Tag: biodiversity

Local projects, global impact: How Germany promotes biodiversity

Written by Bosse Klama on 22. May 2026. Posted in News.

On the International Day for Biological Diversity we present several IKI Small Grants projects that promote the protection of biodiversity.

Biodiversity is not an abstract concept – it shapes our daily lives. It keeps our soils fertile, our water clean, and our food systems functioning. From wetlands and forests to rivers and urban green spaces, healthy ecosystems are essential for our well-being, our economies, and our future.

As the global community prepares to review progress at the upcoming United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Armenia, local initiatives send a clear message: global biodiversity commitments only matter if they include local action – and that implementation is already underway.

Effective support for local initiatives worldwide

This year’s International Day of Biological Diversity is under the motto “Act locally for global impact”. Discover the range of local biodiversity projects supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) Small Grants Programme across various regions and ecosystems:

Inspiring youth to protect biodiversity

Children went outside to search for signs of biodiversity, documenting spiders, birds and insects that they had never noticed before.

In Ecuador, the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO) engaged young people to advance nature conservation and systemic change. The team invited students to explore the biodiversity in their immediate surroundings – for many it was the first time.

The youths documented spiders, birds and insects. What began as curiosity quickly turned into awareness and action. Participating schools established ecological gardens and composting systems, and installed solar panels to provide renewable electricity for school operations. In some schools, new rainwater‑harvesting systems now ensure sustainable resource use. One school added a greenhouse to improve school nutrition – directly linking environmental action with everyday well-being.

The initiative reached 13 schools, including one inclusive school, and engaged more than 8,000 students, teachers and community members.

Restoring wetlands in Zimbabwe

Driefontein Grassland is home to endangered species, including globally threatened cranes.

In Central Zimbabwe, Driefontein Grassland stands out as a lifeline for both people and nature. Recognised under the Ramsar Convention as a ‘Wetland of International Importance’, it is a critical watershed and biodiversity hotspot. However, population growth, erratic rainfall, agricultural encroachment and overgrazing are putting this fragile ecosystem at risk.

With support from IKI Small Grants, BirdLife Zimbabwe works hand in hand with local communities to reverse this trend. Together with 60 households, the initiative promotes sustainable farming and grazing practices that protect the wetland while strengthening local livelihoods.

By combining habitat restoration with community stewardship, the project safeguards water resources and enhances ecosystem resilience. This ensures the long-term protection of biodiversity and the local population’s livelihoods.

Hands-on forest conservation in the Philippines

Native tree seedlings are being planted at a tree nursery on Cebu Island.

On Cebu Island in the Philippines, the Soil and Water Conservation Foundation (SWCFI) brings biodiversity protection into the classroom. Students and teachers map local species, monitor biodiversity, and actively protect their surrounding ecosystems. Tree nurseries and small greenhouses make conservation tangible.

Working with the Department of Education, the model is now being integrated into the school system – paving the way for replication across the island and beyond.

Women leading marine conservation in Tanzania

Female fish workers are trained in ecosystem conservation, including the protection of sea turtles.

Along Tanzania’s coast, rich marine ecosystems are under pressure from destructive fishing practices. With IKI Small Grants support, local organisation Sea Sense helped coastal communities to take a leading role in marine conservation. At its core were 160 women fish workers.

What was once policy is now practice: women are actively shaping local governance and conservation efforts: Through training, mentoring and hands-on engagement, they develop local action plans, monitor marine wildlife and work with community leaders.

The project links biodiversity protection with the livelihoods of people and strengthens valuable ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrass meadows and coral reefs in the long term. At the same time the project builds knowledge and skills among the local population so that they can engage in biodiversity frameworks at local, national and international levels – ensuring lasting impact beyond the project.

