Deadline: 5 November 2018
The Cleveland Zoological Society is seeking applications for its Future for Wildlife Seed Grants Program which provide funds to support field conservation projects in Africa and Asia.
Ideal projects have a clear and direct conservation impact, positively affect local people, and create opportunities for capacity building in-country.
The Zoo is addressing issues that threaten species in the wild and are key to the long-term survival of wildlife and habitats. They support, develop and implement unique and collaborative conservation projects that promote wildlife survival and benefit human communities by:
- Protecting wildlife from immediate threats resulting from unsustainable human activity, including human-wildlife conflict, illegal wildlife trade, and habitat loss. Strategic and collaborative efforts are needed at every level to protect wildlife and habitats from exploitation and illegal activity.
- Building conservation capacity locally and regionally to strengthen the knowledge, skills, tools, competencies and abilities of individuals and communities (through training, education, awareness-building, and empowerment) – improving their ability to effectively carry out conservation activities.
- Promoting conservation science through the study of biodiversity, conservation, wildlife and human ecology, and examining the relationships between them. Investigations embrace the natural, physical, social, economic and political sciences and generate information needed for effective and measurable conservation impacts.
Areas of Interest
Projects focusing on the following areas of special interest to the Zoo are strongly encouraged to apply:
- Wildlife protection (anti-poaching, illegal wildlife trade issues, etc.)
- Human wildlife conflict mitigation
- Development and promotion of sustainable environmental practices
- Habitat protection and restoration (terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems)
- Capacity-building (education/training, community-based conservation, etc.)
- Conservation biology, ecology and natural history studies (terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems)
Funding Information
Annual awards, ranging from $1000 to $3500, are made to conservation and field research initiatives that will help secure a future for wildlife and educational or cultural activities that positively impact wildlife, habitats and human communities.
Eligibility Criteria
- Requests for funds should provide adequate information for evaluation of the project and the specific request, including a detailed experimental design and methodology.
- Projects that designate local/public education/awareness as a significant program outcome must include an evaluation component.
- Projects should begin in the year that they are applying for funding, (but not before funds are to be awarded) and contain a clearly defined beginning and end point.
- Funds will not be awarded for elements of a project that will have already occurred before awards are made.
- Although exceptions can be made, ongoing costs such as salaries of permanent staff and other administrative costs are generally not considered.
- Funds to cover contingencies or indirect costs are not granted.
- Partial funding of a project may be considered if a particular component of the project can be supported and completed independently, or if it is made clear that additional funding has been obtained or is being sought from other sources to cover remaining costs.
- Proposals requesting more than the maximum amount of funds allowed for the specific grant program will not be accepted.
- Subsequent phases of previously funded projects may be submitted.
- Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is not required to be a collaborator for a project to be eligible for funding.
- Highly invasive research, or projects that collect/voucher specimens will not be considered for funding.
The following information should be included in the pre-proposal:
- Project Description, including:
- The goals and objectives of the project, including the conservation issue being addressed
- The significance of the proposed project and the impact that it will have on the species, habitat, area, local people, etc.,
- A succinct description of the experimental design, methodology and data analysis, and how it will address the project objectives,
- A description of how the project’s success will be evaluated,
- A list of any permits required for the project and whether they have already been obtained or are pending.
How to Apply
Pre-Proposal/Proposal Application Form must be submitted at the address given on the website.
Eligible Countries:
- Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Cote d’Ivorie, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
- Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
For more information, please visit Future for Wildlife Seed Grants.