Program for Emerging Agricultural Research Leaders by the Gates Foundation

Deadline: 7 September 2014

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invites pre-proposals for agricultural research with the potential to increase the sustainable productivity of smallholder farmers in developing countries. The Program for Emerging Agricultural Research Leaders (PEARL) seeks the projects led by MSc and PhD scientists at national agricultural research institutions and universities in sub-Saharan Africa, working in collaboration with other researchers internationally (either within Africa or beyond the continent).

Grant proposal can be made in between $200,000 and $500,000 for a period of 4 years or less.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant organization must be led by a scientist based in sub-Saharan Africa at a national agricultural research institution or university.
• Applicants must involve a partnership with at least one international research collaborator (research partner can reside in any country other than the applicant’s home country, and may include collaborations within Africa). The role and value of the proposed international research collaborator must be clear.
• Submissions must closely align with the goals of the Gates Foundation’s Agricultural Development strategy.
• Application must clearly propose a research project with the potential to substantially increase the sustainable productivity of smallholder farmers in developing countries within the next 5-20 years and must clearly describe how the proposed work fits with related ongoing work in the country or region.
• Proposed project must have potential applicability to one or more of the following crop species- maize, wheat, rice, millet, sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, cowpeas, chickpeas, groundnuts, and banana.

Note: Applicants in need of an international collaborator are invited to apply for the Agricultural Research Connections Workshops to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, summer 2014.

For more information, please visit RFP Summary Program for Emerging Agricultural Research Leaders.

Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot

Deadline: 18 August 2014

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund along with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) invites non-government organizations, community groups, and other civil society organizations to submit Letters of Inquiry to conduct projects in Indo-Burma hotspot except Myanmar.

Spanning nearly 6,000 meters in elevation, from the summit of Hkakaborazi in Myanmar, Southeast Asia’s highest mountain, down to a coastline along the Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea, Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea, Indo-Burma hotspot supports a wide variety of habitats and thus high overall biodiversity. The hotspot comprises all the non-marine parts of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, plus parts of southern China.

The major objective of CEPF for Indo-Burma Hotspot is to engage civil society in the conservation of globally threatened biodiversity through targeted investments with maximum impact on the highest conservation priorities.

Component, Strategic Directions and Investment Priorities

Component: Protection and Stewardship of Priority Sites

Strategic Direction: Empower local communities to engage in conservation and management of priority key biodiversity areas

Investment Priorities

1. Raise awareness about biodiversity conservation legislation among target groups at priority sites
2. Pilot and amplify community forests, community fisheries and community-managed protected areas
3. Develop co-management mechanisms for formal protected areas that enable community participation in all levels of management
4. Conduct a gap analysis of key biodiversity areas in Myanmar and support expansion of the protected area network using community-based models

Component: Enhancement of Ecological Connectivity and Results

Strategic Direction: Engage key actors in mainstreaming biodiversity, communities and livelihoods into development planning in the priority corridors

Investment Priority

1. Support civil society efforts to analyze development policies, plans and programs, evaluate their impact on biodiversity, communities and livelihoods, and propose alternative development scenarios and appropriate mitigating measures where needed
2. Integrate the biodiversity and ecosystem service values of priority corridors into land-use and development planning at all levels
3. Develop protocols and demonstration projects for ecological restoration that improve the biodiversity performance of national forestry programs
4. Engage the media as a tool to increase awareness and inform public debate of environmental issues

Component: Development of a Conservation Constituency

Strategic Direction: Strengthen the capacity of civil society to work on biodiversity, communities and livelihoods at regional, national, local and grassroots levels

Investment Priority

1. Support networking activities that enable collective civil society responses to priority and emerging threats
2. Provide core support for the organizational development of domestic civil society organizations
3. Establish clearing house mechanisms to match volunteers to civil society organizations’ training needs

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Countries for the fund under this call are Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.
• Applicants can be non-government organizations, community groups, and other civil society organizations or government agencies (if they meet some above specified criteria).

For more information, please visit the link.

