Open call to promote small-scale organisations for climate action and biodiversity
By Freeman ya Ngulu.
The German Federal Government through its donor agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has opened a call to promote small-scale organisations for climate action and biodiversity worldwide.
Since 2008, the German Federal Government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) has been successfully funding climate and biodiversity projects in countries that receive public funds for development cooperation.
Up to now, small national and regional organisations have lacked direct access to international funding. This project is the first programme that is specifically geared to this target group.
To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, sub-national, national and regional organisations, non-governmental organisations, funding institutions, think tanks and private enterprises are developing suitable measures. They are implementing these measures in line with international standards and contributing to transformation in the partner countries.
The project pursues two parallel approaches, which are reflected in two components.
In the first component, the project regularly conducts global tenders and awards financing agreements. It selects individual projects that have approaches tailored to the regional context, but where results and lessons learned are also transferable and can be incorporated in further projects. The projects thus contribute to achieving national and international climate and biodiversity goals.
The second component of the project supports national and regional funding institutions in implementing their own funding guidelines for local projects and measures. It provides intensive advisory services and expert support to the selected institutions. The end recipients of the funds are also small, mostly regional organisations from the partner country.
The country offices of the GIZ, in particular, support the selected small-scale projects and funding initiatives, providing them with intensive support in professional and administrative capacity building to ensure that the supported organisations can also take on more extensive projects and cooperation arrangements in the future.
Agustinus Poroto (middle), aspires to apply to the German Federal Government’s International Climate Initiative to diversify his farming from using invasive encroacher bush as a soil remedial to using encroacher bush to grow oyster mushrooms. (Photograph by Freeman ya Ngulu)
