Blue Action Fund - 2019 Open Call for Proposals

South East Asia is a bio-cultural hotspot encompassing about 20 per cent of global plant, animal and marine species. However, the region’s diverse biological resources are currently threatened by many climatic and human-related factors.

Blue Action Fund is looking forward to receiving proposals for projects that:

• Are situated in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam (in case of transboundary projects, project components can also be carried out in Malaysia or Thailand);
• Ask for a contribution by Blue Action Fund of EUR 1-3 million;
• Can be completed within 3-5 years.

The thematic focus of projects should be:

• Supporting ecologically representative and well-connected systems of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) through enhancing management of existing MPAs, enlarging existing ones or establishing new MPAs;
• Supporting sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities dependent on MPAs and their buffer zones.

The current expectation is that Blue Action Fund will award four to six grants from this call with a total volume of up to EUR 12 million.

Eligible applicants are international or regional NGOs with proven experience in coastal and marine conservation in the area. NGOs must have shown the capacity to implement larger projects and their reporting and financial management systems must be compliant with internationally recognized standards. The Fund encourages applications of consortia of NGOs that include local implementing partners. Blue Action Fund’s procedures require that all projects must receive the endorsement of the appropriate authority/authorized body of the country or region. Applicants must also provide substantial co-funding for the project.

This document should be read in conjunction with the Grant Procedures Manual which provides detailed information on both general project requirements and the application process. If you are interested in a Blue Action Fund grant, please send your concept note electronically in Word or PDF format [<3MB file size] to grants@blueactionfund.org with the subject line “[your organization] Concept Note” by February 14th, 2019.

Blue Action Fund is a foundation to support the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and further the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular SDG 14. The Blue Action Fund is funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Agence Française de Développement.

For more information please visit https://www.blueactionfund.org/