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Call for EOIs: Rapid Response Research Grants Program

Deadline: 31-Mar-2026

SUMERNET is inviting Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for 12 rapid-response research grants under SUMERNET PLUS (Phase 5), offering up to 480,000 SEK per project for initiatives in the Mekong Region. Projects must be completed within 6–12 months and can apply under Capacity Development Grants, Impact Grants, or Innovation Grants, with a strong focus on equitable climate resilience, collaboration, gender inclusion, and practical outcomes.

This funding opportunity is especially relevant for research institutes, universities, think tanks, and non-profit organizations in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam working on climate adaptation, climate mitigation, climate policy, innovation, and inclusive resilience solutions.

The Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) is inviting Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for rapid-response research grants under its fifth-phase programme, SUMERNET PLUS. The programme will provide 12 grants, each worth up to 480,000 SEK, for projects to be implemented within 6 to 12 months in the Mekong Region.

These grants are designed to support timely, practical, and collaborative climate resilience initiatives that can generate useful outcomes for research, policy, institutions, communities, and markets.

Key Grant Details at a Glance

Funding Snapshot

  • Programme: SUMERNET PLUS (Phase 5)

  • Funding Type: Rapid-response research grants

  • Number of Grants: 12

  • Maximum Grant Amount: Up to 480,000 SEK per project

  • Project Duration: 6–12 months

  • Geographic Focus: Mekong Region

  • Application Stage: Expression of Interest (EOI)

  • Eligible Countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam

Core Objective

The grants are intended to support projects that strengthen:

  • Climate resilience in the Mekong Region

  • Capacity development and long-term skills

  • Research-to-policy and research-to-practice impact

  • Climate-resilient innovation and scaling

  • Cross-sector collaboration

  • Equitable and inclusive climate action

What Is SUMERNET PLUS?

SUMERNET PLUS is the fifth phase of the Sustainable Mekong Research Network (SUMERNET) programme. It supports research, partnerships, and action that respond to climate and development challenges in the Mekong Region.

The programme promotes equitable climate resilience, which means strengthening the ability of communities, institutions, and systems to respond to climate risks while also improving social equity, inclusion, and sustainability.

In practice, SUMERNET PLUS supports work that connects:

  • Climate science and local knowledge

  • Research and policy implementation

  • Communities and institutions

  • Civil society and government stakeholders

  • Public and private sector actors

Why This Grant Matters

The Mekong Region continues to balance rapid economic development with the need for environmental resilience and social equity. Over recent decades, the region has become a growing economic hub supported by its rivers, wetlands, forests, and farmlands.

At the same time, resource-based development has contributed to:

  • Environmental degradation

  • Growing inequalities

  • Pressure on ecosystems

  • Higher climate vulnerability

This makes climate resilience an urgent regional priority.

These grants matter because they support fast, targeted, and applied projects that can help organizations:

  • Generate actionable evidence

  • Influence policy and planning

  • Pilot climate-smart solutions

  • Build long-term institutional and community capacity

  • Strengthen inclusive and scalable resilience pathways

Grant Windows Explained

SUMERNET PLUS offers three grant windows, each designed for a different type of climate resilience intervention.

1) Capacity Development Grants

Capacity Development Grants aim to strengthen capacities, skills, networks, and collaborative systems for knowledge producers, policy influencers, and young professionals working on climate resilience.

These grants are intended to go beyond short-term training and support long-term capacity outcomes.

What They Support

Possible activities include:

  • Mentorship programmes

  • Fellowship programmes

  • Communities of practice

  • Peer learning initiatives

  • Innovation labs

  • Training-of-trainers models

  • Workshop series

  • Collaborative learning platforms

Priority Groups

These grants are expected to support groups such as:

  • Early-career researchers

  • Women researchers and leaders

  • Community researchers and practitioners

  • Government officials and planners

  • Journalists and communicators

  • Civil society leaders

  • Indigenous leaders

Best Fit For

This window is best suited for projects focused on:

  • Long-term skills development

  • Leadership pipelines

  • Knowledge networks

  • Institutional learning systems

2) Impact Grants

Impact Grants support initiatives that use existing research, partnerships, and field experience to advance knowledge, policy development, implementation, and institutional practice for equitable climate resilience.

These grants are designed to help institutions and partners turn evidence into practical outcomes.

