The third call for proposals by IKI Small Grants is open from 15 December 2021 until 15 April 2022. In a one-stage selection procedure, small regional, national and local organisations based in an ODA-eligible country can apply directly for funding of the implementation of local or regional climate and biodiversity projects. IKI Small Grants is part or the German Environment Ministry’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) and provides funding between EUR 60,000 and EUR 200,000 per project.
Local initiatives for tailored solutions
From funding solar-powered water pumps for women smallholder farmers in India to supporting eco-schools in Malawi to ecological restoration of wetlands in Colombia: IKI Small Grants supports local actors to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to the impacts of climate change and conserve forests and biodiversity worldwide. It aims to support small, local and innovative ideas while helping implementing organisations develop and expand their own capacity and networks.
The selected organisations are accompanied and supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which implements the IKI Small Grants Programme on behalf of the German Environment Ministry.
100 small-scale projects on climate and biodiversity action worldwide
Under the IKI Small Grants programme, more than 100 projects are to be selected via international calls for proposals and funded with up to 200,000 euros each by 2025. Two calls for proposals have already been implemented through IKI Small Grants and 74 projects in 40 countries have been selected.
In this year’s call, IKI Small Grants further explicitly encourages applications that refer to the current UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, promote gender equality and/or engage youth.
Deutsche Welle (DW) , Germany’s international broadcaster, visited the the non-governmental orgaganisation CESTA in El Salvador. With its IKI Small Grants project “Building capacities to reduce the impacts of climate change in urban areas near San Salvador”, CESTA works on strengthening the climate resilience of the local population. In order to achieve this, they are implementing various measures in the region. CESTA’s staff members provide theoretical and practical knowledge on sustainable food production and consumption as well as on how to implement effective ecosystem rehabilitation. Deutsche Welle followed their activities on camera to feature CESTA’s work as part of their “Global 3000” magazine. Available in English and German:
The IKI Small Grants Programme commissioned by the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) has selected 38 climate and biodiversity projects in its second international call for proposals. It will fund projects with 60,000 to 200,000 euros each. In addition, 6 national and regional institutions in partner countries will be supported in implementing their own call for proposals and funding lines.
This is already the second international call for proposals carried out by IKI Small Grants.
Small sub-national, national and regional organisations based in an ODA*-eligible country were able to apply directly for funding to implement local or regional climate and biodiversity projects. Over 500 applications from all over the world were submitted, from which 38 particularly ambitious and sustainable projects in 23 countries were selected for funding.
The total funding volume is 4.35 million euros and includes projects in the funding areas of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the impacts of climate change, conserving biological diversity, and conserving natural carbon sinks with a focus on REDD+. The projects are going to start in the next few months and are committed to e.g. protect endangered ecosystems, expand renewable energies, promote climate-neutral agriculture or environmental and awareness raising.
Many projects strengthen particularly vulnerable groups and explicitly aim to improve the situation of women. For example, a project in Tanzania aims to strengthen women in biodiversity conservation and involves them in the management of two coastal zones. In Indonesia, the power supply of a sustainable herb and spice cooperative is promoted through the rehabilitation of a micro hydropower plant. A mangrove and dry forest reforestation project in Guatemala will support private networks of protected areas to merge them into a conservation corridor. Another project from Kenya will promote the financing of solar-powered water pumps for smallholder farmers as borrowers through insured micro-credits, thus contributing to adapted agriculture and strengthening food security for the target group.
In addition to the individual projects, 6 national and regional funding institutions were selected and will receive up to 850,000 euros. They will implement their own call for proposals and funding lines for local projects and measures. For example, the National Development Bank Botswana would like to offer pro-rata funding for renewable energy and water-saving equipment for farms. In India, Pakistan and Tajikistan, the Aga Khan Foundation is planning to launch a call for proposals for innovative approaches by small and medium-sized enterprises (“Business Challenge”) in the land use sector. And in Ecuador, IKI Small Grants will support the National Biodiversity Institute to launch a school competition focusing on energy and water-saving installations, recycling systems, and school gardens. In addition to the provision of funds, the institutions are strengthened through intensive support in carrying out their own selection procedures.
“Small actors on the ground are the basis for effective climate action and biodiversity conservation worldwide. Through IKI Small Grants, we finance very specific projects and local solutions and at the same time support the selected organisations in developing even greater impact through networking and capacity development. The selected funding institutions also ensure that this approach to climate and biodiversity promotion is carried into their countries and regions,” says Nana Künkel, Head of IKI Small Grants, which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
IKI Small Grants is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag.
El Salvador is the smallest but most densely populated country in Central America. 300 kilometres of coastline, volcanoes and forests characterise its landscape and result in a wide climatic diversity.
The country is, though, severely affected by the consequences of climate change. Severe droughts destroy crops and cause forest fires, whilst strong hurricanes lead to destruction. In addition, progressive soil degradation and ongoing urbanization processes are increasingly threatening food quality and water supplies.
Non-governmental organisations such as “CESTA Friends of the Earth” have been active in the field of climate and biodiversity protection for many decades.
In doing so, they have achieved important milestones, led by the introduction of several national Laws, namely the laws for the Promotion of Bicycles, for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in environmental work as well as the law to ban Metal Mining.
