FAO-EU FLEGT Programme is now Open for Uganda

Deadline: 13 October 2019

Applicants from government institutions, civil society, communities, indigenous groups and private sector organizations in Uganda are invited to submit proposals to the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme.

In 2003, the European Union adopted the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan , whose ultimate goal is to encourage sustainable management of forests. The FLEGT Action Plan focuses on governance reforms and capacity building to ensure that timber exported to the European Union (EU) comes only from legal sources.

The FAO-EU FLEGT Programme is a five-year demand-driven programme launched in 2015 that supports stakeholders to put elements of the FLEGT Action Plan into practice. Uganda is one of the eligible country entitled to benefit from Programme support. The Programme intervention in the country is governed by a nationally-developed theory of change.

The priority areas for this Call for Proposals are taken from the nationally-developed theory of change (pre-requisites) and were approved in June 2019 by the Uganda Technical Committee, composed of members from the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment (Forestry Sector Support Department and National Forestry Authority), European Union Delegation and FAO. This call for proposals will address those priorities.

Objectives

The objective of the programme is to support governmental institutions, civil society and private sector organizations in their efforts to the achieve the country’s objectives of reducing illegal logging, promoting good forest governance and eventually reduce deforestation and forest degradation.

Priority Areas

This Call for proposals will support activities that address the following five priority areas:

Develop and test a National Forest Management Information System (NFMIS) that supports planning and monitoring of forest operations and conditions, as well as improved forest governance and value chain development
- To contribute to long-term sustainability of forest resources, ecosystems, and the social and economic structures that rely on them, this priority area aims at designing the NFMIS and testing its soundness by generation of valuable data and information in at least one forest value chain landscape
Develop a strategy and tools for independent forest monitoring in partnerships with strategic non-State actors and pilot test monitoring in selected forest estates
- The objective is to establish and test mechanisms to enable non-state actors to independently participate in monitoring of forest operations and conditions and thus complement the mandated government authorities in executing their duties of forest monitoring. The assignment includes carrying out independent monitoring of a governance aspect or forest estate and presenting the findings to the Country Technical Committee.
Review gender roles and rights in forest decision-making and develop a gender mainstreaming manual to enhance participation in forest planning, management, and ensure equitable access to forest resources and accruing benefits
- The objective of this priority area is to review the existing documentation on gender roles in forestry and develop a gender mainstreaming manual to incentivize women and youth participation in Uganda forest management and governance. The action includes testing the applicability of the manual in one or two forests.
Develop and establish a bar coding system for tracking timber to replace the hammer
- This priority area calls for proposals to design a computerized electronic bar coding system to track legality of timber from source to market and allow reconciliations at different segments of the value chain.
Support preparation of a mechanism to enhance responsible public procurement of timber and other forest products by public agencies
- Inputs are sought into the future review of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act (PPDA) procurement guidelines so as to provide for responsible procurement of forest products by public agencies (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, Donors). The undertaking includes proposals for strengthening the existing forest and PPDA guidelines. The objective of this action is to facilitate implementation of the policies, regulations, and standards for procurement and trading of legal timber, biomass energy, and other legally produced forest products.

Funding Information and Duration

The budget proposed for any of the above undertaking should be submitted in Ugandan Shillings and should not exceed equivalence of USD $ 110,000.
Project duration should not exceed 12 months.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to benefit from the Programme, the following general conditions must be fulfilled:

The applicant must be registered in Uganda. All actions are expected to take place in Uganda and the applicant must also be actively involved in all stages of implementation.
The applicant must be a government institution, or a civil society organization, or an organization/federation of the private sector or a community group.
The proposal should be complete and follow the required format (see section 6 “Proposal Format”).
The funding requested shall not exceed the maximum limit of 110,000 USD equivalent.
The proposal addresses any one priority area, as listed in section 2.2.
The proposal should be realistic and feasible considering budget and project duration limits (maximum 12 months and 110,000 USD equivalent).
Only non-for-profit stakeholders registered in Uganda are eligible to submit proposals under this call for proposals.

The following types of action are not eligible:

Actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses;
Actions concerned only or mainly with individual research, scholarships for studies or training courses;
Action intended to raise funds or promote the visibility of the applicant or its partner(s);
Action intended to provide immediate personal and institutional financial gain;
Actions which consist exclusively or primarily in capital expenditure, such as infrastructure, large equipment or vehicles and other resources;
Actions which discriminate against individuals or groups of people on grounds of their gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or lack of them, or their ethnic origin;
Actions that do not include women in the decision making process;
Actions directly supporting political parties;
Actions which include proselytising activities;
Actions that use the funds to pay all/part of existing staff salaries for Government services;
Actions for retrospective funding for activities that have taken place prior to the submission of the proposal.