What They Support

Possible activities include:

  • Research addressing policy questions

  • Research responding to practical challenges

  • Demonstrations of solutions on the ground

  • Policy briefs

  • Technical tools

  • Stakeholder consultations

  • Planning support

  • Institutional capacity strengthening

Intended Beneficiaries

These grants are intended to benefit stakeholders at:

  • Regional level

  • National level

  • Sub-national level

This may include:

  • Government agencies

  • Civil society organizations

  • Regional cooperation bodies

  • Other climate resilience actors

Best Fit For

This window is best suited for projects focused on:

  • Research-to-policy translation

  • Evidence-informed implementation

  • Practical climate resilience tools

  • Institutional uptake and action

3) Innovation Grants

Innovation Grants support the piloting, testing, and scaling of climate-resilient solutions in collaboration with private sector actors.

These grants focus on solutions that are:

  • Inclusive

  • Environmentally responsible

  • Financially viable

  • Scalable

Private Sector Engagement

These grants encourage engagement with:

  • MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises)

  • Value chain intermediaries

  • Industry associations

  • Business networks

  • Financial actors

What They Support

Possible activities include:

  • New or adapted products and services

  • Business model innovation

  • Delivery model innovation

  • Public-private partnership approaches

  • Market access solutions

  • Value-chain solutions

What Strong Proposals Should Show

Proposals are encouraged to clearly present:

  • Scaling pathways

  • Sustainability strategies

  • Financial viability

  • Benefit-sharing mechanisms

  • Participation mechanisms for target stakeholders

Best Fit For

This window is best suited for projects focused on:

  • Climate innovation

  • Private sector collaboration

  • Climate-smart market solutions

  • Pilots with scale potential

Priority Themes and Eligible Project Topics

Across all grant windows, proposals may address a broad range of climate resilience and sustainable development themes.

Priority Areas

Projects may focus on:

  • Climate change adaptation

  • Climate change mitigation

  • Water-energy-food nexus

  • Agriculture and food systems

  • Forests and environmental degradation

  • Women, youth, and climate action

  • Climate-resilient agricultural value chains

  • Climate-resilient aquaculture value chains

  • Nature-based solutions

  • Ecosystem restoration

  • Water-efficient technologies

  • Energy-efficient technologies

  • Climate-smart technologies

  • Community-based early warning systems

  • Gender equality

  • Disability inclusion

  • Social inclusion

  • Knowledge sharing

  • Partnerships

  • Monitoring, learning, and adaptation

Semantic SEO Terms Relevant to This Opportunity

This opportunity is especially relevant to searches related to:

  • Climate resilience grants

  • Mekong climate adaptation funding

  • Rapid-response research grants

  • Climate innovation grants

  • Climate policy research funding

  • Sustainable development grants in Southeast Asia

  • Nature-based solutions funding

  • Climate-smart agriculture grants

  • Water-energy-food nexus research

  • Gender-responsive climate action

Who Is Eligible?

Eligible Applicant Types

Eligible applicants include organizations such as:

  • Research institutes

  • Universities

  • Think tanks

  • Non-profit organizations

Eligible Countries

Applicants must be from:

  • Cambodia

  • Lao PDR

  • Thailand

  • Vietnam

Key Eligibility Rules

Applicants should note the following requirements:

  1. The lead organization and consortium members must be independent entities.

  2. They cannot be public or government entities registered under Cambodian law.

  3. The project lead must be a formal member of the SUMERNET network.

  4. The project lead must demonstrate the expertise and institutional support needed to lead the proposed work.

Strongly Encouraged Applicants

Previous recipients of:

  • SUMERNET grants

  • Mekong Thought Leadership and Think Tank Network grants

are strongly encouraged to apply.

Essential Proposal Requirements

All applications must demonstrate clear relevance to Mekong climate resilience priorities and show meaningful collaboration across sectors.

Every Proposal Should Include

  • Clear relevance to Mekong climate resilience

  • Meaningful collaboration among:

    • Research institutions

    • Communities

    • Policymakers

    • Civil society

    • Private sector actors (especially for Innovation Grants)

  • Strong integration of gender and social inclusion

  • Clear participation targets and leadership roles for:

    • Women

    • Indigenous peoples

    • Local communities

  • Knowledge sharing plans

  • Open-access outputs

  • Regional dissemination

  • Monitoring, learning, and adaptation mechanisms

Inclusion Is a Core Requirement

Proposals should not treat inclusion as a minor add-on. SUMERNET expects strong integration of:

  • Gender equality

  • Disability inclusion

  • Social inclusion

  • Leadership opportunities for underrepresented groups

How to Choose the Right Grant Window

Choose the grant window that best matches your project’s main purpose.