Find out more about the initiatives:
Ecuador: Education for Sustainable Development in Schools

Philippines: Youth Hands-on Biodiversity Conservation and Management

Tanzania: Empowering Female Fish Workers for Participatory Coastal Management in Tanzania

Zimbabwe: Enhancing Biodiversity and Restoring Bird Populations in Driefontein’s Wetlands

About IKI Small Grants

IKI Small Grants is strengthening local solutions for effective climate and biodiversity action. The programme is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). IKI Small Grants fosters bottom-up solutions while strengthening capacities of local actors. It is run by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Across diverse ecosystems the programme strengthens participation, promotes gender equality, and empowers youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities for sustainable impacts. More than 40 initiatives specifically focus on biodiversity. Between 2019 and 2025, IKI Small Grants projects have contributed to the effective protection or sustainble management of around 98,000 hectares – an area roughly equivalent to 170,000 football fields.

South Africa: Conserving Nature and Heritage for Livelihoods

Written by Bosse Klama on 21. May 2026. Posted in News.

With IKI Small Grants, a South African social enterprise proved that conserving biodiversity and culture can go hand in hand with income generation.

When Hendreas Vaalboi gazes upon the expansive land surrounding the modern museum building that was once an abandoned old farm, he sees the land of his people. Hendreas belongs to the San, an indigenous group that represents one of the world’s oldest continuous cultures and one of the last hunter-gatherer societies on earth. It’s people reside in countries across southern Africa. Hendreas also sees a rich natural environment that deserves protection. The land has always provided his people with so much, from food to medicine and more.

A centre for education and employment

Just north of Cape Town, South Africa, a non-profit organisation established a centre to promote and preserve this heritage. The !Khwa ttu San Culture and Education Centre functions as both a museum about the San culture and a tourism destination, offering accommodation, guided tours, a restaurant serving locally sourced traditional food, and a gift shop featuring handcrafted products. The centre creates job opportunities and provides training for community members. It also supports small, San led businesses, including crafters, as well as initiatives like traditional dance groups. Ultimately, the centre aims to become a self-sustaining social enterprise. It also functions as a community hub, particularly for young San people.

For Hendreas Vaalbooi, who leads the restoration team at !Khwa ttu, protecting nature is essential to the San people.

Protecting nature in a biodiversity hotspot

The centre, locally referred to as the “embassy” of the San people, is situated within a Biosphere Reserve, a biodiversity hotspot that hosts globally unique but endangered species. To address habitat loss, the initiative supported by IKI Small Grants established conditions for the Centre’s 850-hectare farm to be legally-zoned as a conservation area. This initiative enables endemic and indigenous vegetation to recover naturally. Active measures to restore the local ecosystem, known as “Fynbos”, included the removal of invasive species and the establishment of plant nurseries.

The project leveraged the indigenous San people’s knowledge about plants and their uses, with young San individuals being trained as biodiversity ambassadors. More than half of the staff on the reserve are women. One of them is Nunke Khadimo, who works as a Nature Guide. She educates visitors about the precious nature reserve surrounding the Centre, which is rich in biodiversity.

International recognition for a successful initiative

During the project supported by IKI Small Grants, the centre welcomed over 40,000 visitors, including 2,400 students. The centre’s successful integration of biodiversity conservation with income-generating activities such as environmental and cultural education and tourism serves as a model for others. It has already received several national and international awards, recognising its impactful approach and work.

Project success secures continued support from IKI Small Grants

The !Khwa ttu San Culture and Education Centre successfully applied for a second IKI Small Grants grant, extending support until 2027 to further protect and restore the valuable Fynbos ecosystems. Educational programmes and biodiversity protection measures are being expanded, while the previously funded business model is being enhanced with an even greater focus on ecotourism. San community members from neighboring countries, Namibia and Botswana, will be trained in areas such as restaurant management and tour guiding.

More information:

!Khwa ttu – Conserving Biological Diversity

Restoring Historically Significant Ecosystems Through Eco-Tourism with the San People in Southern Africa

About IKI Small Grants

IKI Small Grants is strengthening local solutions for effective climate and biodiversity action. It is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). IKI Small Grants fosters bottom-up solutions while strengthening capacities of local actors. It is run by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Ecuadorian students planting new plants.

Inspiring Youth to Protect Biodiversity in Ecuador

Written by Bosse Klama on 9. December 2025. Posted in News.

With support from the International Climate Initiative, Ecuador’s National Institute of Biodiversity (INABIO) worked with 13 pilot schools around the country to create hands-on biodiversity education rooted in local ecosystems.

