The Action Component is a 21 million Euro grant-making facility managed by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) in the frame of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management Programme. BIOPAMA is an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States financed by the European Union’s 11th European Development Fund.

Call for proposals for the Medium Grants: The first call for proposals under the BIOPAMA Action Component was launched on 24 June 2019, and targeted medium grants (up to 400,000 Euros per grant), to support projects that will address priorities for actions on the ground in protected and conserved areas, and surrounding communities, in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP countries). The call was open for 90 days until 21 September 2019, to allow enough time for potential applicants to prepare their proposals. 

The call for proposals was shared widely with various stakeholders and through different channels including the Action Component website and social media platforms, and was also followed with informative webinars in both English and French to provide potential applicants with guidance and key information on how to prepare and submit proposals. 

Proposals received: A total of 76 project proposals from 18 countries in the eastern and the southern Africa regions were submitted to the medium grants call - 34 from the Eastern Africa region, and 42 from the Southern Africa region. All proposals went through the evaluation process which included the eligibility check, budget and due diligence review, Environmental and social safeguards (ESMS) screening, and the technical evaluation by the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC).

Selected proposals: Seven proposals from Rwanda, Kenya, Madagascar, Zambia, and Namibia were selected to move forward to the contracting stage.

Next steps: The BIOPAMA secretariat and regional team are currently busy with finalization of agreements for Medium Grants and the review of the 163 proposals received for Small Technical Grants, in the first call open between 16 December 2019 and 4 February 2020. 

There will be more calls for proposals for Medium Grants, Small Technical Grants, and Small Grants in 2020. Stay updated by checking regularly the website action.biopama.org and by subscribing to the BIOPAMA Funding Alert newsletter