ResourcesFunding call for proposals

Local calls simplify the financing process for stakeholders implementing transformative and context-relevant projects that result in meaningful progress. Grants not only go towards new projects with funds also made available for the continuation of programmes or when scaling up successful initiatives.

The bottom line is to reach the most marginalized, embedding principles of equity, transparency and accountability, and unlocking alternative sources of public and private capital. All gains leveraged through multi-partner trust fund financing go towards making inroads for 2030 Agenda achievement.

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Purpose of the ‘call’: Ramping up efficiency, accountability, and innovation 

Most multi-partner trust fund secretariats issue calls for proposals, so interested partners (current or prospective) can pitch fund-related projects. Not only does this encourage ongoing stakeholder engagement, but it supports SDG gains across the humanitarian-development nexus.

Depending on the fund and context, international and local NGOs, civil society organizations, government institutions, and private sector outfits may be eligible to receive blended sources of financing that are used in the design and delivery of innovative and effective initiatives that contribute to sustainable, multi-level action.
 


The application process

Fund secretariats often welcome proposals from a range of interested stakeholders—with United Nations organizations and civil society partners being the biggest bidders and contenders. Depending on the fund, stakeholders are at liberty to submit various types of proposals. The Peacebuilding Fund Secretariat accepts proposals from three tiers of applicants (maximum three joint UN recipient agencies, UN and civil-society organizations, and civil society organizations as direct recipients). Other funds, meanwhile, finance collaborators through dedicated windows or issue-focused response grants.

In most cases, a successful proposal passes through two stages, the first comprising Q+A sessions, concept note design, online submission, and panel of experts review. Fund secretariats communicate results to all applicants within eight to twelve weeks following the close of a call.

In the second stage, successful applicants must submit full project proposals that go under review prior to the disbursement of funds. Local organizations, in particular, should apply for new funding opportunities.
 

For more information on specific calls, thematic areas of focus, eligibility, guidelines, terms and conditions, deadlines, and focal points, visit the fund webpage or contact the responsible secretariat for more details.

 

Ongoing and past calls for proposals 
Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) - Call for Proposals in Haiti - Closed

 

The United Nations Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) is pleased to share the launch of its latest Call for Proposals in Haiti. This call provides new funding opportunities for civil society organizations working to enhance the protection of women and girls, promote the participation and leadership of women in humanitarian crisis and response, and strengthening the socio-economic recovery and political decision-making in peacebuilding contexts.

The call seeks to fund qualifying local organizations in Haiti through the following funding streams:   

  • Programmatic funding from 30,000 USD to 200,000 USD: To finance programmatic activities of civil society organizations aimed at (i) promoting women’s meaningful participation and decision-making in humanitarian and crisis response (in line with WPHF Impact Area 3) OR (ii) strengthening the protection of women and girls (in line with WPHF Impact Area 5) OR (iii) supporting the socio-economic recovery and political participation of women and young women in peacebuilding contexts (in line with WPHF Impact Area 6).
  • Institutional funding from 2,500 USD to 30,000 USD: To reinforce the institutional capacity of local civil society organizations working on the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda to ensure they are able to sustain themselves and to improve their impact. 

Application deadline is  20 January 2025. 

For more information, please head over to the dedicated page on the WPHF website.

 

Nature4Health Expression of Interest - Closed

 

N4H promotes country-led, preventative policies and investments in nature that help to reduce health risks. The overall focus of N4H is to address the environmental determinants of health and to strengthen the integration of the environment in the One Health approach and thereby help secure the health of ecosystems, animals, plants and people.   

Interested governments are invited to apply for the expression of interest (EOI) for Phase II and be part of the Nature4Health movement!  

 

Eligibility requirements

  • The EOI is only open for submissions from governments, including sub-national governmental entities, as well as regional intergovernmental entities that represent multiple governments. 

  •  The country, territory or entity must be eligible to receive overseas development assistance (ODA) and therefore, listed under the DAC list of ODA Recipients.

  • The country or regional intergovernmental entity must not have received funding through the first expression of interest process under Nature4Health.

The application window will open on 10 January 2025 and the deadline is 24 March 2025.

N4H have made files available for a preliminary overview on the process and to support proposal development. For more information and to access files, please head over to the N4H EOI page.

 

Kunming Biodiversity Fund - Closed

The Kunming Biodiversity Fund (KBF) is pleased to announce a call for proposals with the following thematic focus areas:

1. Restored and protected ecosystems to improve biodiversity and ecosystem services

2. Biodiversity effectively mainstreamed into policies, regulations, planning and strategies

3. Sustainable use of biodiversity enhanced.

4. Biodiversity mainstreamed among businesses and consumers to drive positive behaviours.

5. Benefits shared from genetic resources and digital sequence information on genetic resources

Full guidelines and scope are available here.

The Concept Note template can be downloaded here.

The deadline for the Concept Note submission is 10 February 2025. The call for proposal is Closed.

 
Kunming Biodiversity Fund call for Expression of Interest for the Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) - Open

The Kunming Biodiversity Fund is announcing a call for expression of interest to join the The Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG).

ITAG serves as an advisory body bringing independent, impartial expert knowledge and advice on biodiversity conservation and environmental governance to the Kunming Biodiversity Fund. Its main purpose is to provide technical advice on monitoring, implementation and knowledge management, science and best practice, and economics and finance for implementation of effective biodiversity action. The EC may also request advice on additional technical matters. The ITAG advises the EC and is coordinated by the Secretariat.

