European Commission announces Call for Concept Notes in Malawi

Deadline: 14-Jul-23

The European Commission (EC) is seeking concept notes for better preservation, restoration and regeneration of natural resource base and its diverse ecosystems.

Objectives of The Programme and Priority Issues

• The global objective of this call for proposals is: to contribute to sustainable and inclusive transformation of food systems in Malawi.
• The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  • Land use planning, coupled with land registration – coordinated with traditional authorities to slow down or reverse the process of farm expansion into forest and marginal lands (integrated land use development – crops, livestock, forests and advisory service etc.).
  • Planting of fast growing trees on customary land and around Malawi’s Forest Reserves and other protected areas (forest fringes as buffer zones) for biomass, promotion of higher value forest plantations in function of domestic wood industry, promotion of trees on farm land, agro-ecology and agroforestry – using landscape approaches.
  • Enhancing soil and water management across the territory to reduce the speed of water flow, prevent the build-up of large volumes of water, enhance infiltration and prevent sediment loading: Soil and water conservation activities, integrated climate change adaptation (ex: giant bamboo planting, hedge rolls of nitrogen fixing trees or other multipurpose trees, trees on farm; etc.), disaster risks reduction.
  • Financing Sustainable Forest/Natural Resources Management: Explore Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) with forestry and land resources conservation on the other hand and agriculture sector (irrigation), the power sector, the town water authorities and tourism sector etc. as main clients. Engage sectors in dialogue to determine how much these sectors can contribute in form of payment for avoided deforestation or payment for afforestation, reforestation and forest, water and land conservation.
  • Additional elements to be considered when formulating the Action: Provide clear linkages of the proposed activities/actions with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) priorities, past and on-going climate change adaptation initiatives in the districts.
  • Show how the proposed action builds up on the past and on-going EU funded initiatives in the district, such as (but not limited to) Improved Forest Management for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme II, Kulima, Afikepo, FIDP II, other UCHI components, etc.
  • Where possible and applicable, build synergies with ECHO funded humanitarian interventions in the field of disaster risk reduction and management, early warning systems, etc.
  • Where possible and applicable, build synergies with LoCAL facility initiatives in districts that are implementing the programme.

Sectors or Themes: Natural Resources Management i.e. Forests, Land, Soil and Water Conservation/Management, Land Governance; Integrated Catchment Area Management.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 10 000 000.
• Indicative allocation of funds by lot/geographical distribution:
  • LOT 1: Northern Region EUR 3 000 000
  • LOT 2: Central Region EUR 3 000 000
  • LOT 3: Southern Region EUR 4 000 000
• Size of grants
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 750 000
    • maximum amount: EUR 1 000 000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 48 months nor exceed 54 months

Location

Actions must take place in any one of the following districts of Malawi:

• Lot 1: Chitipa, Karonga, Rumphi, Mzimba and Nkhata-Bay
• Lot 2: Kasungu, Ntchisi, Salima, Dedza and Ntcheu
• Lot 3: Machinga, Zomba, Phalombe, Chikwawa, Thyolo, Mulanje and Nsanje

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: District Councils and
    • be established in Malawi and
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
• Co-applicant(s)
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.
  • In addition to the categories following are however also eligible: nongovernmental organisations, public sector operators, international (inter-governmental) organisations, established in a Member State of the European Union or in one of the countries eligible for NDICI- Global Europe.
• Affiliated entities
  • The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
  • Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to coapplicant(s):
    • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
    • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
      • Control, on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
        • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
          • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
      • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,) as the proposed affiliated entities.

For more information, visit European Commission (EC).