What began as a small-scale initiative has now reached over 1,000 schools nationwide through integration into Ecuador’s national curriculum. The project demonstrates how locally led, context-specific education – when trusted and funded – can start lasting systemic change nationwide.

A project rooted in the classroom

In one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, a national shift in environmental education is underway. With support from IKI Small Grants, Ecuador’s Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO) helped pioneer a new approach to teaching biodiversity – one that now reaches schools across the country. It began with just thirteen schools. Through a pilot project, INABIO – supported by IKI Small Grants – set out to integrate biodiversity, climate change, and resource management into students’ everyday learning. But instead of arriving with a ready-made curriculum, they started with observation. “We didn’t arrive with a solution,” says Diego Inclán, Director of INABIO. “We arrived to the schools and learned from the community at the first stage. I mean the teachers, the kids, and the parents. We got the perception of what they feel, what they need – and then we developed tools together.”

Learning to see what was always there

The first step was reawakening perception. In many urban schools, biodiversity was something hidden or unfamiliar. INABIO’s team invited students to explore their surroundings, often for the first time. Equipped with smartphones and the iNaturalist app, which is part of a citizen science project for nature observation, children documented spiders, birds, or insects in schoolyards they’d never noticed before. “Some schools are not green at all,” Diego explains. “But we went outside to search for signs of biodiversity. And then they started to realise – there is biodiversity out there, even if it’s hiding.”

As part of the project’s sustainability interventions, each school received an ecological garden and a composting system. Solar benches were set up to encourage the use of renewable energy for powering educational equipment. Additionally, rainwater harvesting systems were introduced to improve water availability in schools with limited access to potable water. In one school, a greenhouse was installed to support its ongoing project aimed at using greenhouse-grown produce to improve students’ nutrition.

Students focused on documenting biodiversity and asking scientific questions about their local ecosystems. “We wanted to connect the story,” Diego says. “You find a spider – what does it mean? What relationship does it have with other animals, with the environment?”

For Emily Lara, who oversaw the technical implementation of the project, integration was key: “We can’t think about biodiversity if we’re not addressing problems with waste, water, or energy. These issues are interconnected. It’s difficult to talk about a bird or a species when the school doesn’t even have clean water.”

Emily Lara from INABIO oversaw the technical implementation of the biodiversity education project supported by IKI Small Grants.

Nationwide impact through the project

The pilot directly involved 13 schools, among them one inclusive school for children with disabilities, and over 8,000 students, teachers, and community members. But the project’s real breakthrough came unexpectedly – through a piece of homework. “One day I was at home,” Diego recalls. “And my daughter, who wasn’t in a pilot school, told me she’d been given homework to document biodiversity. I thought, ‘Wait, that’s our task!’ The Ministry of Education had taken one of our pilot activities and rolled it out to the entire education system.” That moment marked a major milestone. What started as a hands-on pilot had been adopted into Ecuador’s national curriculum. “It was a huge impact,” Diego says. “We didn’t know it was going to happen. But that’s the way to do it – get one activity into the curriculum, and then it repeats again and again.”

For Diego Inclán, Managing Director at INABIO, the support from IKI Small Grants was essential in elevating the project’s impact to a national level.

The power of supporting local institutions

The success of the project lies not only in the fruitful education initiative – it was also structural. For INABIO, this was the first time their work was formally brought into Ecuador’s education system. And that leap wouldn’t have been possible without the support – and trust – of IKI Small Grants. “If I go alone as INABIO with an idea, I probably won’t be heard,” Diego explains. “But when we said that this is part of an IKI Small Grants initiative, it made people listen.”

The Funding the Funders approach

Mijako Nierenköther, in charge of the funding line for Funding Institutions of the IKI Small Grants programme, says that’s precisely the intention of the “Funding the Funders” model: “We enable local institutions to lead. INABIO didn’t need to be told what to do – they needed trust, flexibility, and legitimacy to scale what they knew would work. That’s what our model supports.”

