Topics Covered:
- Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.
- Conservation related issues.
Small Grants Programme(SGP)
What to study?
- For Prelims: What is SGP, overview of GFE and UNDP.
- For Mains: Significance of SGP and its role in environmental conservation, its approach and the need for such kind of approach.
Context: A workshop on Small Grants Programme (SGP) was recently held in New Delhi.
About Small Grants Programme (SGP):
The
Global Environment Facility GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) provides financial and technical support to communities and Civil Society Organizations to meet the overall objective of global environmental benefits secured through community-based initiatives and actions.
It was launched in 1992 with 33 participating countries.
The Program is specifically designed to mobilize bottom-up actions by empowering local civil society organizations, and poor and vulnerable communities, including women and Indigenous Peoples.
How it functions?
Through a decentralized, national-level delivery mechanism, SGP finances community-led initiatives to address global environmental issues.
It is currently implemented by UNDP on behalf of the GEF partnership.
The Programme funds grants up to a maximum of $50,000. In practice, the average grant has been around $25,000. In addition, the SGP provides a maximum of $150,000 for strategic projects. These larger projects allow for scaling up and cover a large number of communities within a critical landscape or seascape.
Significance:
Community-driven and civil society-led initiatives can generate environmental benefits, while supporting sustainable livelihoods, gender equality and civil society empowerment. These are actions needed at the local and regional level to address global environmental challenges and complement other areas where the GEF works.
Need for SGP:
Environment degradation such as the destruction of ecosystems and the species that depends upon them, increasing level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, pollution of international waters, land degradation and the spread of persistent organic pollutants are life – threatening challenges that endanger us all. However, it is the poor and vulnerable communities that are most at risk as they are directly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and subsistence. SGP aims to support these vulnerable communities through community led approaches towards environmental conservation and livelihoods enhancement.
