Deadline: 01-Aug-21
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and WWF Russia, as regional implementation team for the hotspot, are accepting letters of inquiry (LOIs) from non-government organizations, community groups, Indigenous people’s organizations, women’s groups, private companies and other civil society organizations (CSOs) in relation to the eligible activities and geographies mentioned in the official website. This is the third of several large-grant calls for proposals (CFP) that will be made public through 2024.
Funding Information
- LOIs must have a budget between US$20,000 and US$150,000 to be eligible for consideration.
- Projects are expected to start approximately six to nine months from the release of this call for LOIs.
- CEPF projects are typically 18-24 months in duration, but all work must be complete by June 2024.
Eligible Activities
The scope of this call is limited to the types of activities and locations. LOIs will only be accepted for the following strategic directions:
- Strengthening civil society in Uzbekistan
- Apart from conservation goals in Uzbekistan, CEPF seeks to strengthen individual civil society organizations and the collective ability of civil society, at large.
- Sustainable management in large tracts of land
- Conservation corridors are large-scale spatial units necessary to maintain ecological and evolutionary processes. Corridors in the hotspot were identified with the view to meeting the area requirements of wide-ranging species; maintaining ecological connectivity among KBAs; ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of key ecosystem services; and enhancing resilience of ecosystems to climate change.
- Successful letters of inquiry should be based on biological considerations and economic and infrastructure development trends in the priority corridors, and engagement of civil society in landscape-scale conservation actions.
- Improved management of KBAs and corridors that are not formally protected
- Species-Specific Projects Targeting One or More of the Following Species
- Bukhara deer (Cervus hanglu), especially projects that have synergies with the recently revised CMS/CAMI Work Programme for the Bukhara deer (2021- 2026)
- Pike asp (Aspiolucius esocinus)
- Amudarya shovelnose sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni) Projects focusing on other priority species are also eligible, but they particularly welcome projects conserving the species named above.
Geographic Focus
- CEPF focuses its work on conservation outcomes, seeking to protect species, sites and corridors. The core of this work is around KBAs, which are the refuges of globally threatened species and around which larger corridors are based.
- This call for proposals is open only for projects working in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
- Applicants that submit proposals for priority KBAs, from the eligible countries, and that also address the investment priorities named above, will receive the highest consideration from reviewers.
- Applicants that submit proposals for work in non-priority KBAs from the eligible countries must specifically address one of the investment priorities named above to receive any consideration from reviewers. (For example, they will consider work in non-priority locations if the work then addresses a priority species.)
- The ecosystem profile lists all KBAs and corridors with specific names and identification/code numbers. Applicants are advised to name specific KBAs and corridors by name and number in your letter of inquiry.
For more information, visit https://www.cepf.net/grants/open-calls-for-proposals/2021-mountains-central-asia-large-grants