SGP inviting CSOs for the Implementation of Capacity Development of national CSO’s and Grant making in Tuvalu

Deadline: 10 May 2019

The GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) is calling for proposals from competent civil society organizations active in the Pacific region and those specifically interested or working in Tuvalu directly or indirectly for the implementation of Capacity Development of national CSO’s and Grant making in Tuvalu.

An initial funding support will be discussed with SGP Central Programme Management Team (CPMT) and based on satisfactory performance, a further re-granting may be made.

The goal of the CSO’s Capacity Development and Grant Making project (s) is to:

increase awareness of civil society organizations (CSOs) and communities in Tuvalu to identify priority global environment and sustainable development concerns and identify local actions to address them,
build capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) and communities to design, and implement projects to address global environment and local sustainable development challenges, and to
empower and strengthen civil society and community based organizations as key stakeholder in addressing environment and development needs.

Overall Sector

Environment, Natural Resource Management, and Sustainable Development; Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening

Specific activities to be funded:

The specific activities within project proposals will be elaborated during the project’s planning and inception workshops. However, at the general level, eligible entities are expected to be able to undertake the following actions:

Hold participatory stakeholder consultations, undertake project preparation and planning, proposal development and validation workshops
Implementation of agreed country driven proposals prepared within the limits of the resources and in accordance with a simplified standard full proposal template that will be jointly designed by the proponent and approved by SGP.
The entity will undertake participatory monitoring and evaluation of the projects, based on agreed schedules in the memorandum of agreement between it and the grantee. While the results and reports of these monitoring exercises are not the required reporting to SGP, it is expected that the organization/entity will have inbuilt real-time monitoring process (i.e. quarterly) as best designed by them based on the capacity of in-country partners they will be working with and be ready to provide information as requested in an ad hoc basis.
The entity will maintain acceptable project and programme level progress (financial and narrative) reports and prepare a final evaluation report (s). However, the entity will have a mandatory progress reporting to SGP based on an agreed format, at least once a year. The report will reach the SGP global office by end of the calendar year.

Eligibility Criteria

This call for proposal is only open to trusted non-profit regional or national entities who are working or will be ready to work in Tuvalu.

It is expected that the selected grantee organization will undertake the following activities as part of the Capacity Development projects and full projects development and implementation:
- At least one stakeholder workshop is held which gathers key civil society and community stakeholders with the goal to raise awareness about global environment and local sustainable development issues and to hold consultations about the countries’ priorities for action
- A short Country Programme Strategy (CPS) is elaborated in a consultative manner within the course of the stakeholder workshop as a key document for identification of priority areas of action through immediate and future grant-making;
- Capacity development training is provided to at least 5 CSOs in the country seeking to further enhance their capacity to act on environment and development issues. Specific themes for the training will be based on needs identified by CSOs and community groups in a participatory process in advance. The training activities will be held in conjunction with each country level Stakeholder workshops.
- At least 4-5 planning grants of up to $5,000 each will be awarded to CSOs and community based organizations and or full sized projects (up to $50,000) to prepare project proposals and implement them according to SGP technical criteria. Guidance and support will be provided throughout this process by the regional/national grantee organization to enable the country level CSOs and community based organizations to learn while doing and implementing funded projects.
- The proposals will focus on one or more of the following focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, and wastes & chemicals. The project proposals should be fully developed following SGP technical guidance and project proposal format. The regional or national grantee organization is expected to help potential project proponents in the countries in the project design and development process, ensuring sound project design, clear implementation plan, budget, time frame, and evidence of co-financing support. These projects will be conceived in consultation with communities; local and traditional management authorities. The regional or national grantee organization is expected to ensure that there is wide and acceptable consultation at the national and community levels leading to the development of the technically appropriate projects that enjoy consensus of the stakeholders.
- Following the completion of the Capacity Building grants, the selected organization will utilize its approval and granting mechanisms to support technical review and consideration of individual grantee project proposals. Successful proposals will be implemented by the proposing CSOs/CBOs and will be overseen and monitored by selected organization and the designated UNDP Fiji focal point Tuvalu.
- Applicants for the Capacity Development and grant implementation projects will be able to propose a management and service provision cost based on the identified tasks and deliverables which will not be more than 25% of the overall costs. Entities are expected to have a demonstrated management capacity backed up by relevant technical staff and financial management skills as well as show value for money for the proposed actions and ensure this is reflected in the requested fees.
Limitations:
- Only national NGOs or those NGO’s with national affiliations, CBOs and regional and/or international NGOs who have the ability or can demonstrate their potential for working and or liaising with national entities in Tuvalu under the eligibility section above.
- Only entities with proven long-term mandate and interests on working with poor and vulnerable local institutions and communities in Tuvalu and the Pacific region are encouraged to apply.
- The proponent is expected to either have its own or establish a functioning incountry and regional infrastructure to be able to administer and implement the projects.
Minimum requirements/qualifications of entities:
- Demonstrated expertise in environmental issues (particularly related to the GEF focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, chemicals, wastes management), natural resource management, sustainable development
- Experience in financial management, project design, project management, training and monitoring and evaluation at community level
- Experience in skills and capacity development of communities and civil society organizations
- Experience in promoting sustainable development activities, including improved and sustainable livelihoods, institutional strengthening and organizational capacity building
- Presence and strong track record of environment, sustainable development and capacity development activities undertaken in the Pacific region or in Tuvalu in Particular,
- Administrative and technical capacity of at least 2 staff,
- Ability to network and produce results in a timely manner.