Emily Lara saw that principle come alive in practice. “It wasn’t just about the funding,” she says. “We were trusted to do it in our own way – and that made all the difference.” IKI Small Grants also supported the institutional strengthening of INABIO through various capacity development measures. These included the design and preparation of a Call for Proposals, the improvement of financial management procedures, and the enhancement of technical skills such as photography and camera handling for nature monitoring purposes. INABIO staff also received training to strengthen overall project management, along with the use of project management software to support these processes. In addition, the members of the institute attended an IKI Small Grants networking workshop to exchange experiences and discuss lessons learned with other funding institutions supported by IKI Small Grants.

Mijako Nierenköther, head of the IKI Small Grants funding line for funding institutions, attributes the success of the ‘Funding the Funders’ approach to the ownership by the funded organisations.

Lessons that travel beyond the schools

One of the project’s most powerful effects has been how it has reached homes and communities. “Kids go home really happy with what they learn,” Emily recalls. “They teach their parents and neighbours. We had one child come back and say, ‘My neighbour is composting now.’ That was really cool.” She was especially moved by the gendered impact. “Some girls didn’t even imagine they could be a biologist or a scientist. But after the workshops, one six-year-old said to me, ‘I will be a scientist once, and I will be like you.’ That was one of the objectives – seeing that change in them.”

A living curriculum, grounded in lived curiosity

For INABIO, the project is only in its first phase. Monitoring and follow-up will continue, but the foundation has been laid. As a public institution, INABIO plans to sustain the work beyond the life of the grant, directly alongside Ecuador’s Ministry of Education. “We believe that if you want to conserve something, you need to know what you want to conserve,” Diego says. “What we’re trying to do is help children recover that surprise – that emotion – when they see something like a spider. That curiosity is where the story begins.”

About IKI Small Grants

KI Small Grants, implemented by the German federal enterprise Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), funds local actors which are the driving force for change and essential for effective climate and biodiversity action worldwide. The programme is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), which is jointly commissioned by the German Federal Government. IKI Small Grants fosters bottom-up solutions while strengthening capacities of local actors.

You can find details about the Fund the Funders approach in this video:

From diesel to solar – Botswana’s farms go green

Written by Bosse Klama on 19. March 2025. Posted in News.

Teaming up with IKI Small Grants, the IKI funding programme for local climate and biodiversity action, Botswana’s National Development Bank offered local grants to help farmers transition to renewable energy solutions. For the bank, cooperating with IKI Small Grants promoted its own standing for further international climate financing.

By funding green farming practices, National Development Bank and IKI Small Grants generated positive climate impacts.

When Gorata Abotseng Lekau looks out over the fields of her farm in Botswana’s Kgatleng district, she sees more than the crops she grows and harvests. She sees a shift in what farming used to be, and what it can be in future: Predictable, reliable and consistent. “The dream of feeding the nation is becoming a reality,” she says. “That is what Botswana’s agenda is all about today.”

Besides contributing to national climate goals, Gorata sees tangible benefits in shifting her farming business to adopt a greener approach. “In the past, we waited for the rainy season to put seeds in the ground,” explains Lekau. We now have year-round production. “We are pumping water using solar and cutting expenses by about 70% a month,” she smiles.

Gorata Abotseng Lekau owns and runs Segogora Holdings and received a grant from National Development Bank. © NDB

Small grants for smallholders

For Ketumile Direng, responsible for mobilising resources and project management at the National Development Bank (NDB), this is the sort of shift the bank wanted to promote. “We want to transition the farming community to employ more green farming practices.” In 2022, NDB teamed up with IKI Small Grants in Germany to acquire €850,000 in funding for the bank’s call for proposals of its programme Green Energy Transition for Sustainable Agriculture.

Between June and August 2023, the bank invited farmers, horticultural producers and agribusinesses to apply for grants for introducing climate-smart agriculture. The enterprises each received 65% of the cost they were preparing to invest in replacing diesel generators and other climate friendly solutions as a grant.

Promoting renewable energy in off-grid areas

In Botswana, farms are mainly off-grid. Use of renewable energy is rare. Diesel generators used in farming are both costly and add up in the 11% of total national greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s agricultural sector. NDB’s fund disbursed grants to replace diesel engines or generators with water-efficient irrigation, solar water pumps, or install shade netting for water and energy efficiency, as well as solar photovoltaic systems.