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund invites Letters of Inquiry in Two Different Biodiversity Hotspots

The  Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a global program administered by the Conservation International through a CEPF Secretariat. The joint initiative of Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, l’Agence Française de Développement, and the World Bank, CEPF is designed to safeguard the world’s biologically richest and most threatened regions, known as biodiversity hotspots.

The CEPF supports projects that are in an approved biodiversity hotspot. The grant applicant must be authorized under relevant national laws to receive charitable contributions. To be eligible for the grant, government-owned enterprises or institutions must establish that the enterprise or institution has a legal personality independent of any government agency or actor, the enterprise or institution has the authority to apply for and receive private funds, and the enterprise or institution may not assert a claim of sovereign immunity. Here are the two open opportunities and two restricted opportunities (for pre-qualified organizations) for different Biodiversity Hotspots-

East Melanesian Islands Biodiversity Hotspot

Deadline: 26 August 2014

Community groups, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and other civil society organizations for biodiversity conservation projects in the East Melanesian Islands Hotspot are invited to submit Letters of Inquiry (LoIs). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CPEF) jointly call eligible entities to apply for the fund.

The East Melanesian Islands Hotspot holds exceptional cultural and linguistic diversity. The hotspot is one of the most geographically complex areas on the earth. The region covers  Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the islands region of Papua New Guinea.

Preference is given to projects that are the closest fit to the investment strategy and demonstrate a leading role for local civil society organizations. Applications from local and grassroots organizations are highly regarded. Individuals are encouraged to work with civil society organizations to develop applications, rather than to apply directly.

Strategic Direction & Investment Priorities

Strategic Direction: Empower local communities to protect and manage globally significant biodiversity at priority Key Biodiversity Areas under-served by current conservation efforts

Investment Priority

1. Support local communities to design and implement locally relevant conservation actions that respond to major threats at priority sites.

Strategic Direction: Integrate biodiversity conservation into local land-use and development planning

Investment Priority : Conduct participatory ownership and tenure mapping of resources within customary lands at priority sites

Strategic Direction : Safeguard priority globally threatened species by addressing major threats and information gaps

Investment Priority : Conduct research on the following five globally threatened species for which there is a need for greatly improved information on their status and distribution: Makira Moorhen; Beck’s Petrel; Guadalcanal Rat; Emperor Rat; and King Rat

Strategic Direction : Increase local, national and regional capacity to conserve biodiversity through catalyzing civil society partnerships

Investment Priority

1. Strengthen the capacity of local and national civil society organizations in financial management, project management and organizational governance.
2. Provide core support for the development of civil society organizations into national and regional conservation leaders.
3. Strengthen civil society capacity in conservation management, science and leadership through short-term training courses at domestic academic institutions.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be from one of the following countries -  Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the islands region of Papua New Guinea.
• Applicants can be community groups, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, private companies and other civil society organizations.

For more information, please visit the link.

The UNODC Grants for HIV Prevention, Treatment & Care for people who Inject Drugs

Deadline: 20 August 2014

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UNAIDS convening agency on HIV prevention, treatment and care for people who use drugs, invites proposals from  civil society organizations working in the area of harm reduction. The primary aim of the funding opportunity is to strengthen the capacity of civil society to address HIV prevention, treatment, care and support among people who inject drugs.

The proposals must focus on one, more than one or all of the following – HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support among people who inject drugs. The projects should support the active participation of drugs user communities, have an international reach (regional or global), and are initiated, planned, managed, implemented, monitored and/or evaluated by community based organization.

Project funding ranges between US$5,000 to US$60,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicant must be a non-profit making organization or Non Governmental Organization registered under the relevant Laws of the country where it is registered.
• Applicants must demonstrate prior experience of implementing activities in the area of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support among people who use drugs.
• Applicants must have the required experience or capability to administer international funding.
• Applicants must have a bank account.
• Proposed project must aim at strategic initiatives addressing HIV prevention, treatment, care and support among people who inject drugs.
• Proposed project must have an international reach, either regional or global/worldwide.

Please download the Application Form.

For more information, please visit UNODC Call for Proposals