European Tropical Forest Research Network

See also our funding opportunities page

ASIA PRO ECO II

The Asia Pro Eco programme has now been merged with Asia Urbs to create the Asia Pro Eco II, a new programme for the urban environment in 2005. Asia Pro Eco II is designed to specifically fund EU-Asia partnership projects in the field of the Urban Environment. The Call for Proposals for 2005 has been published, with a single deadline of 5 April 2005. More details about the Guidelines for Applicants can be found on the ‘How to Apply’ section of the Asia Pro Eco II website.

The objective of the Asia Pro Eco II is to draw the EU and Asia closer together through institutional and operational partnerships and networks to tackle major issues on the protection and remediation of the urban environment. The programme aims to promote the sharing of innovative technologies, best practices, policies, measures, and capacity-building which can improve the quality of life and environmental conditions of urban populations in Asia.

Public and non-profit organisations in Asia and EU can submit project proposals for funding. Activities such as the organisation of working conferences, diagnostic studies, policy advice, feasibility studies, technology partnership and demonstration activities in the field of environment can be considered for funding under the Programme.

For further information, please contact the staff of the Asia Pro Eco Programme.

E-mail: europeaid-asia-pro-eco@cec.eu.int
Fax: + 32 2 2984863
Website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/ projects/asia-pro-eco2/index_en.htm

EU SMALL GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY FORESTRY IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

The EU-funded, UNDP-managed small grants programme for activities which promote tropical forests in South and Southeast Asia (SGP PTF) has recently expanded since the first call for proposals was announced in January 2003. The SGP PTF provides small grants (between € 20000 and € 150000) to community led initiatives that promote sustainable management of tropical forests.

Since January 2003 the SGP PTF has received 724 formal proposals from community groups in Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, of which 69 have received funding. The SGP PTF now also covers Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and efforts are underway to further expand into Cambodia and Lao PDR. The SGP PTF mandate is to carry out grant making activities until December 2007 and has a total budget of 15 million Euro.

The SGP PTF focusses on the rural poor living in and from forests in the region. The practice and principle of the SGP PTF is that individual country programmes are countryled both in terms of their overall strategy and project selection. The National Steering Committees (NSC) are entirely responsible for the selection and approval of grants. The NSCs consist mainly of senior experts but the National Government, EC and UNDP are also represented. Application procedures take into account the generally low capacity of community groups and therefore short concept papers in local languages are encouraged. Despite the low capacity of many of the applicants and the enormous demand for small grants, processing from receipt of application, further development of a concept to full proposal and final approval can take as little as three to six months.

The SGP PTF fits well into the current opportunities provided by the general drive towards decentralisation by national governments of the management of natural resources. Increased awareness of the failures of centralised State control to manage natural resources has led to a plethora of initiatives, policies and laws that increasingly recognise the rights, roles and obligations of communities in the sustainable management of their natural resources. Implementation of these community centred policies and laws is however nascent as is the awareness or ability of rural communities to engage local government in these new found rights and responsibilities. Forest dependent communities in the region, who form the central focus of SGP PTF funding, are often the most marginalized and have hardly any access to either state or donor resources.

Focussing on forest dependent communities the SGP PTF has actively engaged with indigenous peoples and rural poor in developing alternative sustainable livelihoods and to bring back to the fore indigenous forest management practices to ensure the sustainable use of their forest resources. The SGP PTF recognises the need for active coalitions of a broad range sustainability post grant funding. Furthermore the SGP PTF has sought to increase the immediate impact of country programmes through joint funding initiatives with other small grant donors, local government funding and the private sector. The most important co-financing initiatives to date have been established with the GEF funded small grants programme and a total of 9 joint projects with the GEF SGP have been approved to date.

For further information on this unique funding facility please refer to the SGP PTF website at http://www.sgpptf.org or make direct contact with:

Mark Sandiford
Regional Programme Coordinator
E-mail: mark.sandiford@undp.org

RAMSAR SMALL GRANTS FUND

The Ramsar Small Grants Fund was established by Ramsar COP4 in 1990 as a mechanism to assist developing countries and those with economies in transition in implementing the Convention and to enable the conservation and wise use of wetland resources. Since that time, it has provided funding and co-funding, up to 40,000 Swiss francs (about US$ 34,000) per project, for something like 175 projects totaling about 7 million francs. Suitable project proposals are those that contribute to the implementation of the Convention’s Strategic Plan 2003-2008 for the conservation and wise use of wetlands; provide emergency assistance for Ramsar sites; or provide ‘preparatory assistance’ to allow non-Contracting Parties to progress toward accession. Eligibility is restricted to countries on the List of Aid Recipients established by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), effectively meaning developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Projects may be proposed and implemented by any agency, NGO, or individual, but proposals MUST be endorsed and monitored by the Administrative Authority (the Ramsar implementing agency) in the Party’s government, and seldom is more than one proposal approved from the same Party in any year. Successful proposals receive 80% of the allocated funds upon signature of the contract and the remainder upon submission of an adequate final report, but countries from which adequate final project reports have not been received may be denied further consideration for funding until those outstanding project dossiers have been closed.

Projects for the 2004 cycle will be selected by the Standing Committee’s Subgroup on Finance in March 2005. The call for proposals is now being made for the 2005 cycle, with a deadline of 30 June 2005 for application and with a decision by the Standing Committee around the end of the year. The current edition of the “SGF Operational Guidelines”, which include complete information and the required forms, are now available on the Ramsar Web site, as well as directly from the Secretariat. The Secretariat’s regional teams also offer an advisory service to help with the preparation of suitable proposals, for which drafts should be submitted to the Senior Regional Advisors by 15 April 2005.

Readers can also find lists of successful project proposals and news reports of successfully completed projects, which may provide useful tips as to the kinds of projects and approaches most often selected for assistance, on the Ramsar website at: http://ramsar.org/key_sgf_index.htm

For further information about the Ramsar Convention or the Small Grants Fund, please contact:

The Ramsar Convention Bureau
Rue Mauverney 28
CH-1196 Gland
Switzerland
Phone: +41 22 9990170
Fax +41 22 9990169
E-mail: ramsar@ramsar.org

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