The UNDP Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) in Ghana has received funds to support the replication and scaling up of tried, tested and successful environmental practices or technologies that produce global environmental benefits and sustainable development in Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, in line with the OP6 Strategic Initiatives and the associated innovation programmes. Accordingly, the GEF-SGP announces the 2020 "call for proposals" to award a grants of up to US$150,000 to a Civil Society Organization (CSO) registered in Ghana for the most innovative initiatives in the three countries.

Background

The SGP South-South Community Innovation Exchange Platform will aim to promote knowledge exchange between SGP countries to encourage cross country/region replication of good practices. The rationale for this is to produce high impact and scaling up of the innovations and practices developed by 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 objectives of South-South Exchange Platform are to:

• strengthen the capacity of communities 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

Priority themes: In line with the OP6 Strategic Initiatives, the project will focus on Climate smart innovative agro-ecology.

Eligibility and Criteria

• Replicate a tried and tested practice from one country to another that share similar challenges and/or backgrounds
• Ideally in the exchange both countries share a good practice/technology with each other so they both learn from each other
• Support technology transfer that is appropriate for the context
• Promote and strengthen second tier organizations that can further scale up the practices learned.
• Proposed project should be bold, innovative, and transformative, and have potential for replication and scaling up.
• Emphasis given to enterprises that are ripe for scaling up, building on successful SGP Country Programmes and projects that could bring partnership and leverage additional resources (e.g. cofinancing with INGO, foundation, private sector) at the Program and Project levels are given priorities.

• Ensure the solution can be implemented in the recipient country properly and the selected grantee has a plan, timeline, capacity and budget to make it happen.

Priority will be given to:

1. CSO with experience in South-South Cooperation exchanges across regions;
2. support second tier organizations that can help replicate the solution to several communities/organizations in the receiving country; 
3. exchanges that consider mutual exchanges where the two countries could share and learn relevant solutions.

Time Framework:

This call for proposals is opened from the date of this advertisement until November 10, 2020. Applicants are expected to submit full technical proposals indicating how they would implement the project.

For full details on the guidelines for the proposal, application forms and project document, please send expression of interest to george.ortsin@undp.org; or lois.sarpong@undp.org. 

Kindly see below the project document and the request for proposal process:

• Project Document
• Request for Proposal Process