UN-Habitat offering Up to $80,000 for Innovative Public Space Projects

Deadline: 2-Nov-20

UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme is launching a call for proposals (CFP) to seek partnership in the implementation of innovative public space projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Palestine, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Syria, Tanzania and Vietnam.

The Programme helps cities become more sustainable by providing policy advice, capacity building, knowledge sharing and support for public space regeneration and improvement. More concretely, it maps public spaces and works with cities to develop city-wide public space strategies and urban development frameworks.

Launched in 2012 and currently active in around 40 countries, UN-Habitat’s Global Public Space Programme aim to improve the quality of public spaces worldwide. Despite a recent tendency to overlook and undervalue them, public spaces are again being recognized by cities as a key element of inclusion and sustainability.

UN-Habitat adopts a definition of public spaces as sites that are accessible and enjoyable by all without a profit motive and take on various spatial forms, including parks, streets, sidewalks, markets, and playgrounds. Good public spaces enhance community cohesion and promote health, happiness, and well-being for all citizens.

Funding Information

• Amount: Up to $80,000
• Estimated duration of project in calendar months: 14 months.

• Partnerships with national and local governments as well as non-profit organisations that can manage and deliver innovative public space upgrading and regeneration projects at the city level. The projects will demonstrate that multifunctional public spaces can contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG11.7: “by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities”.
• Interested applicants can either propose a project that demonstrates the importance of stakeholder engagement, citizen participation, assessments, quality design, policy and management for the development of multifunctional public space or a series of smaller projects (around 5-10) that demonstrate how smaller public space interventions can have a larger impact on neighbourhoods and cities. Applicants can also apply for small-scale projects that support Covid-19 recovery through public space implementation and placemaking.
• All projects proposed must also show how children and youth or girls and women or older people or people with disabilities (or all) will be fully included in site selection, design, construction and management of the public space(s).
  • Option 1: Grant Supporting country or city’s approach to public spaces – up to $80,000 including administrative costs
  • Option 2: Grant for Covid-19 recovery through public space implementation – up to $25,000 including administrative costs

Main Activities and Outputs

• Implementation of public space demonstration projects that illustrate how public space can be designed and improve use and overall quality of life;
• Public space surveys at the city level and site-specific assessments;
• Organization of meetings and capacity building workshops on the institutional and operational arrangements to facilitate public space planning, delivery, and maintenance;
• Organization of participatory workshops that address the design, development, and maintenance of public spaces using Minecraft and other means of participation;
• UN-Habitat’s public space team will support the facilitation of one Minecraft workshop either remotely or through an official travel. UN-Habitat will cover the cost of travel for one facilitator to the partner city.
• Communications campaigns that highlight the important role public spaces play in the lives of citizens;
• Collaboration with both international and local planning/design experts in the production of concept designs for the pilot sites;
• Identification of opportunities for further scaling-up of the project;
• Supervision of public space construction works;
• Development and documentation of public space tools and methodologies;
• Provision of in-kind contribution to this implementing partnership.

Expected Results

National and local authorities as well as non-profit organizations are invited to submit proposals which aim to achieve the following expected result:

• Influence cities to recognize the importance of localized city-wide public space network and policies and to maximize public space areas at a city level.
• Effective creation, protection, design, and management of public spaces, particularly in disadvantaged communities in rapidly urbanizing cities and towns, as critical preconditions for poverty reduction and the fulfilment of human rights in urban areas.
• Re-build confidence about being out in urban and public spaces following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Outcomes

Proposal must demonstrate that they contribute to the following outcome:

• Improved local policies, plans and designs for safe, inclusive, and accessible public spaces for all which supports more compact, better integrated and well connected, socially inclusive and resilient cities and neighborhoods in partner cities.

Eligibility Criteria

• Legal Status
  • Certificate of registration/incorporation;
  • Proof of registration in Country of Origin;
  • Proof of registration of Country of operation;
  • Proof of country operational presence.
• Organization profile and details
  • Clear organization profile and structure of the organization indicating;
  • Organization’s vision, mission, and objectives;
  • Management structure;
  • Members of the Governing Board and their Designations duly certified by the Corporate Secretary, or its equivalent document;
  • Proof of membership to professional associations if any.
• Financial Capacity
  • Audited company financial statements (balance sheet and income statement) and auditors report for the last two years.
• Exclusive bank account
  • Is the organization willing and able to have a separate bank accounted for the funds provided by UN-Habitat?
• Integrity and Governance
  • The organization should complete and submit a signed Partner Declaration Form.
  • Provide the profiles of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Head of the Organization and Chief of Finance.

Instruction to Applicants

1. Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered;
2. Proposals and accompanying documents submitted to a different email addresses will not be considered. Any clarification queries and correspondences should also be sent by email;
3. Proposals failing to provide the requested information will be disregarded;
4. Applicant’s proposal and accompanying documents must clearly indicate the CFP reference: CFP/1-2020/PFES-GPSP;
5. All prices must be in USD;
6. Proposal language is English language. They also accept submissions in French and Spanish language.

For more information, visit https://unhabitat.org/node/144644