Green and Blue Entrepreneurship Grants for Youth and Women (Madagascar)

UNICEF is inviting eligible organizations to implement a 12-month project that promotes green and blue entrepreneurship, sustainable livelihoods, and income-generating opportunities for young people and women. With an indicative funding amount of USD 200,000, the project focuses on skills development, entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, community resilience, and economic empowerment through the Ecovillage programme.

UNICEF Green and Blue Entrepreneurship Project 2026

UNICEF has launched a funding opportunity for organizations capable of implementing a comprehensive project that strengthens green and blue entrepreneurship, promotes sustainable income generation, and enhances community resilience.

The initiative aims to equip young people and women with practical business and technical skills while encouraging environmentally sustainable economic activities. Through training, mentoring, business development support, and community engagement, the project seeks to create long-term livelihood opportunities that contribute to local economic development and environmental conservation.

The project forms part of UNICEF’s broader commitment to sustainable development, gender equality, youth empowerment, and climate resilience.

Program Overview

Program Name: Green and Blue Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Livelihoods Project

Funding Organization: UNICEF

Funding Type: Project Grant

Indicative Funding Amount: USD 200,000

Project Duration: 12 months

Eligible Applicants: Organizations with demonstrated capacity to implement entrepreneurship, skills development, environmental sustainability, and community-based livelihood projects

Primary Focus: Green and blue entrepreneurship, youth and women’s economic empowerment, sustainable livelihoods, community resilience, and environmental sustainability

Program Objectives

The project aims to:

• Promote green and blue entrepreneurship among young people and women.
• Strengthen sustainable livelihood opportunities.
• Build entrepreneurship and business management skills.
• Improve financial literacy and income generation.
• Support environmentally sustainable economic activities.
• Enhance community resilience through local economic development.
• Strengthen gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.
• Promote sustainable management of natural resources.
• Document good practices to support future programme expansion.

Why This Project Matters

Young people and women often face barriers to employment, access to finance, and entrepreneurial opportunities, particularly in vulnerable communities. At the same time, communities increasingly need sustainable economic solutions that protect natural resources and build resilience to environmental and climate-related challenges.

This UNICEF initiative helps bridge these gaps by providing practical skills, technical support, mentoring, and business development assistance that enable participants to establish environmentally responsible income-generating activities. The project also supports local economic development while encouraging sustainable resource management and long-term community resilience.

Funding Available

The funding opportunity provides:

• Indicative Grant Amount: USD 200,000

The selected organization will implement project activities over a 12-month period in accordance with UNICEF’s objectives and expected outcomes.

Key Project Focus Areas

The project supports activities across multiple development sectors, including:

• Early recovery
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Capacity building and institutional development
• Education and learning
• Skills development for adolescents
• Adolescent health
• Sexual and reproductive health
• Child health
• Health systems strengthening
• Infant and young child feeding
• Energy
• Natural resource management
• Environmental sustainability
• Pollution reduction
• Climate action
• Water resource management

What Is Green and Blue Entrepreneurship?

Green entrepreneurship refers to businesses and income-generating activities that protect the environment, reduce pollution, improve resource efficiency, and contribute to sustainable development.

Examples include:

• Renewable energy services
• Recycling businesses
• Sustainable agriculture
• Organic farming
• Eco-tourism
• Waste management
• Environmental conservation enterprises

Blue entrepreneurship focuses on sustainable economic activities connected to water resources and aquatic ecosystems.

Examples include:

• Sustainable fisheries
• Aquaculture
• Marine conservation businesses
• Water-based tourism
• Coastal resource management
• Water-related environmental enterprises

Both approaches encourage economic growth while protecting natural ecosystems and promoting climate resilience.

Eligible Activities

Funded organizations will implement activities such as:

Skills Development and Training

Participants will receive training in:

• Technical vocational skills
• Green entrepreneurship
• Blue entrepreneurship
• Financial literacy
• Business management
• Sustainable natural resource management
• Income generation
• Enterprise development

Experience Sharing

Activities include:

• Peer learning sessions
• Knowledge exchange workshops
• Community networking
• Sharing successful business experiences
• Identifying local market opportunities

Business Development Support

The project supports:

• Selection of viable business ideas
• Development of simple business plans
• Technical coaching
• Business mentoring
• Group organization and management
• Enterprise strengthening

Community-Based Livelihood Support

Organizations will help beneficiary groups:

• Launch small-scale green businesses
• Strengthen existing income-generating activities
• Improve business management
• Build local partnerships
• Increase long-term sustainability

Monitoring and Documentation

Project activities include:

• Monitoring implementation progress
• Collecting project data
• Documenting lessons learned
• Identifying successful practices
• Recording implementation challenges
• Preparing a capitalization report for future programme expansion

Market Linkages

Organizations may facilitate:

• Local buyer engagement
• Business networking
• Participation in fairs and exhibitions
• Connections with relevant stakeholders
• Market opportunity assessments

Who Is Eligible?

