Call for CSOs: Scaling-up actions to tackle Air Pollution (North Macedonia)

Deadline: 30-May-23

UNDP North Macedonia in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and five municipalities, is implementing a project “Scaling-up actions to tackle air pollution” aimed at decreasing the air pollution in Kavadarci, Kumanovo, Strumica, Struga and Gostivar.

The overall objective of the “Scaling-up actions to tackle air pollution” project is to further strengthen the capacities of the local governments to design, plan, implement and monitor local action plans aimed at improving the air quality, and increase knowledge and awareness about issues related to air pollution. Particular attention shall be put to strengthening local governments’ capacities to assess what are the opportunities for and barriers to women’s meaningful participation in catalyzing clean air action and how to involve gender perspective in tailoring measures for air quality improvement.

The project will support the local authorities in five pilot municipalities in North Macedonia to detect and measure sources of air pollution, identify and plan proper measures to address the problems, and implement mitigation activities, along with a horizontal prevention activity of raising public awareness and facilitating behavioral change. The project will build on the results achieved and lessons learnt from the first project phase and will aim at scaling up and replication of the concept, that was developed and applied, in five other cities in the country that have serious issues with the air pollution: Kavadarci, Gostivar, Kumanovo, Strumica and Struga.

The following interventions are planned to be implemented:

• Monitoring of air quality in five municipalities and modelling of air pollution sources;
• Capacity building for air quality management on local level;
• Public awareness and knowledge sharing.
• Implementation of priority measures of the Air Quality Plans – Demonstration of priority measures that address the causes of pollution;

Components

• The project concept must include two components that shall be inter-linked and contribute to the above stated purpose of the call.
  • The first component should focus on:
    • exploring the possibilities for engagement of women and man in the monitoring of air quality to provide additional crowed-sourced pool of information;
    • data visualization and their promotion;
    • innovative ways for public awareness raising on air pollution related issues and solutions.
    • Within the first component, the CSOs shall support UNDP and the respective municipality in organizing public consultation for selection of priority measures from the Municipal Air Quality Plans.
  • The second component should focus on conducting behavior change nudge/experiment.
    • The examples of behavior change experiments/nudges could include, but are not limited to, the following:
      • How can they motivate the households and/or local managers of schools, kindergartens, health facilities, etc., to replace the old and inefficient heating systems that pollute the air and consume more energy? What would be the best approach to influence their decision?
      • Testing incentives for investment in energy efficient appliances and lighting at the households/public buildings i.e. what could persuade owners/managers to invest in one or more energy efficiency measures?
      • Testing incentives for investment in renewable energy sources for electricity supply i.e. what could influence the decision to install for example solar panels at home or at a public building?
      • How can communities/municipalities change their perception in regards to the CO2 absorption capacities of the trees? What would be an incentive for someone to plant trees with higher CO2 absorption capacities instead of decorative plants and flowers?
      • Testing incentives for proper waste management at source i.e. what could be the behavior patterns that can help them to persuade the government/companies/households to get involved in this process?

Funding Information

• Each CSO or consortium of CSOs will be supported with a grant of up to 1,700,000 MKD.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible to apply are the CSOs established and regulated in accordance with the Law on Civil Society Organizations and Foundations, located and active in one of the five targeted municipalities: Kumanovo, Gostivar, Struga, Strumica and Kavadarci.
• The consortium of CSOs can be established by maximum two local CSOs. The lead CSO must submit the application. The lead CSOs will be evaluated against the respective criteria.

For more information, visit  United Nations Development Programme.

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