The Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) implemented by UNDP opens a special call for proposals aimed at introduction of green energy solutions and energy-efficiency to address social needs of communities in stress.

Background 

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted social and economic systems across the world, and magnified existing vulnerabilities. The impact of the pandemic is unequally and more severely impacting the vulnerable groups: urban and rural poor, women, children, persons with disabilities and others. Many households have experienced a loss of income, disruption to education, or challenges in accessing social services. 

Additional  challenge for these communities is the approaching winter season, that will increase the burden of satisfying energy needs and associated utility costs in communities across Armenia. Heating, hot water supply, adequate sanitation, and improved hygiene will be vital during coming (cold) months for socially vulnerable population living in different communities with limited capacities to utilize green energy sources. This will result in increased energy expenses/bills of the vulnerable communities as well as growing firewood demand which tends to negatively impact especially forest adjacent communities. 

Project Objective

This Call for Proposals aims at supporting activities of NGOs and CBOs to mitigate the increasing energy demand through introduction of low-carbon technological solutions for enhanced energy resilience of communities with high level of vulnerability throughout Armenia.  It is expected that community public buildings, including schools, kindergartens, dormitories etc., will be the major focus of the project, aiming for long-term impact. This will greatly contribute to increased socio-economic benefits, reduction of firewood use, improved living conditions and awareness raising on application of renewable and energy-efficient technologies. 

Project eligibility criteria

• Proposals should be bold, innovative, and transformative, and have the potential for replication and scaling up; 
• Projects should introduce impactful and innovative low-carbon energy solutions to be further elevated beyond local level;
• Projects should consider communities where public buildings are extensively used throughout the year, as well as focus on communities with a large number of women-headed households;
• Projects  should create greater impact and closer links between local efforts and global environmental benefits (GEBs) by supporting more extensive geographical coverage;
• Make effective use of the built up capacity of local communities for replication of successful technologies and approaches;
• Successful projects should consider strong social inclusion elements, including gender equality and women’s empowerment and persons with disabilities;  
• Proponents are encouraged to leverage additional resources and partnerships with larger networks (including co-financing with international foundations, NGOs and the private sector). 

The project selection process and further implementation remains in line with established SGP standards and procedures. The selected grantee-NGO shall consult on the final list of beneficiary communities with the Small Grants Programme. The call is open to the national NGOs operating in Armenia.

Budget

As per the SGP Operational Guidelines, the maximum amount for a strategic grant project should not exceed the limit of US$ 150,000. The winner will be asked to propose a combination of hard and soft interventions, where most of grant funds will be allocated to investment into procurement, construction materials, equipment, technical expertise, etc., and not more than 10% of funding will be directed to supporting the progress of the project through organizational capacity building, trainings and monitoring.

Duration

The duration of each grant project shall not exceed 12 months, given the nature of projects.

It is strongly advised to send project concept notes to the SGP-Armenia for technical feedback before a full proposal is submitted to the National Steering Committee for review and approval.

Given the situation with COVID-19 in the country, the urgency of the issue and limited financial resources, the SGP will contact only shortlisted proponents.

Project concepts should be submitted to SGP-Armenia in MS Word format via email at [email protected].

The deadline for applications is November 6, 2020.