International Climate Initiative’s Medium Grants Program (Germany)

Deadline: 14-Jan-2025

The International Climate Initiative’s Medium Grants Program supports civil society organisations that are required to have a registered office in Germany when the awarded grants are disbursed.

Object of funding 

• The IKI Medium Grants are aimed at civil society actors who can prove the existence of a permanent business establishment, branch office, or other facility in Germany (implementing organisation) when the awarded grants are first disbursed. Together with local partner organisations in selected ODA-eligible countries of implementation (implementing partners), measures to strengthen North–South cooperation for climate action, adaptation to climate change, and biodiversity conservation are to be implemented.
• The objective of the IKI Medium Grants is explicitly aimed at strengthening these civil society actors as well as their international network. Specifically, IKI Medium Grants support project activities that address innovative bottom-up contributions to implementing the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Thematic Priorities

• The 2024 funding call focuses on the following areas:
  • Promotion of ambitious participatory measures for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions 
    • The aim of this thematic priority is the participatory and inclusive development and implementation of ambitious climate action measures to contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. To this end, measures to reduce GHG emissions should include the targeted participation of currently underrepresented groups, so as to ensure greater impact for all population groups. Projects can choose a cross-sectoral mitigation focus (e.g. contributing to climate action plans or to the implementation or updating of nationally determined contributions (NDCs)/long-term strategies (LTS)) or address specific challenges in the mobility, urban development, or energy sectors.
    • Projects can contribute to the reduction of inequalities and thereby achieve a better mitigation impact. They can identify and implement approaches for needs-based capacity development so that the perspectives of persons of different genders are tangibly integrated into (political) processes relevant to mitigation at the (sub)national level. Taking into account the respective country context, the envisioned climate protection projects can develop and pilot innovative concepts for overcoming local challenges faced by women and/or marginalised groups and raise (public) awareness about them so that they can be taken up by other actors
  • Integrative measures for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity in cities
    • The aim of this thematic priority is to promote specific measures to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services in (peri-)urban habitats (blue-green infrastructure, parks, forests, and wetlands) and nature-based solutions that are to be implemented in cities in an inclusive and integrative manner.
    • Projects should result in replicable conservation measures for wild species and (peri-)urban ecosystems with a particular focus on adaptation to the impacts of climate change. These measures include pilot projects and/or capacity development to conserve biological diversity and ecosystem services in cities as well as to mitigate drivers of urban biodiversity loss.

Funding Information and Duration

• Project ideas are being sought with a budget ranging from EUR 300,000 to EUR 800,000, to be implemented over a period of 24 to 36 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Funding is available for civil society organisations with a non-profit purpose (non-governmental organisations, associations, foundations, think tanks) and academic institutions (universities and research institutions) as well as non-profit enterprises
• All projects must be implemented in countries that, according to the definition of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) meet the criteria for Official Development Assistance (ODA). A country must be ODA-eligible by the deadline for submitting the project outline.
• The project must be part of the ideal business area of the applicant. The applicant may not pursue any intents to realise a profit through the implementation of the project.
• The IKI Medium Grants (IMG) are a funding instrument within the framework of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) that is aimed at civil society organisations based in Germany by the time of the first disbursement of approved funding (eligible applicants). These organisations must implement the project in cooperation with their partner organisations in ODA-eligible developing and transition countries. The funding instrument is part of Germany’s contribution to international climate and biodiversity financing with the intention of having an impact in ODA countries.
• Only organisations that fulfill the following requirements are eligible:
  • Organisations that are independent implementing organisations under German law which can autonomously fulfil the rights and obligations arising on a contractual basis from the grant without being bound by  instructions of a parent organization;
  • Organisations that have at least three years of work experience in project implementation in international cooperation, and which are able to plan, implement efficiently, monitor and account for measures in a qualified manner;
  • Organisations that belong to the third sector and do not pursue a profit-making intention with the project. (Inter)governmental and private sector organisations are generally not eligible. As the only exception, Think Tanks are admitted, as they can take on different legal forms. Nonetheless this applies only to the extend as they make their analyses and recommendations for action in order to push the public debate (agenda setting) in the context of civil society transparent, comprehensible and publicly accessible, or as they demonstrably advise on different public policy actors and spheres (politics, administration, the public and civil society);
  • Non-profit enterprises must be able to prove the recognition of their exclusive and direct, non-profit or tax-privileged purposes vis-a-vis the tax office.

Ineligibility Criteria

• The following are not eligible for funding:
  • Institutional funding, pure research funding, predominantly investment projects, and projects that pursue project activities focused on Germany.
  • Furthermore, projects can be funded only if they could not be realised without this funding or only to a significantly lesser extent (principle of subsidiarity) and only if the project has not yet been started when the proposal is submitted.

For more information, visit IKI.