Grant Program to support Civil Society Organisations as actors of a Sustainable Energy Policy in the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Deadline: 28 October 2019

The European Union (EU) is pleased to announce an open call to support the implementation of RMI’s sustainable energy policy. The specific objective of this call for proposals is to enable CSO’s to play an active role in the implementation of RMI’s sustainable energy policy.

Priorities Area

Proposals should address at least one of the priorities listed below:

1. Behaviour change in buildings
   • Energy consumption in buildings is mostly due to air conditioning, cooking, refrigeration and lighting and represents a significant budget for households, businesses and administrations. Simple changes in behaviour can bring significant energy and cost savings.
   • Proposals should aim to trigger behaviour changes in terms of avoiding unnecessary energy consumption, buying more efficient products and appliances, and switching to renewable electricity. Proposals should target households, companies and/or public sector organisations.
   • Activities can include for example, but not limited to, simplified energy audits, demonstration of energy saving behaviour, community outreach activities, e.g. with women, schools and youth, advisory or labelling of energy consuming products, partnering with retail stores, etc.
   • Proposals should target a large number of beneficiaries and detail how gender will be taken into account.
2. Energy performance of buildings
   • Buildings represent an important share of energy consumption, which can be significantly reduced through better design or renovation of the building envelope, shading (e.g. through trees), efficient equipment and integration of renewable energy. Revision of building codes is ongoing for new buildings.
   • Proposals should support and accompany the implementation of energy performance regulations for new buildings, and promote energy renovation of homes. Proposals should detail how gender will be taken into account.
   • Activities can include for example, training contractors, awareness raising for homeowners, energy audits, standardised work plans to renovate homes, information on existing grants and loans, etc.
3. Support to local authorities and community groups
   • Atoll local governments and community groups play a key role in energy management, both as consumers and as responsible for the installation and management of existing renewable energy installations.
   • Proposals should support atoll local governments and community groups to improve their energy management, which includes knowledge of energy consumption, investment plans for energy efficiency and renewables, putting in place financially sustainable maintenance models, etc.
   • Proposals should target a large number of beneficiaries and detail how gender will be taken into account.
4. Alternative mobility on land and sea
   • Mobility in the Marshall Islands is predominantly through diesel-fuelled cars, boats and ships. Transportation represents around 60% of total primary energy consumption. Alternative mobility modes such as walking, cycling, car pooling, bike sharing, public transportation, or electric outboards, are underdeveloped or inexistent although they yield major benefits in terms of health, traffic congestion, costs and fuel imports. Key obstacles include negative representation of alternative mobility modes, lack of awareness of energy consumptions and costs, and access to appropriate infrastructures and services. Proposals should support the promotion and actual shift to mobility modes that consume less or no fossil fuels, in particular by improving the perception of alternative mobility. Proposals should target a large number of individuals and detail how gender will be taken into account.
   • Activities can include for example, campaigns, community outreach, collecting data on mobility patterns, recruiting participants for alternative mobility programmes or sharing schemes, incentive public policies, urban planning, etc.

General requirements for all proposals

Proposals should detail which target groups will be the beneficiaries of the action, how they will reach out to them, and how they will ensure interest of the target groups. Letters of support from key actors can be provided in annex to the application. Proposals should not include the provision of major physical investments.

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: USD 95,000
• maximum amount: USD 220,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be non-profit-making and
    • be a non-governmental organisation,
    • 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
    • be established in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) or in one of the countries listed on the given website. If the lead applicant is not legally established in RMI, at least one co-applicant must be legally established in RMI.
• Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations.
• 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.
• 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 co-applicant(s): 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, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU 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.

How to Apply

• Applicants can download the application form via given website.
• Applications must be submitted in a sealed envelope by registered mail, private courier service or by hand delivery (a signed and dated certificate of receipt will be given to the deliverer) at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/2GsC7x6