Until 30 May 2022, civil society organisations in Benin can apply for funds between 30.000 to 100.000 Euros to realise projects in the field of climate change and biodiversity. The new funding programme implemented by “Le Fonds national pour l’Environnement et le Climat” (National Fund for Environment and Climate, FNEC) in Benin was made possible on the basis of a close cooperation with the German initiative “IKI Small Grants”.
IKI Small Grants is a programme of the German Environment Ministry (BMUV) within the framework of its International Climate Initiative (IKI) to finance small-scale projects and to strengthen smaller actors in the fields of climate and biodiversity worldwide. It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ).
Besides launching annual International Calls for Proposals, IKI Small Grants pursues the goal of passing on its comprehensive knowledge on funding instruments to national organisations in partner countries. This component, called “funding institutions”, strengthens the capacities of national and regional institutions in order to start local funding programmes. Selected institutions receive technical support from GIZ as well as funding of up to 850,000 Euros to implement their own call for proposals or funding line for small-scale projects and measures at local level.
In early 2022, FNEC in Benin is the first institution to launch its own call for proposal with the support of IKI Small Grants. FNEC was founded in 2003 as a financial instrument under the supervision of the Ministry of Living Environment and Sustainable Development in Benin. The organisation strongly supports the idea, that decentralized approaches play a major role in the implementation of Benin’s environmental and climate policies. The new funding mechanism will contribute to the implementation of such decentralized approaches by supporting promising projects of non-governmental organizations. In doing so, FNEC will not only finance the projects but also help to strengthen the capacities of the selected organisations and support them with monitoring and evaluation of project implementation and the dissemination of their results.
The FNEC call for proposal addresses civil society organisations operating on Beninese territory, that are working in the sector of climate change and environment (biodiversity). Organisations that fulfil the specified set of eligibility criteria are warmly invited to apply with project ideas in the field of adaptation, mitigation and biodiversity conservation in the agricultural and the water sector. All information on the project requirements as well as eligibility criteria can be found on the FNEC website. The call will be open until 30 May 2022.
More information on the IKI Small Grants Initiative: “New approaches for climate and biodiversity action in Benin”.