A sustainable future for El Salvador
CESTA (Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology) is one of the first organisations worldwide to increase their environmental impact with the support of the new IKI Small Grants programme of the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU). IKI small grants will thereby not only finance CESTA’s new project “Building capacities to reduce the impacts of climate change in urban areas near San Salvador” but also accompany the NGO in its ambition to grow and implement even more ambitious actions for a sustainable future through a customized capacity development strategy.
With its project start in May 2021 and over the course of two years, CESTA will work with various social groups, including religious communities as well as young environmental activists. Together, they aim to systematically and sustainably address environmental issues in three urban regions around the capital San Salvador focusing on jointly developed and concrete adaptation measures.
A key aspect of the project is its strong focus on gender equality
These measures include assisting small-scale farmers to efficiently increase seed biodiversity, organising educational programmes in schools to promote sustainable lifestyles and introducing local composting systems to counteract soil erosion. A key aspect of the project is its strong focus on gender equality. CESTA actively involves and strengthens women’s organisations in the production of organic and local food to lead the transformation of agricultural practices.
“These working alliances with IKI will contribute to leading municipalities on the path to sustainability. They allow us not only to implement concrete solutions to existing problems, but also raise awareness about the need to protect the resources of Mother Nature, with the establishment of schools for political environmental training, incorporating especially young people and women.”
Ricardo Navarro, president of CESTA
All project activities are based on a sound analysis of CESTA’s professional experiences and capacities. Strengths and weaknesses as well as potentials of the institution have been identified during a workshop in spring 2021, in order to fully utilize existing skills and to further develop over the course of the project. To achieve this, CESTA works in close cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which implements the IKI Small Grants programme on behalf of BMU. Setting up trainings on project development and management as well as environmental policy trainings in schools, and promoting youth involvement are only some of the various components of CESTA´s project in the next two years. Some of these trainings will be facilitated in cooperation with GIZ El Salvador.
As Ricardo Navarro, president of CESTA stated: “These working alliances with IKI will contribute to leading municipalities on the path to sustainability. They allow us not only to implement concrete solutions to existing problems, but also raise awareness about the need to protect the resources of Mother Nature, with the establishment of schools for political environmental training, incorporating especially young people and women.”
In addition to the practical improvements on the ground, the strong awareness-raising component of the project will contribute to increasing pressure on the legislative assembly to refocus on even more ambitious environmental laws.
With an enormous participation of about 520 project entries, the second call for proposals of the IKI Small Grants programme ended on the 9 February. More than 500 organisations from 83 developing and emerging countries have submitted applications to the funding programme of he Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) for the protection of the climate or biodiversity.
All complete project applications received will be subjected to a technical and legal/commercial evaluation and selected in consultation with the BMU in due time. The IKI Small Grants Team of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is responsible for the assessment. Grants can amount to up to 200,000 euros under certain circumstances.
All applicants are informed whether their application has been selected for funding (or not) after the selection process has been completed.
About 80 percent of project applications has been received from Africa and Asia
Applications have been received mostly from Africa and Asia and accounted for about 80 percent of project applications while Europe and Latin America represent about 20 percent of submitted project applications submitted. All applications reflect a wide variety of activities. The topics with which the organisations applied range from culture, education, health and mobility to energy efficiency and agriculture. Most have very concrete plans at the local level. Submitted project applications include proposals for supporting specific communities in the control and management of invasive plant species or using education to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change.
Two-thirds of the projects submitted relate to the funding areas of adaptation to the impacts of climate change and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Among other things, organisations have submitted applications to support the construction of solar irrigation systems or to promote particularly vulnerable population groups such as women and children in climate-relevant training programmes.
IKI Small Grants – specifically its ‘International Calls’ funding line – aims to support small subnational, national and regional organisations. These must be based and registered in countries that meet the criteria for Official Development Assistance (ODA) defined by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The selection process is single-staged; organisations apply directly for a grant to implement local or regional climate and biodiversity projects. A special feature of IKI Small Grants is its capacity development strategy. That means that selected projects – within the framework of financial support as well as through the GIZ external structure in the partner countries – receive special support for their organisational capacity development.
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) has launched the second call for proposals under the IKI Small Grants programme with funds from the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ).
Small non-governmental organisations and initiatives based in developing and emerging nations working on climate change mitigation or biodiversity can now apply for funding until 9 February 2021.
Programme for small-scale projects boosts local climate change mitigation initiatives
The aim of the IKI Small Grants programme is to support project proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are creatively tailored to local needs. Projects that help bolster the ability to adapt to climate change, forest protection efforts or biodiversity protection efforts will also be eligible for funding. Concepts focusing on achieving gender equality are particularly welcome.
The programme aims to select more than 100 projects by 2025 through international competitions to receive up to 100,000 euros in funding each (or up to 200,000 euros for projects to reduce emissions or adapt to climate change). The first call for funding proposals under the IKI Small Grants programme in early 2020 has already selected 38 projects in 27 countries to receive some three million euros of funding.
Virtual launch event
FIn addition to publishing the Funding Information on 1 December 2020, a virtual launch event will be held on 7 and 8 December to present the funding programme to the public.