Choose Capacity Development Grants if your project is about:

  • Building long-term skills

  • Strengthening leadership

  • Creating mentorship or fellowship pathways

  • Developing knowledge networks or learning systems

Choose Impact Grants if your project is about:

  • Turning research into policy or practice

  • Producing tools, briefs, or planning support

  • Demonstrating field-based solutions

  • Strengthening institutional uptake

Choose Innovation Grants if your project is about:

  • Piloting climate-resilient solutions

  • Working with MSMEs or business actors

  • Testing scalable products or service models

  • Building market or value-chain pathways

How to Apply

Because this is an Expression of Interest (EOI) stage, applicants should focus on showing fit, relevance, feasibility, and impact potential.

Step-by-Step Application Approach

  1. Confirm eligibility
    Verify your organization type, country, consortium structure, and SUMERNET network membership.

  2. Choose the correct grant window
    Match your project clearly to Capacity Development, Impact, or Innovation.

  3. Define the climate resilience challenge
    Focus on a specific Mekong-related problem such as climate adaptation, value chains, restoration, or climate-smart systems.

  4. Build a strong consortium
    Include partners that add technical expertise, community reach, policy relevance, or private sector value.

  5. Describe practical outputs
    Clearly explain what your project will deliver within 6–12 months.

  6. Integrate gender and social inclusion from the start
    Include clear participation targets, leadership roles, and inclusion measures.

  7. Plan knowledge sharing and open access
    Show how outputs will be shared, accessible, and useful beyond the project.

  8. Keep the scope realistic
    Make sure the workplan is achievable within the short funding period.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these common weaknesses when preparing your EOI:

  • Choosing the wrong grant window

  • Proposing a project that is too broad for 6–12 months

  • Treating gender and inclusion as generic language

  • Failing to define clear partner roles

  • Not showing practical outcomes

  • Weak plans for knowledge sharing or open access

  • Limited explanation of Mekong-specific relevance

  • Weak private sector engagement in Innovation Grants

  • Overly academic proposals without a clear implementation path

Tips to Make Your EOI Stronger

A stronger EOI usually demonstrates:

  • Clear alignment with SUMERNET PLUS goals

  • Strong regional relevance

  • Realistic scope and timeline

  • Concrete outputs and outcomes

  • Strong partnerships

  • Inclusive design

  • A clear pathway to impact, adoption, or scale

Practical Tips

  • Use direct, simple language

  • Define the problem early and clearly

  • State measurable outcomes

  • Show why your team can deliver quickly

  • Explain how the work can continue after the grant ends

  • Highlight policy uptake, community benefit, or market viability depending on the grant window

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) How much funding is available under the SUMERNET PLUS grants?

SUMERNET PLUS will award 12 grants, with each project eligible for up to 480,000 SEK.

2) How long can funded projects run?

Projects must be completed within 6 to 12 months, making this a rapid-response funding opportunity.

3) Which countries are eligible?

Eligible applicants must be based in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, or Vietnam.

4) Who can apply for these grants?

Eligible applicants include:

  • Research institutes

  • Universities

  • Think tanks

  • Non-profit organizations

However, the project lead must be a formal member of the SUMERNET network.

5) What are the three grant windows?

The three grant windows are:

  1. Capacity Development Grants

  2. Impact Grants

  3. Innovation Grants

Each serves a different purpose, so applicants should choose the one that best matches their project.

6) Is private sector collaboration required?

Private sector collaboration is especially important for Innovation Grants, where proposals are expected to work with actors such as MSMEs, business networks, intermediaries, and financial actors.

For the other grant windows, private sector involvement may still strengthen a proposal where relevant.

7) What makes a proposal competitive?

A strong proposal typically includes:

  • Strong Mekong climate relevance

  • Clear and feasible outcomes

  • Meaningful collaboration

  • Gender and social inclusion integration

  • Knowledge sharing and open-access plans

  • A realistic delivery plan within 6–12 months

Conclusion

The SUMERNET PLUS rapid-response research grants offer a strong opportunity for organizations in the Mekong Region to secure up to 480,000 SEK for short-term, high-impact climate resilience projects. With 12 grants available, the programme is especially relevant for institutions that can move quickly, collaborate effectively, and deliver practical outcomes in areas such as climate adaptation, climate policy, nature-based solutions, climate-smart agriculture, and inclusive innovation.

For more information, visit SUMERNET.