About

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), as regional implementation team (RIT) for the Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot, are inviting letters of inquiry (LOIs) from non-governmental organizations, community groups, private enterprises, universities and other civil society organizations active in the eligible countries.

This call targets organizations working at the site and corridor levels and supports national, regional, and multi-country capacity building.

This investment seeks to improve the capacity of civil society organizations to reduce threats to globally important biodiversity in the Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot. Projects supported under this investment should help:

• Civil society organisations increase their capacity to reduce key threats to biodiversity

• Civil society organisations increase their organizational capacity

• Civil society organisations increase their capacity to participate in conservation-related networks

• Priority Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) reduce threat(s) to biodiversity

Funding Information

• This call covers funding for small and large grants:

  • Small grants are between US$5,000 and US$50,000. The RIT expects small-grant projects under this call to be contracted and start implementation between March and May 2024.

  • Large grants are defined as greater than US$50,000. CEPF decides on the amount to be awarded based on the scope and magnitude of the conservation results expected to be achieved. CEPF expects large-grant projects under this call to be contracted and start implementation between April and June 2024.

Eligible Activities

• Projects should seek to:

  • Ameliorate threats: A core goal of the CEPF is to build local capacity to reduce threats to biodiversity in the priority KBAs and for priority species. CEPF, therefore, requests applicants to make explicit linkages between how their project will build capacity and reduce key threats to KBAs and species. CEPF measures the reduction of threats to KBAs using the IBA Monitoring Tool.

  • Build CSO Capacity: Applicants are encouraged to think about their technical and institutional capacity needs as they develop their projects, particularly with respect to the CEPF Civil Society Tracking Tool (CSTT), (English, Spanish), threats reduction for biodiversity conservation, and promotion of gender equity and attention to vulnerable groups, and to include a specific component responding to these needs, where relevant.

• Crosscutting concerns for CEPF include:

  • Climate change: Building resilience in the face of climate change is another important objective for CEPF. Applicants should identify how climate change is affecting or could affect their proposed activity and objectives and identify how they plan to integrate climate change within their projects to ensure that all results are resilient to climate change.

  • Gender and vulnerable groups: CEPF is committed to integrating equity for gender and vulnerable groups into its projects. Applicants should design projects that include gender equity and are responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups in the achievement of their conservation impacts.

Eligible Countries

• Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Eligibility

• Non-governmental organizations, community groups, universities and private enterprises may apply for funding. Individuals must work with civil society organizations to develop applications rather than apply directly. To qualify for a CEPF grant, the applicant must not be a government agency or institution. Government-owned enterprises or institutions are eligible only if they can establish that they:

  • have a legal personality independent of any government agency or actor;

  • have the authority to apply for and receive private funds; and

  • may not assert a claim of sovereign immunity.

• Joint projects with other organizations are eligible, with one lead organization submitting the application and project partners with clear roles stated in the application.

Post Date: October 20, 2023