Deadline: 13 October 2019
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) implemented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Malaysia is seeking proposals for its Youth & Climate Innovation Programme.
Program Objectives
- Young people are increasingly aware of the seriousness of climate change problem and the impacts affecting them. They have enthusiasm and passion to contribute to climate action. However, youth in developing countries in particular very often face the barriers to implement their ideas, due to lack of awareness, education and skills, and funding. This Innovation Program proposes to address these issues by empowering and engaging youth to implement climate action through training, awareness and practical projects.
- The program will identify and support innovative pilot projects in selected countries and showcase the results and share lessons at the global level to demonstrate practical and specific ways for youth engagement in advancing energy system transformation and concrete measures to address climate change in their countries and globally.
- When selecting projects, priority will be given to creative and innovative youth-led experimental initiatives, which can inspire others. The projects should foster youth leadership, learning, sustainability and self-reliance and, ideally, have a potential for scaling up through national policies and frameworks. The most successful initiatives will be featured globally as success stories for youth climate action. The project proponents will also be recognized at COPs and other global events. The project information and success stories will be included in relevant online platforms and other communication channels (managed by SGP, UNFCCC, UN, UNDP, GEF and other partners).
Priority Themes
The program will support youth-led climate projects at the local and country levels that aims to provide young people an opportunity to implement impactful and innovative local ideas. The program also hopes to identify successful approaches, which can be elevated beyond local level to help raise ambition and inspire youth at the country and global levels. The program also aspires to connect young climate activists and practitioners globally to facilitate knowledge sharing and exchange of good practices.
The projects will be selected in accordance with SGP criteria and operational guidelines focusing on the following themes.
Theme 1: “Green jobs” for young generation: The projects will pilot practical, economically sustainable community-based initiatives addressing climate change and improving livelihoods for young generation. They may focus on one of the following themes:
- Renewable and energy efficiency technologies for productive use that results in youth employment and/or supporting youth entrepreneurship. Relevant project examples from SGP climate change portfolio include creation of youth-led enterprises (e.g. green charcoal production and solar energy entrepreneurs), provision of vocational training (e.g. trainings for inner-city youth on renewable technologies; rural youth on solar technology, etc.);
- Youth-led initiatives that implements nature-based solutions to climate change, leading to income generation and improved livelihoods. Relevant projects examples from SGP portfolio across focal areas include, coastal and mangrove restoration, community-based forest restoration and REDD+ initiatives.
Theme 2: Develop awareness, skills and competencies of young people to lead climate action on local, national and global levels: The projects selected under this theme will focus on raising awareness of youth, creating learning opportunities and supporting outreach initiatives implemented by young people on local and national levels. The projects can be local and/or national and could include CSO-Government Dialogues focusing on youth and climate issues and have potential national and global policy and programme linkages. These initiatives could involve active use of social media, art and music. The projects may also help develop ability of young people to influence policies related to climate change through targeted training and participation in national, regional and global networks. The projects should be able to reach large audiences, demonstrate innovation, impact, potential for regional or global reach, and policy influence. These initiatives will be linked to national policies, particularly NDCs, and UNFCCC global civil society mobilization efforts focusing on raising awareness and youth participation in global climate policy processes as well as to UN wide youth engagement efforts.
Grant Information
Maximum grant amount: US$50,000
Eligible Project Activities
- Proposals should be bold, innovative, and transformative, and have the potential for replication and scaling up.
- Successful projects should consider strong social inclusion elements, including gender equality and women’s empowerment, indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities.
- All applications should explicitly state the plan for measuring and evaluating the impact of the work and show quantifiable results in line with the National Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Eligible Organisation
- Locally registered Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). GEF SGP Malaysia grants are available ONLY for not-for-profit NGOs/CBOs/CSOs, etc. Applicant who fail to provide a copy of certificate of registration will not be considered for full proposal development.
- Local registered bank account of the organisation.
- Organisation must have strong organizational capacity to implement SGP grant projects and meet SGP requirements.
Expected Results
The program is expected to generate highly innovative and visible youth-led projects, which can be featured globally and serve as an inspiration and example for youth engagement in climate action that are critical for implementation of Paris Agreement. The lessons learned from this pilot program will potentially inform longer-term initiative focusing on youth engagement, “green” employment and income generation engaging private sector. In the course of the program implementation SGP will facilitate knowledge sharing and exchanges between young program participants. The program results will also inform further strengthening partnership with UNFCCC and facilitate creation of youth climate action network among the young climate champions, which will help support youth mobilization and raising ambition for climate action on the ground.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND OUTREACH
The results of the Innovation Program will be disseminated widely through collaborative activities targeting young people globally to inspire and replicate successes. SGP in collaboration with UNFCCC will organize events to showcase success stories and celebrate climate leaders emerging from the partnership activities and projects at the UNFCCC COPs, including Young and Future Generations and Education Days and other relevant international fora such as Climate Weeks, International Summits etc. Case studies and audiovisual materials will be developed and accessible online. SGP, UNFCCC and partners will also continue to support Global Youth Video Competition on Climate Change linking young climate activists with youth grantees participating in the Innovation Program encouraging knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas.
How to Apply
The concept Proposal template and the Guidance Notes document can be downloaded via given website.
For more information, please visit http://sgpmalaysia.org/index.cfm?&menuid=84