Funding 59 farming businesses for sustainable impact

With funding from Germany, NDB provided funding to 59 smallholder farming businesses. “The number of people funded were just over a hundred.” However, the communities the bank reached numbered “hundreds of thousands” of people, Direng outlines. The bank also effected sustainable change among the businesses. “Beneficiaries experienced a paradigm mind shift. They adopted new and effective and efficient ways of doing business.”

The impact for environment and climate is substantial. On 25 hectares of farmland smallholders now water their plants through drip irrigation. “Replacing diesel pumps has saved about 770 tons of CO² emissions, and we are saving about 835 litres of diesel use per hectare. With efficient lighting and heating, we have saved 30,000 kilowatt hours of power.”

Funding the funders

The cooperation between NDB and IKI Small Grants shows how funding institutions can achieve impact through ownership of their calls for proposals for local climate and biodiversity action – with financial and technical support from the German programme’s funding line for funding institutions. As Eva Wuttge, responsible for funding institutions at IKI Small Grants explains, “Local institutions appreciate the autonomy. They know best how to achieve national climate and biodiversity targets through local projects, actors and networks.”

The advantage of working with local funding institutions, like banks and foundations, is that they know best what their target group needs. “The calls are in local languages promoted via radio, social media or local newspapers and for a very specific region. That makes it easier for local organisations or businesses to apply for and receive funding than for larger international calls for proposals.” Since 2021, IKI Small Grants has supported six funding institutions with up to €950,000 in financial support each. Their calls have financed some 89 small projects in nine countries.

Boosting reputation, capacity and visibility

The support package from Germany’s IKI Small Grants offers further support to institutions in improving their internal structures and processes and in training their staff. These measures, referred to as capacity building, are “priceless,” as Direng says. “We learnt that capacity development boosts implementation success.” Significantly, National Development Bank now has a standing on the international climate financing stage. Direng concludes by announcing that “NDB is currently in the advanced stages of seeking accreditation from the Adaptation Fund,” the larger United Nations fund that finances projects for adapting to global warming.

Ketumile Direng is responsible for mobilising resources and project management at Botswana’s National Development Bank. © NDB

Sustainable solutions for sustainable agriculture

In Botswana’s Central District, smallholder farmer Tshenko Kabelano Magapu clearly shows the effect IKI Small Grants can have in introducing sustainable solutions for sustainable agriculture. A doctor who practices horticulture, Magapu proudly explains how she has transitioned to sustainable agriculture and how IKI Small Grants contributed to that success.

The support enabled the installation of a shading net and a drip irrigation system. Besides the consistent shade and water she now has, the grant allowed her to fulfil her life’s purpose. “I do horticulture because I advocate for a healthy lifestyle.” Going green now allows her to contribute “to food security, not only of Makoro community, but the country at large.”

On her farm in Botswana’s Central District, Tshenko Kabelano Magapu improved water and energy efficiency and now grows more crops with support from NDB. © NDB

More about the project

Green energy transition for sustainable agriculture | IKI Small Grants

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

The National Development Bank (NDB) was established under an act of parliament in 1963. The Bank is owned by the Government of Botswana and operates under the control of a Board of Directors appointed by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning. As a Development Financial Institution, NDB is viable and self-sustaining and continues to contribute immensely to the growth of the local economy. Its mission is to provide sustainable, innovative financial products and services for the development of the entire agricultural value chain through partnerships.

Links

Website National Development Bank of Botswana

German Minister Habeck next to NGO HelpSelfHelp Centre representative, Lucy Muiruri explaining how essential oils help to reduce deforestation

What’s that aroma? Minister Habeck experiences reforestation in Kenya!

Written by Bosse Klama on 18. December 2024. Posted in News.

In a recent visit to Kenya, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, met with Help Self Help Centre, an NGO managing an IKI Small Grants funded reforestation project active in the Mount Kenya region. NGO representative, Lucy Muiruri, explained to the German minister how essential oils can help revitalize degraded land. With a budget of less than 90,000 euros, the organisation planted more than 150,000 indigenous trees through the IKI Small Grants project to restore the habitat for wildlife and trained over 1,300 members of the community in reforestation.