Full roles and responsibilities of ITAG members are detailed in the ITAG Terms of Reference (ToR).

The Expression of Interest template can be downloaded here.

Application deadline is Sunday 16th March 2025. Please submit documents and questions to kbf@un.org.
Malaysia-UN SDG Trust Fund announces call for proposals for high impact projects - Closed

 

The Malaysia-UN SDG Trust Fund announces the launch of its second Call for Proposals (CFP-2024/25), for a total amount up to USD 4 million (approximately MYR 17.2 million).

 

This initiative will provide grants ranging from USD 100,000 to USD 500,000 for projects that would contribute to accelerating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) progress in Malaysia with a focus on supporting groups and communities at risk of being left behind.
 
CFP-2024/25 invites proposals from Malaysian civil society organizations, non-governmental and non-profit entities such as academic institutions, and UN agencies. Eligible projects should have an implementation timeframe of 6 to 18 months.

Please click here to find out more and to register.

 

Kunming Biodiversity Fund Call for Proposals - Closed 

 

This Call for proposals has been designed to support the following Actions Areas: 

  • Monitoring and evaluation of NBSAPs 
  • Development of national resource mobilisation strategies 
  • Assessment of capacity-building needs for the implementation of the CBD 
  • Development of sectoral regulations, standards, guidelines and guidance for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity 
  • Development of national knowledge management and communication strategies  

 

 

For more information on eligibility criteria, how to apply, please see the project application template and Guidelines on the Kunming Biodiversity Fund Project Application Call for Proposals 

Deadline: 13 September 2024

Funding window 

  • Single-country projects: 100,000 - 200,000 USD 
  • Multi-country projects up to 500,000 USD 

 

 

Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI)  Call for Expressions of Interest for Regional Private Sector Facility - Open

 

Call for Expressions of Interest to all relevant implementing organisations interested in investing in private sector companies in our partner countries (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, the Gabonese Republic, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic) to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the following sectors:

  • Charcoal value chains and clean cooking solutions
  • Agriculture (including palm oil, maize, rubber, cocoa, coffee, and timber)
  • Forestry
  • Ecotourism and other innovative approaches to Forest Conservation

 

The CAFI private sector facility will make 100 million USD available to implementing organisations in the form of:

  • Project development grants to support early development of projects including to pilot new technology and approaches, and to remove the risks and information gaps to investment;
  • Investment grants to deploy a blended finance approach: to share risks or provide below market interest rate loans and/or other concessional terms such as longer tenors and grace periods;
  • Performance-based grants to price-in the externality by providing an explicit value on forest carbon and biodiversity and ex post verification of the environmental services provided by investments: all payments will be made only after the independent verification of results.

For more information and to learn how to apply, please follow this link to the CAFI website.
Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI)  - Closed

CAFI is expanding its innovative finance through a new call for expressions of interest to identify capital acceleration providers. The call aims to lead to developing new partnerships and new types of blended finance solutions, providing funding to private sector stakeholders to guide their investments and expertise towards CAFI’s goals.

 

 

The Call for EoI is open to non-profit organizations, including non-governmental (NGOs) and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs).

Deadline: 4 August 2024

For more information and to access application forms, please follow this link to the CAFI website.
IRAF 2nd Call for Proposals - Closed

Recognizing that the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS is the most recent call for action from the SIDS, the 2nd Call for Proposals has been designed to support the priorities as defined in the document – namely to support initiatives related to ‘Climate Action, Mainstreaming Resilience and Strengthening Data for Resilient and Inclusive Infrastructure’.  

The projects to be supported through the IRIS 2nd Call will aim to equip relevant government agencies in SIDS with needed technical support and knowledge products for promoting resilient infrastructure, with the goal to foster resilient economies and a secure future for SIDS. 

The call for proposals is open to all 57 SIDS.  

Application deadline: 31 August 2024

Please follow this link for more information and to apply. 

 

Key Priority Areas
Priority Sectors 
  • Policies and Regulatory Frameworks
  • Transport 
  • Project Preparation 
  • Power
  •  Resource Mobilisation 
  • Telecommunication 
  • Capacities for Implementation and Management
  • Water 
  • Strengthening Data 
  •  Social Infrastructure(Heath and Education)

 

 
Complex Risk Analytics Fund (CRAF'd) - Closed

The Complex Risk Analytics Fund (CRAF'd) and its partners are excited to announce the launch of an Open Call for Proposals on gender data for better crisis anticipation, prevention, and response.

Together with our partners, we believe in the power of data to highlight the challenges women and girls face in fragile and crisis-affected settings and to support impactful solutions.

Submit your concept note by 4 August 2024 and join the CRAF'd crisis data ecosystem. A total of $3 million in funding is available.

Apply here
About the open call   

The international community allocates over $40 billion annually for emergency assistance action in fragile settings. As challenges escalate worldwide, data-driven approaches can unlock significant gains for people and the planet through earlier, faster, more targeted, and dignified crisis action. 

Yet, as the world faces escalating challenges, the unique needs of women, girls, and marginalized groups are often overlooked. 

That's why CRAF'd seeks initiatives that provide essential gender data that contributes to gender-transformative crisis action, including on:

  • Gendered impacts of crises and complex risks
  • Women, Peace, and Security Agenda
  • Gender-based Violence in fragile and crisis-affected settings
  • Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, services, and needs
  • Women’s participation in decision-making and programming around crisis action
  • Local and women-led crisis action