Deadline: 28-Sep-22
The French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM), the German Cooperation through KfW, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation and the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund) are pleased to announce the 15th request for proposals for Traditional Small Grants to support Coastal and Marine resources management and protection in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR).
Objectives
- General Objectives
- To contribute to the conservation of the ecosystem functions of the Mesoamerican Reef System and its resilience.
- Specific Objectives
- To support the design and/or implementation of productive activities or new sustainable markets that can demonstrate a positive impact on the MAR (those market innovations around untreated waters and solid waste management will be prioritized).
- To support actions to strengthen the resilience of protected areas, coastal communities, and NGOs.
- To support and strengthen efforts for wastewater and solid waste management.
- To support activities related to effective conservation and monitoring of fish spawning aggregation (FSA) sites in the region.
- As in previous RfPs, community groups are welcome to submit proposals directly.
Component Examples of Eligible Investments
- Productive Activities
- Innovation and alternative technologies related to regenerative economy (e.g., transforming waste (plastic and not plastic) into products, biofuel production, production of non-plastic utensils and containers, among others).
- Creation and strengthening of community enterprises (e.g., sustainable tourism, tour guides, scientific diving, educational diving, bird watching, adventure expeditions, community restaurants, among others).
- Promotion of new products (community artisanal products, products from beekeeping, among others).
- Implementation of strategies to generate added value to products from fisheries, beekeeping, aquaculture, and agriculture, among others.
- Promotion of investments to mitigate climate change (forestry, renewable and sustainable energy, energy/water storage).
- Development of economic alternatives for buffer communities of FSAs.
- Strengthening Resilience
- Strengthening food security (e.g., family gardens, chicken farms, and access to potable water).
- Establishment of savings funds for protected areas, NGOs and communities to cover operation costs during a crisis.
- Improvement of financial sustainability of MPAs to strengthen their capacity to respond to, cope with and bounce back from natural or anthropogenic events.
- Financial inclusion: creating savings habits, financial education.
- Strengthen the role of women in the community through productive activities / adaptation to climate change.
- Promotion and strengthening of strategic alliances and community networks to maximize resources, capacities and skills and promote collective resilience.
- Projects to develop subsistence and community contingency plans.
- Wastewater and solid waste management
- Development of strategies to improve water and sanitation services in rural areas (rainwater collecting systems, eco filters).
- Development of sanitation strategies for urban areas and development of master plans for the collection and treatment of wastewater and solid waste.
- Development of studies to quantify water sources, demand, uses and wastewater production (Water Information System).
- Promotion of water quality monitoring networks.
- Creation of Watershed Committees or Councils (with the participation of federal, state, and municipal governments, civil society organizations and private sector).
- Communication of wastewater and solid waste legislation, international conventions, for example, the ratification of the Cartagena Convention and its Protocols, or any other legislation applied nationally.
- Environmental education campaigns on wastewater and solid waste for the public, fishers, and tourism providers, to transmit the impact of water pollution on their economies in the short, medium, and long terms due to degradation of the marine-coastal environment.
- Technical assistance for decision makers regarding wastewater and solid waste treatment.
- Technical assistance for monitoring (sampling and analysis) water quality.
- Economic valuation studies of hydrological services of the MAR watersheds as a tool for integrated watershed management (e.g., quantification of the economic losses for the reef, tourism, and fisheries due to water pollution).
- Development of diagnoses (applied research) to provide concrete answers to specific, localized problems.
- Fish Spawning Aggregation sites (FSAs)
- Promotion of the declaration of new fish spawning aggregation (FSA) protection areas. Development of management plans for FSA. Development of coordinated management, monitoring and protection programs for FSA. Establishment and equipment of monitoring stations for FSA. Development of cartography and bathymetry for FSA. Ecological characterization of areas in which FSA occur. Development and implementation of communication strategies to promote and raise awareness on the critical importance of FSA and their conservation.
Funding Information
- Proposals with a duration of up to 17 months may request a maximum amount of US$30,000, while proposals between 18 and 24 months may request a maximum amount of US$50,000, based on project needs and capacity of the implementing institution. For two-year projects, funding is approved for both years, but disbursement for the second year will depend on performance in the first year.
- The proposals to be presented may have a duration of up to two years.
Geographical Focus
Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico
Eligibility Criteria
The following list includes eligible applicants for this request for proposals:
- Community-based organizations, including fisher groups
- Governmental institutions
- Non-governmental organizations and
- Academia and Individuals (both must have administrative support from an NGO, who shall be responsible for the grant).
- Potential grantee organizations must be:
- Legally recognized or registered in their country;
- In compliance and good standing with all requirements for operation as a legal local entity;
- Guided by an operational Board of Directors;
- Have a sound financial management system and structure in place (accounting, annual audits, etc.);
- Have a good history as a grantee (i.e. effective grant/project implementation), and
- Have experience in the field of marine resources management.
- Organizations must have their headquarters established in any one of the four countries of the MAR region to be eligible.
- Community organizations may be supported directly, or indirectly through an NGO, as long as there is an agreement between the two that demonstrates that the community organization is an active participant in the project.
- To maximize available resources, proposals involving duplication of funds/efforts funded by other MAR Fund initiatives or programs will not be considered.
- All supported organizations must implement and monitor MAR Fund’s Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) throughout project execution. If the organization already has its own policies or procedures, these may be applied if they cover the requirements of the MAR Fund ESMS.
Criteria
The following criteria will be applied in the revision and selection of proposals. Some projects may not comply with all the conditions. Projects should:
- Demonstrate measurable results on progress of at least one of the stated RfP objectives;
- Coordinate their implementation across multiple stakeholders;
- Have transferable or replicable outcomes for other communities/protected areas;
- Strengthen local management capacity of professionals and institutions;
- Contribute to strengthening of local capacities;
- Engage the MPAs of interest, and be aligned with their management plans and with the institutional priorities of the protected area managers;
- Create a new source of financing to reduce the financial gap of the protected area in which you will work (if applicable);
- Align with national, regional or global strategies, plans or policies;
- Align with ridge-to-reef strategies;
- Have activities that are closely aligned with the applicant organization’s mission and/or are otherwise sustainable beyond the project period;
- Build on current work in the area or successful model projects in the region;
- Demonstrate community participation in the proposed activities;
- Promote collective and/or community resilience
- Create a new source of funding for reef restoration in the region (specifically for RA projects), and
- Generate transferable results to sites with potential for reef restoration (specifically for RA projects).
For more information, visit https://marfund.org/en/request-for-proposals-2022/