GEF Small Grants Programme Call for Proposals South-South Cooperation

September 10, 2020

Funding Opportunity for South-South Cooperation

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through the GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) in Belize, invites local eligible civil society organizations involved in Community Landscape and Seascape Conservation, and stewardship of natural resources in Belize to submit project proposals.

Introduction

South-South cooperation (SSC) is a broad framework for collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, sub-regional or interregional basis. Developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals through concerted efforts.

The UN defines it as “a process whereby two or more developing countries pursue their individual and/or shared national capacity development objectives through exchanges of knowledge, skills, resources and technical know-how, and through regional and interregional collective actions, including partnerships involving Governments, regional organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector, for their individual and/or mutual benefit within and across regions. South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation”. Collaboration in which traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the provision of funding, training, and management and technological systems as well as other forms of support is referred to as triangular cooperation (TrC).

The SSC objective is to support the replication and scaling up of tried, tested and successful environmental practices or technologies that produce global environmental benefits and sustainable development across SGP countries and regions, in line with the OP6 Strategic Initiatives and the associated innovation programmes. The GEF SGP South-South Community Innovation Exchange Platform aims to promote knowledge exchange between GEF SGP countries to encourage cross country/region replication of good practices. The rationale for this is to be able to produce high impact and scaling up of the innovations and practices developed by GEF SGP grantees, as well as other CSOs at the regional level, as currently all grant making, and associated knowledge exchange happens at the national level. The organization that receives the grant should have the capacity to not only replicate but become a trainer of trainers and center of excellence in the methodology or technology.

Is your organization legally registered and in good standing (in Belize)?

a)               National or local non-governmental organization (NGO) with local Board of       Directors,

b)               Community-based organization (CBO),

c)               Women`s Group or Youth Group,

d)               Recognized indigenous umbrella or grassroots organization or

e)               Local cooperative or association?

Then you are eligible to apply.

Which activities are eligible for funding?

Project proposals must address one or more of the following:

  • Promote knowledge transfer of sustainable seaweed solutions tested and applied in Belize and in Mauritius with varying levels of experiences, lessons learnt, and best practices generated. 
  • Investments that will focus predominantly on women and youths as agents of change promoting sustainable nature-based approaches. A critical component of this project will be to facilitate knowledge exchanges between three institutions in Mauritius, namely the University of Mauritius, the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) and the Food and Agricultural and Research Extension Institute (FAREI), and in Belize, the Placencia Women Seaweed Growers Association and the Turneffe Seaweed Growers Association.
  •  A how-to manual with step by step instructions and drawings should also be produced as part of the grant to facilitate replication. This is an opportunity to work with capacitated and second-level NGOs for higher impact. For example, a cooperative or association that can replicate the solution to hundreds of its members.
  • Strengthen the capacity and foster Civil Society, Private Sector and Government dialogues in developing countries, to address sustainable development challenges;
  • Support and promote knowledge transfer of sustainable development solutions among communities.
  • Increase and improve communications among communities with the aim to create greater awareness of common problems and wider access to available knowledge, experience and networks.
  • Recognize and respond to the problems and requirements of communities and civil society in least developed countries, land-locked developing countries, small island developing States and the country’s most seriously affected by, for example, natural disasters, climate change and other crises.

South-South Cooperation Exchanges across regions, support second tier organizations that can help replicate the solution to several communities/organizations in the receiving country, and exchanges that consider mutual exchanges where the two countries could share and learn relevant solutions. Capacity development, innovation, policy influence, project sustainability, potential for replication, upscaling, mainstreaming, and gender considerations are highly desirable, and will be considered during the proposal review process by the National Steering Committee.

How can proponent organizations apply for a Grant?

Eligible Organizations should prepare a project proposal using the standard GEF SGP proposal format with detailed logical framework. The eligible organization must ensure that their proposed ideas are aligned to the GEF SGP Operational Phase 6 Country Programme Strategy.

One (1) Strategic Project of US$150,000.00 will be awarded to an eligible organization that meets the eligibility criteria and with strong replication/scaling up impact with the GEF SGP Mauritius Country Programme. The closing date for submission of Project Proposals is 16th October 2020 at 17:00 hours. Complete signed project proposals with supporting letters from relevant partner agencies should be delivered electronically to gefsgp@btl.net or to the UNDP GEF SGP Country Office (P.O. Box 53, Third Floor Lawrence Nicholas Building, South Ring Road, City of Belmopan); and addressed to:

The National Coordinator

GEF Small Grants Programme

Email: gefsgp@btl.net

Website: www.sgp.undp.org

(This opportunity is funded by the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme)