Deadline: 10 March 2020
The JRS Biodiversity Foundation has announced a 2020 Request for Proposals (RFP) for multi-year projects focused upon biodiversity data, knowledge and information services related to freshwater biodiversity, pollinator biodiversity, and biodiversity informatics capacity development.
The JRS Biodiversity Foundation focuses pollinators and freshwater-related grantmaking in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
JRS may make exceptions to this policy for projects with the potential for exceptional impact upon biodiversity informatics capacity development or highly transferrable models or technologies.
Project Proposals
- Freshwater Biodiversity Scope:
- Freshwater ecosystems are under threat from expanding agriculture, human settlement, extractive industries, and climate change. The biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems is critical for ecosystem services for human well-being.
- JRS seeks projects that increase the access to and use of biodiversity information relating to freshwater biodiversity assessment and the conservation of freshwater ecosystem services in wetlands, rivers, and lakes of Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, Malawi, and South Africa.
- Pollinator Biodiversity Scope:
- Pollination is one of the most important ecosystem services supporting human life and livelihoods as well as natural biodiversity and primary productivity.
- Successful proposals will address challenges facing pollinator conservation in Uganda, Tanzania Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, Malawi, and South Africa. Challenges to creating access to pollinators data include inadequate expertise, insufficient data on pollinator status and on pollinator-plant interactions, few options to mitigate risks to pollinators, lack of standard field methods and data standards, and lack of economic valuation of pollinator services.
Grant Information
The total requested grant for 1-3 years may range from about $50,000 to about $250,000.
Eligibility Criteria
The following conditions ensure that applicants proposal aligns with the JRS Biodiversity Foundation’s strategy and may be used as an eligibility checklist:
- The biodiversity information system is at the center of the project, and there is a clear potential use of and future value to the datasets or technologies.
- The end-users of the biodiversity information are known and are directly involved in proposal development and project implementation.
- There are specific descriptions of hardware, software, data standards, and related technical tools, and their choice is justified; use of existing biodiversity informatics solutions and infrastructure is preferred.
- All primary biodiversity data and tools generated by the project will be available per the Open Access Data Policy and its terms for license, timeliness, standards, access, and compliance.
- The grant applicants are African or that African professionals and African institutions play significant roles in project design, implementation, and sustainability, and as recipients of funds for projects that originate outside of Africa.
- Training and capacity development in biodiversity informatics are explicit aims of the project through engagement with trainees, network-building, and sharing of training resources.
- Outputs and outcomes have specific targets that are measurable and time-bound.
- Plans for outreach include efforts to secure future partners and funders.
- Budgets are justified in significant detail regarding cost assumptions, timing, and rationale.
For more information, visit https://jrsbiodiversity.org/how-to-apply/current-opportunities/2020rfp/