Deadline: 27-Aug-20
GBIF is inviting the submission of concept notes for project funding from sub-Saharan Africa through Biodiversity Information for Development (BID), a programme funded by the Directorate-General for International Partnerships of the European Union.
The BID programme aims to enhance capacity for effective mobilization and use of biodiversity data in support of decision- and policymaking for sustainable development.
This call seeks to support projects from sub-Saharan Africa that:
- Mobilize biodiversity data relevant to decisions supporting sustainable development
- Use and extend best practices for digitizing natural history collections and mobilizing other biodiversity data
- Apply biodiversity data in support of decision-making and research
- Develop lasting national, regional or thematic networks to support ongoing data sharing and reuse
Funding Information
- The total funding assigned to this call is approximately €600,000.
- The call offers support for four grant types:
- Regional biodiversity data mobilization grants that establish or strengthen international collaborations to increase biodiversity data mobilization for research and policy addressing regional sustainable development needs (maximum funding: 60,000 euros for projects involving two countries; €120,000 for projects involving three or more countries)
- National biodiversity data mobilization grants that establish or strengthen national biodiversity information facilities and increase biodiversity data mobilization to respond to national priorities (maximum funding: €40,000 per project)
- Institution-level biodiversity data mobilization grants that mobilize biodiversity data relevant for sustainable development (maximum funding: €20,000 per project)
- Data-use grants that build on existing relationships between biodiversity data-holding institutions and decision-makers to provide data solutions that respond to a specific policy need (maximum funding: €60,000 per project)
Eligibility Criteria
- Concept notes and full proposals must be submitted in English through the GBIF Grants Portal by the stated deadlines
- Applicants must be legal entities located in an eligible African country. Such entities include national government agencies, GBIF Participant nodes and their host institutions, natural history museums and collections, research institutes, universities, and NGOs.
- Applications involving partners from countries or organizations that already participate in GBIF must include a statement of endorsement from the GBIF Head of Delegation or Node Manager. Contact information for representatives of GBIF Participant countries and organizations can be found on the Participant tab of the country pages, from the Participant list.
- All BID funded activities must be not-for-profit. BID programme funds may be used to support staff time, travel and costs associated with the organization of meetings and workshops, and limited costs for IT services and equipment.
- Data mobilized by BID-funded projects should all be within the target countries.
- Field work and/or the collection of new field data, or laboratory research to capture new data are not eligible for funding under the BID programme – although such activities may be included in a project plan if funded by alternative sources.
- Overhead costs may not be charged to BID grants.
- Applicants must commit some co-funding (in-kind or cash) to their projects. Co-funding refers to real costs that are incurred by the applicants while executing the funded project’s activities. These could be in-kind contributions that directly contribute to the project activities (like staff salaries, travel costs etc.) or any in-cash contributions to BID activities from other funding sources. The level of co-funding will be taken into account when evaluating cost-effectiveness.
- All proposed project activities must fall within the stated implementation periods for each grant type.
- If invited to submit a full proposal, applicants must prepare a detailed budget. Note that BID funds cannot be used to pay for bank transfer fees, exchange rate fees and courier costs for delivering the contract and project reports to GBIF.
- If invited to submit a full proposal, applicants must provide plans to ensure sustainability of activities after project support from BID concludes.
- If invited to submit a full project proposal, written confirmation from all project partners, stating their involvement in the project, must be provided with the submission.
- Letters of support from confirmed project partners should be submitted through the GBIF Grants Portal.
- All data mobilized through the BID grants, as well as any other products of the projects, such as training material, must be made available under either a CC0 1.0 waiver or CC-BY 4.0 licence.
Selection Criteria
- Relevance of the proposal to the objective and recommended activities of the selected BID grant type and to the specific needs of the geographic area(s) targeted
- Expected value of the project’s deliverables to both the national and regional context and the broader community of biodiversity information holders and users
- Likelihood of the project achieving sustainable results
- Likelihood of the project providing examples of best practice in the application of biodiversity information in decision-making
- Likelihood of projects submitted by GBIF non-participating countries to result in formal GBIF participation or to develop a pathway leading towards participation in GBIF as a result of their project
- Demonstration of how existing GBIF nodes and institutions applying for a follow-up of a BID project plan to build on their ongoing activities as a GBIF node or the results from their previous BID grant
- Cost-effectiveness (including factors such as the number of partners benefiting from the project, matching funds leveraged, etc.)
- Choice and diversity of project partners
For more information, visit https://www.gbif.org/article/6YMaBaQKPDDfBSGTO6jvg5/bid-call-for-proposals-sub-saharan-africa-2020