The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Malaysia is seeking qualified civil society organisations to put forward the Concept Proposal. The purpose of the Concept Proposal is to assist interested applicants to use their time and effort more effectively, and also to ensure that they are on the right track from the very beginning. GEF SGP Malaysia encourages all applicants to initially submit to us, a “Concept Proposal” of their proposed Full Project. Qualified applicants will be notified for further development of the Full Project Proposal.

Eligible Criteria's

Eligible Organisation

• Locally registered Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). GEF SGP Malaysia grants are available ONLY for not-for-profit NGOs/CBOs/CSOs, etc. Applicant who fail to provide a copy of certificate of registration will not be considered for full proposal development.
• Local registered bank account of the organisation.
• The organisation must have a strong organisational capacity to implement SGP grant projects and meet SGP requirements.
   
  • if you are not a registered organisation and would like to apply for the grant, please reach out to us for more info.

Eligible Project Activities

All project proposals submitted to SGP Secretariat need to demonstrate:

• How the proposed project proposal meets the GEF SGP criteria by articulating how project objectives and activities would have an impact in the SGP areas of work -GEF focal areas (Biodiversity, Climate Change, Land Degradation, Chemical Reduction, Sustainable Forest Management, International Water). For more information on this please visit our areas of work section.
• How the proposed project proposal responds or are aligned to the targets and objectives of the SGP Malaysia Country Programme Strategy (CPS). Please visit our website and download a copy of the CPS or contact the NC.
• Demonstrate strong community involvement in the proposed project.
• Focus on environmental issues and livelihood improvement.

In addition to the above, given the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic happening worldwide, we are now facing unprecedented health, economic and social challenges in recent times. While the work of the GEF Small Grants Programme is focused on addressing long term environmental challenges and fostering community resilience, SGP will also address relevant recovery efforts in line with the SGP Strategic Initiatives.

The pandemic is severely impacting the vulnerable groups: urban and rural poor, indigenous peoples, women, persons with disabilities, refugees and others. SGP worked directly with these groups and communities as key target groups on the ground and recognised as a trusted partner.  SGP will proactively address the changed context and needs and develop an appropriate strategy and approaches to address the impacts of this crisis as well as help the communities to recover and “build back better”.

We are looking at ideas related to an immediate to a short-term response that can be implemented under the existing SGP grant projects in line with the SGP’s current strategy in light of COVID-19. This is not an exhaustive list of potential measures, and we encourage the applicants to come up with innovative ideas in line with the SGP mandate and strategy:

Landscape and Seascape Management & Smart Agriculture Projects  

• Support income generation activities based on sustainable use of natural resources in line with the SGP strategic initiatives on threatened ecosystem management; sustainable agriculture and fisheries management, and others (food and other production, market supply chain and access, strengthening of cooperatives etc.);
• Support small and medium entrepreneurship development and enhancement linked to the sustainable use of biodiversity and natural resources, mainly focusing on vulnerable groups, such as women, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, at-risk youth (training, seed funding, including bio-enterprises, energy access for productive use, etc.);
• Support and incentivise community agricultural production to improve food security (agroforestry, agrobiodiversity, urban gardens, agroecology, information dissemination on healthy eating, etc.);     
• Support conservation-related jobs and initiatives related to safeguarding key protected area conservation measures, including forest protection and provision of critical ecosystem services, particularly associated with preservation of water sources and water supply;
• Promotion of indigenous crops and traditional practices to enhance sustainable land management and food security;   
• Support participation of local communities at local and national levels and help them provide inputs to post-crisis recovery policies and measures, predominantly related to environment and natural resources management;
• Community-based wildlife management, including expanding work on curbing poaching and illegal wildlife trade (i.e. as the source/vector of zoonotic pathogens);
• Support and build resilient and capacity for wildlife conservation, community based tourism and non-tourism income generation to face future shock such as natural disasters and pandemic;  

Low Carbon Energy Co-benefits & Chemical and Waste Management Projects  

• Support and strengthen community health centres, systems and services, (including renewable energy access for health facilities, medical waste management, etc.)
• Investment in renewable energy to promote community radio, mobile and internet technology in combination with energy access for education, information dissemination, market access and other purposes;
• Supporting community crisis or emergency funds created from the revenues from bio-enterprises, cooperatives and other productive activities.

Budget:
The maximum grant amount for the budget will be limited to $50,000 with applicants required to provide rough budget estimation.

Project Duration: 18 Months

Deadline:  15 June 2020 (Monday).

ONLY qualified applicants will be notified for further development into Full Project Proposal.

The concept Proposal template and the Guidance Notes document:

1. Concept Proposal Template
2. Guidance Notes

To obtain more details on SGP and guidelines for application please contact:

Lee Shin Shin (Ms)
National Coordinator
GEF Small Grants Programme - Malaysia
Email: shin.shin.lee@undp.org

Nurul Fitrah Mohd Ariffin Marican (Ms)
Programme Assistant
Email: nurul.fitrah.mohd.ariffin.marican@undp.org