation of locally-driven CBA solutions; local communities and CSOs empowerment for effective CBA and LLA implementation, knowledge sharing, and policy representation at national levels and replication of CBA solutions and innovations, scaled up and mainstreamed at the local and national levels; and CBA and LLA approaches integrating principles of ‘leaving no one behind’ with an emphasis of inclusion of women and girls, Indigenous Peoples, youth and persons with disabilities.
The CBA ‘thematic areas’ include water security and resource management; oceans and coastal zone management; agriculture, fisheries and food security; land degradation; and disaster risk reduction (DRR).
CSOs, with priority for national and local NGOs, as well as CBOs and scientific communities, advocating for the rights of persons with disability, women, and children are eligible to apply for the funding for a maximum duration of 24 months.
According to the UNDP, the selection of grantees will follow a two-stage process. Applicants whose concept notes are shortlisted will be first invited to submit full proposals. The full proposals will then be evaluated to select successful grantees.
Additional details, including templates and contact information for the country office are available on UNDP Maldives’ website at; https://www.undp.org/maldives/news/call-proposals-ngos/cbos-gef-small-grants-programme-sgp
The deadline to apply is 31 October 2023, Tuesday, at 00:00 hrs.