Forests act as natural carbon sinks that benefit the climate. The project creates an incentive not to cut down trees for firewood, as the local community is shown how tree parts can be used to make products. The planted trees produce essential oils, tea-like leaves or dyes for the paint industry and therefore serve as an additional source of income for the local population.

The project by the organisation HelpSelfHelp Centre serves as a model for integrating community involvement in forest restoration efforts. It highlights the significant role of local communities in achieving sustainable outcomes. The approaches and lessons learnt are shared with other reforestation initiatives in Kenya.

With international support and local participation, projects like these can pave the way for sustainable environmental and economic development. Minister Habeck emphasized the importance of such projects in addressing the dual challenges of poverty and climate change.

Project impact

As the first funded project has been very successful, Help Self Help Centre has now received a second round of funding from IKI Small Grants. The team will extend its reforestation activities with the new funding.

Minister Habeck’s visit concluded with a pledge to continue fostering partnerships and supporting similar initiatives to ensure that reforestation efforts not only restore ecosystems, but also improve the livelihoods of local communities.

Around 40% of the community forest association members trained in reforestation are women. — Around 40% of the community forest association members trained in reforestation are women © Help Self Help Centre

Links:
Community-driven regeneration of native forests at Mount Kenya | IKI Small Grants

Community driven regeneration of native forests in Kenya | PANORAMA

Help Self Help Centre (HSHC) – Ending poverty and environmental degradation

About the organisation

Help Self Help Centre is a Kenyan development agency, registered in 1993. Its mission is to work with smallholder farmers and the food and chemical industries to eradicate poverty and environmental degradation through sustainable management of natural resources. The organisation replants native trees that have a commercial value for local people. With this the organisation wants to protect and recreate original natural forests that address the habitat requirements of local wildlife. It further aims to plant commercial relevant tree species and ensure that communities protect those trees.

About IKI Small Grants

IKI Small Grants, implemented by the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), funds local actors which are the driving force for change and essential for effective climate and biodiversity action worldwide. It is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), which is jointly commissioned by three German Federal ministries. IKI Small Grants fosters bottom-up solutions while strengthening capacities of local actors.

5th call in planning

Written by support on 21. December 2023. Posted in News.

As the planning for the 5^th call for IKI Small Grants moves ahead, small organisations in ODA-eligible countries are encouraged to review the application guidelines for funding climate and biodiversity projects. Pending final confirmation, the IKI Small Grants call for proposals is in the planning stages for a 2024 launch.

The international call for proposals addresses small regional, national, and local organisations based in ODA-eligible countries (except for current and potential EU member candidates, excluding Ukraine). As soon as the potential launch is announced, these projects and organisations can apply directly for funding for local or regional climate and biodiversity projects on the IKI application platform. IKI Small Grants provides funding to the amount between 60,000 and 200,000 euros and is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Government.

Upon announcement of the launch, project proposals can focus on one or more of the following IKI funding areas:

Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions
Adaptation to the impacts of climate change
Conserving natural carbon sinks with a focus on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
Conserving biological diversity

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 Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA) with the support of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).

Small-scale projects on climate and biodiversity action worldwide

Under the IKI Small Grants programme, many projects are to be selected in the coming years via international calls for proposals and funded with up to 200,000 euros each. Four calls for proposals have already been implemented, and 120 projects in 52 countries have been selected so far.

The planned launch of the 5^th international call would continue the IKI Small Grants programme. The German Federal Government is planning to pledge funding to the amount of €54 million over the next six years. The 5^th call would then be the first of three international calls (5, 6 and 7) for small climate and biodiversity action organisations worldwide. In the next six years, the programme is potentially planning to offer two rounds of financing for 12 funding institutions in ODA countries. With the funds, institutions can offer funding opportunities locally for small organisations and actors and broaden the outreach of IKI Small Grants to address small actors.

Further information including the funding information and application guidelines will be published here on the IKI Small Grants website during the course of 2024 at Application | IKI Small Grants (iki-small-grants.de)