Eligible applicants are organizations that demonstrate experience and capacity to implement projects involving:

• Green entrepreneurship
• Blue entrepreneurship
• Livelihood development
• Skills training
• Entrepreneurship education
• Financial literacy
• Community mobilization
• Coaching and mentoring
• Environmental sustainability
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Project documentation
• Community-based development

Applicants should be capable of delivering project activities within the 12-month implementation period.

Expected Project Outcomes

Successful projects are expected to:

• Increase entrepreneurship among youth and women.
• Improve technical and business skills.
• Strengthen sustainable livelihoods.
• Create environmentally sustainable income-generating opportunities.
• Improve financial management skills.
• Strengthen community resilience.
• Enhance local economic development.
• Promote gender equality.
• Support sustainable natural resource management.
• Generate knowledge for scaling up future Ecovillage initiatives.

How the Project Works

Selected organizations will recruit and support groups of young people and women interested in sustainable entrepreneurship.

Participants will receive technical training, entrepreneurship education, financial literacy instruction, mentoring, and coaching to help them establish or strengthen environmentally sustainable businesses. Throughout implementation, organizations will monitor progress, facilitate market connections, document lessons learned, and prepare recommendations for expanding the Ecovillage programme.

How to Apply

Organizations interested in applying should follow these steps:

1. Confirm that your organization has the required implementation capacity.
2. Review the project objectives and expected outcomes.
3. Develop a project proposal aligned with UNICEF priorities.
4. Design activities that promote green and blue entrepreneurship.
5. Prepare a realistic implementation plan for the 12-month project period.
6. Develop a detailed project budget.
7. Describe your organization’s experience in livelihood development, entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, and community engagement.
8. Include a monitoring and evaluation framework.
9. Explain how project outcomes will be sustained after funding ends.
10. Submit the complete proposal according to UNICEF’s application requirements before the deadline.

Tips for a Strong Proposal

To improve the competitiveness of your proposal:

• Clearly explain how youth and women will benefit.
• Demonstrate experience in entrepreneurship training and community development.
• Include measurable performance indicators.
• Present a realistic implementation schedule.
• Show strong monitoring and evaluation capacity.
• Describe how environmental sustainability will be integrated throughout the project.
• Explain how businesses will remain viable after project completion.
• Include partnerships that strengthen local implementation.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these common proposal errors:

• Providing unclear project objectives.
• Failing to demonstrate organizational capacity.
• Omitting sustainability planning.
• Preparing unrealistic budgets.
• Weak monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
• Limited community participation strategies.
• Not addressing gender equality.
• Failing to explain long-term economic impact.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the purpose of this UNICEF funding opportunity?

The project supports organizations that promote green and blue entrepreneurship, sustainable livelihoods, and income-generating opportunities for young people and women while strengthening community resilience.

How much funding is available?

The indicative funding amount is USD 200,000.

Who can apply?

Eligible organizations with experience in entrepreneurship development, community-based livelihoods, environmental sustainability, coaching, mentoring, and project implementation may apply.

How long is the project period?

The implementation period is 12 months.

What types of activities are supported?

Activities include entrepreneurship training, financial literacy, business management, technical coaching, mentoring, community-based income-generating activities, market linkages, environmental sustainability initiatives, monitoring, and documentation.

What is green and blue entrepreneurship?

Green entrepreneurship involves environmentally sustainable businesses such as renewable energy, recycling, and sustainable agriculture, while blue entrepreneurship focuses on sustainable economic activities linked to water resources, aquatic ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal livelihoods.

What outcomes are expected?

The project aims to improve entrepreneurial skills, strengthen sustainable livelihoods, empower women and young people, promote environmentally responsible businesses, and generate lessons that support the future expansion of UNICEF’s Ecovillage programme.

Conclusion

The UNICEF Green and Blue Entrepreneurship Project offers USD 200,000 to organizations capable of empowering young people and women through sustainable entrepreneurship and community-based livelihood development. By combining technical training, business mentoring, financial literacy, environmental sustainability, and market engagement, the initiative seeks to build resilient communities while promoting green economic growth. Organizations with strong expertise in entrepreneurship, skills development, environmental management, and community engagement are encouraged to submit comprehensive proposals that deliver measurable social, economic, and environmental outcomes within the 12-month implementation period.