Deadline: 18-Oct-23
Are you or someone you know is passionate about reducing plastic pollution in your country? Do you have innovative solutions to reduce plastic waste entering South Asia’s seas and rivers? Then this opportunity is for you!
Funded by the World Bank and Parley for the Oceans, and implemented by South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP), with the support of United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the project development objective of the Plastic Free Rivers and Seas for South Asia (PLEASE) Project is to catalyze actions that reduce the flow of plastic pollution into South Asian Seas.
Components
- Component 1: Supporting Competitive Block Grant Investments to Reduce Plastic Waste
- Supporting circular plastic economy solutions to reduce plastic waste by implementing a program of regional competitive block grant investments, providing Regional Competitive Block Grants (“RBGs”) to eligible organizations in South Asia (“Eligible RBG Beneficiaries”).
- Facilitating exchange of circular plastic economy knowledge between Eligible RBG Beneficiaries and selected South Asian countries and promoting awareness raising activities.
- Component 2: Leveraging Public and Private Sector Engagement and Solutions
- Supporting development of strategies, action plans, policies, and standards to harmonize plastic pollution mitigation measures through:
- developing and implementing a multi-year plastic policy support program, working with leading universities and organizations;
- developing a database for lifecycle analysis, data collection, and modelling related to plastic across selected industry value chains; and
- supporting communication activities.
- Supporting circular use of plastic in the economy through regional public private collaboration and engagement in South Asia, including designing and organizing annual or more frequent meetings of representatives from public and private sectors.
- Supporting development of strategies, action plans, policies, and standards to harmonize plastic pollution mitigation measures through:
- Component 3: Strengthening Regional Integration Institutions
- Carrying out works to support construction of SACEP’s new headquarters and providing technical assistance to, and building capacity of, SACEP to discharge its functions, including coordination with relevant regional organizations and uniform collection, analysis, and interpretation of pollution data.
- Supporting the development of a fund for the sustainability of existing activities and accelerating circular plastic economy solutions (“Sustainability Fund”).
Funding Information
- Innovation Grant to Reduce Plastic Waste
- Grant Amount: Up to USD 120,000 for each proposal
- South Asia Regional Competitive Block Grants (RBG) to Reduce Plastic Waste
- Grant Amount: Up to USD 1.5M. for each proposal; two grants are expected to be awarded
- The final award decision is subject to the donor approval
Eligible Countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Eligibility Criteria
- Innovation Grant to Reduce Plastic Waste
- Innovation Grant to Reduce Plastic Waste is awarded for innovative approaches from community-based organizations, social enterprises, private sector and academic institutions registered in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka geared towards reducing plastic pollution in South Asia’s rivers and seas. Priority will be given to female-led entities. Grantees that have received RBG funding from the PLEASE project are not eligible to apply.
- South Asia Regional Competitive Block Grants (RBG) to Reduce Plastic Waste
- Current Project Proposal submissions are open to eligible RBG Beneficiaries registered in Sri Lanka.
Deadlines:
- 18 October, 2023
- 2 November 2023
For more information, visit SACEP.