Deadline: 15-Feb-23
The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is inviting concept notes for the Building Climate Resiliency in Asia Through Inclusive Approaches.
The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), with support from the Government of Sweden, launched the Strategic Collaborative Fund Phase II (SCF2) programme in 2018 to enhance the current 2030 Agenda efforts in Asia and the Pacific. SCF2 aims to foster regional cooperation and policy dialogue for sustainable development, environmental sustainability, and climate adaptation and mitigation through capacity building, knowledge sharing and increased collaboration.
Thematic Areas
This call will support four regional policy dialogue proposals that cover the following thematic areas:
- Bridging Climate Finance Gaps through Inclusive Approaches
- Asia is one of the world’s most disaster-prone regions, and the population vulnerability has been exacerbated by the economic damage caused by climate change. The financial cost from natural hazard and climate change has grown and disproportionately affects marginalized people. A report from the UNFCCC estimated that additional investments and financial flows needed to address climate change in 2030 would amount to 0.3 – 0.5% of global GDP and 1.1 – 1.7% of global investment.
- Catalysing Biodiversity Conservation through Nature-based Solutions
- Home to over 30 biodiversity hotspots, Asia is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Yet, many of these resources are in a threatened state due to unsustainable land-use practices, overexploitation and habitat loss, and climate change, among other reasons. The unprecedented rate of biodiversity loss will have a significant impact on the well-being of people, the prosperity of the planet, and ecosystems services.
- Regional Policy Initiatives for Circular Economy Transitions
- The concept of a circular economy has been gaining traction as policy makers, the private sector and international organizations are finding innovative ways to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth as well as climate resilience. Although various work has been done to support the transition from linear practices (i.e., those that do not aim to close the loop in lifecycle terms), regional commitments and initiatives remain limited. Furthermore, business and policy developments related to the circular economy should be linked and—synergized where possible—to other sustainability practices, to improve their effectiveness. In addition, numerous concepts and definitions of circular economy can complicate cross-country and cross-sectoral learning and coordination of efforts in the region.
- Partnerships for Climate Actions
- In 2020, the United Nations launched the ‘Decade of Action’ as a call to accelerate sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges, including climate change. However, limited progress has been made and they are at a risk of not achieving the SDGs especially on efforts to combat climate change and its impacts. The failure in doing so will affect billions of people, leaving them in vulnerable states. One of the main challenges is the lack of policy coherence and lack of coordination across different stakeholders, which makes it more difficult to integrate the progress, especially integrating local actors into the policy processes.
Funding Information
- SCF2 will support four proposals from consortiums that have at least three organizations, preferably from multiple countries in Southeast and South Asia.
- Each proposal should cover one of the four thematic areas. The budget for each proposal should not exceed SEK 500,000 and the proposed activities should be concluded by August 2023.
Expected Results and Outcomes
- Ultimately, the proposed regional policy dialogues will contribute to regional policy processes that build resilience against the adverse impacts of climate change in Southeast and South Asia through inclusive adaptation and mitigation measures, such as inclusive climate finance, application of nature-based solutions, circular economy, and partnerships for climate actions.
- This is in line with the Government of Sweden’s Asia-Pacific Regional Strategy that advances environmentally and climate resilient sustainable development with the focus on human rights, gender equality and poverty reduction. Similarly, the proposals should also be aligned and synergised with SEI’s strategy to reduce climate risks, promote sustainable resource use, and improve health and well-being.
- Apart from the organization of the regional policy dialogues, the selected partners need to plan and produce communications and policy products that will disseminate key lessons and messages from the projects to a wider audience, policy makers and key stakeholders. A final partner report is expected from each project which lays out project results and identifies the next steps required to achieve the intended impacts. To achieve the intended outcomes and impact, SEI will provide capacity building support to the partners, particularly on the mainstreaming of gender and rightsbased approaches and policy impact pathways.
Criteria on event’s outcomes and impacts
- Focus on practical policy actions with concrete regional policy pathway and outcomes.
- Indicate which are the primary SDGs in focus, preferably limiting to two other SDGs, in addition to Climate Actions (SDG 13).
- Explicitly describe the assessment of relevant regional policy processes along with its significance and targeting approach.
- Showcase the linkage between the proposed event and your organizations’ mission and operations.
- Apply innovative approaches to enhance meaningful and active participation from policy makers and people with marginalized identities and/or in a position of vulnerability.
- Indicate strong potential to build partnerships across diverse stakeholders to tackle environmental and climate change issues in Asia.
Potential Target Beneficiaries
- Grassroots communities
- Local and national governments
- Grassroots communities
- Children and youth
- Policy makers
- Civil society
- The Embassy of Sweden
- SEI
- Partners
- Civil Societies, nongovernmental orgs.
- Private sector and small enterprises
- Regional and international organizations e.g., ASEAN, MRC, etc.
Selection Criteria
- Criteria on grantees and consortium characteristics
- The application must be submitted in the form of the consortium of 3-4 organizations (including the lead institution).
- The consortium must comprise of at least one local/national grassroots organization representing marginalized and/or vulnerable groups.
- Multi-country partnerships are strongly encouraged for diversity, equal opportunities and regional collaboration.
- Criteria of event design
- Provide evidence of regional-level outreach and scope in the Asia region (South and Southeast Asia), as opposed to a country-level event.
- Address one of the four thematic focus and its relevance to climate resilience and environmentally sustainable and inclusive development.
- Demonstrate how the event leads to positive impacts on gender equality, rights-based approaches and poverty reduction throughout the event’s rationale, design, implementation, and follow-up.
- Demonstrate how the event would target and benefit the citizens of the region, with particular attention to the poor, women and other marginalized groups.
- Ensure diverse participation including the public sector, private sector, civil society organizations, research and academic institutions, development partners and grassroots organizations.
- The event or series of events can be arranged either in-person format or hybrid mode with live streaming.
- Demonstrate proponents’ institutional capacity for organizing regional events.
- The event must convene diverse participation and gender balance of relevant stakeholders in the panels and participants.
- The proposed event must ensure regional outreach through popular media coverage
For more information, visit SEI.