In September 2020, Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment, via the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) entered into a contract with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) and its partners Airbus and Planet, to provide universal access to high-resolution satellite data of the tropics. The ultimate aim of this is to support tropical forest countries in their efforts to stop the loss of forests.
The high-resolution satellite images provide an overview of tropical land masses, and these images are updated every month. Anyone can access this data free of charge. Images can be accessed visually online, or by registering as a user and accessing downloadable images that include data dating back to 2015. This allows any interested party to see the development that has taken place in tropical forests over several years.
In addition to providing the satellite imagery free of charge, NICFI has been mandated by Parliament (Stortinget) to provide capacity building for governments and civil society organisations in the use of the imagery, in order to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in relevant regions and countries. As part of this mandate, NICFI is looking to enter into grant agreement(s) with one or more partners to provide such capacity building for civil society in forest countries. We are specifically aiming to target national and local civil society organisations in tropical forest countries, and are therefore looking for partners to act as intermediaries to several such organisations.
Aim
The overall objective of the capacity building and this call for proposals is to increase capacity to engage with high resolution satellite imagery of the tropics, that has been made freely available by NICFI. The target group of the capacity building work is local, national, and regional civil society, enhancing their ability to contribute to reduced deforestation and forest degradation through their work.
The respondents to this Call for Proposals should explain how they will:
- Set up and manage a small-grants scheme where local/national/regional civil society organisations in tropical forest countries can apply for funding to fill their capacity needs. This will build their engagement and use of high resolution satellite imagery, in order to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in relevant regions and countries.
- Improve the capacity of civil society, including indigenous peoples’ organisations, in tropical forest geographies in order to enhance their organisations/institutions’ use of high resolutions satellite imagery. This will be done through training tailored to their needs.
Grant agreement specifics
- This grant agreement(s) will be for a total period of 2-3 years
- The total funds available for this purpose is NOK 40 million until 2023
- Geographical scope is pan-tropical overall, but we encourage applications to focus on civil society organisations in specific regions and countries. It is not needed to cover all tropical forest geographies. Priority will be given to organisations focusing on NICFI partner countries.
- Priority will be given to actors that can start the work imminently upon contract signing.
Application criteria
- When responding to the call for proposals, interested parties should identify and demonstrate their specific relevance, capacity and contacts with civil society in their region(s) of interest. This can be demonstrated through, for example, in-country offices, evidence of in-country experts, demonstration of language skills in the organization, or number of partner organisations in the region
- The applicant must be able to show 4-5 case studies of working with, and building capacity, amongst local and regional civil society organisations in tropical forest countries.These case studies can be included as an annex to the application.
- It will be important to show how a small grants fund will be administered, including administration costs, and which criteria will be used to assess successful small-grant applicants.
- The application will be assessed by NICFI’s grant scheme rules which can be accessed here
- Please see more details on templates and requirements for NICFI funding here
We welcome interested parties to respond to this call for proposal, outlining why your organization is best placed to deliver on the aim of the assignment, as well as an explanation of how. The deadline for responding to this call for proposal is 30 June 2021. Applications must be submitted using the NICFI template, and should be no longer than maximum 8 pages. Application shall be sent electronically to postmottak@kld.dep.no and in English by the deadline.