Mangroves for the Future Vietnam - Small Grant Facility Call for Proposals

Location: Viet Nam . 26th Nov 2013 to 16th Dec 2013

Mangroves for the Future Viet Nam

Small Grant Facility Call for Proposals

Mangroves for the Future (MFF) is pleased to announce the next round of a Small Grant Facility (SGF) in the coastal districts of Ben Tre and Tra Vinh Provinces. MFF is a partnership-led initiative to promote investment in coastal ecosystems (http://mangrovesforthefuture.org). The SGF supports local community action for the conservation and management of coastal ecosystems with the objective to realize the potential of mangroves and other coastal vegetation for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Based on MFF’s Guiding Principle that all MFF projects and other activities must be partnership-based, all projects should have two or more partners and preferably the partnership should involve partners from different sectors of society: e.g. an NGO or CBO with a government department, university, research institute or private company. The roles and responsibilities of each partner should be explained clearly in the proposal.

SGF projects should also ensure the participation of women and other disadvantaged groups, at least at a demonstration scale. 

Budget: Applicants can apply for grants of up to USD 25,000. 

Project duration: 12 months

Project location and rationale: TheSGF will be implemented in the three coastal districts in Ben Tre (Binh Dai, Ba Tri, Thanh Phu) and in one coastal district in Tra Vinh (Duyen Hai). A number of community level studies including vulnerability assessments in Ben Tre and a situation analysis in both Ben Tre and Tra Vinh show that these coastal communities in the four districts are vulnerable to climate change effects such as sea level rise, more extreme storms, and extreme weather events; as well as poor development practice such as unsustainable aquaculture, related poor water quality management (on farm and at a community level), and poorly managed underground water sources in coastal horticultural areas. The SGF will demonstrate ways to increase coastal community resilience by supporting activities that result in improved land use and natural resource planning and management, particularly mangrove restoration and sustainable aquaculture.

Thematic focus

This call for proposals targets the following themes:

  1. Promote and improve mangrove polyculture systems, including but not limited to training of aquaculture farmers on farm design, water control structures; piloting macro-algae management to improve water quality and income.
  2. Converting (failed) intensive shrimp farms into mangrove polyculture systems.
  3. Developing community environmental monitoring systems for coastal aquaculture including community agreements and regulations to monitor and control water quality discharge and disease outbreaks from neighbouring shrimp farms.
  4. Developing community-based water conservation areas for restoring water retention capacity of sand dunes to conserve local fresh water supply.
  5. Sustainable livelihood options for mangrove benefit sharing in the coastal co-management system (Ben Tre only). Development of crab bank models is particularly encouraged.

Eligibility

Proposals can be submitted by national/local NGOs, CBOs, academic and research institutes, small scale businesses, management boards and enterprises which meet the following criteria:

  • Are registered, preferably for at least three years);
  • Have demonstrated working experience in Ben Tre and/or Tra Vinh;
  • Have a proven or strong potential capacity to implement participatory and community-based projects;
    • Has demonstrable experience in project management and financial administration;
    • Must successfully complete a Due Diligence check undertaken by the MFF Secretariat;
    • Are expected to provide co-financing from themselves or from partners in the form of either cash or in-kind contributions, equivalent to at least 5% of the total value of the project.

Selection process

Applicants should submit a project concept note (Click on this link for the concept note template) in Vietnamese or English. Two introduction workshops to support in developing concept notes will be organized for interested agencies in Tra Vinh (05/12/2013) and Ben Tre (06/12/2013), please refer to http://mangrovesforthefuture.org and http://iucn.org/vietnam for more information. Short-listed applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Please note that an invitation to submit a full proposal is not a guarantee that it will be financially supported by MFF.

Applicants should send concept notes to:

Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, MFF Project Manager, IUCN Project Office, 2nd floor, 268A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 3, HCMC, email: ngocanh.nguyen@iucn.org. The deadline is 17:00 Monday December 16, 2013.

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