SWITCH Africa Green-Second call for proposals

The second call for proposals for SWITCH Africa Green, covering Burkina Faso, Mauritius and South Africa, was launched on 23 March 2015, through the website of the United Nations Office for Project Services after the approval by the United Nations Environment Programme and the European Union of the grant support agreement and the guidelines and templates for the concept notes and full application. The call for proposals closed on 22 June 2015, with concept notes from 29 out of 56 applicants qualifying for the full application stage, including 13 from Mauritius, 7 from South Africa, 5 from Burkina Faso and 4 from multiple countries.

On the recommendation of the evaluation committee, successful applicants were invited to attend country briefings on the guidelines for preparing the full applications. The briefings were held in each of the three countries with the assistance of the country focal points.

The briefings covered clarification on the sources of funding by the applicant and/or partner contributions; clarification of what constituted ineligible costs; detailed discussions on the role of applicants, partners, associates and contractors; an explanation of the length and requirements of the logical framework; and a detailed discussion on the budget, notably the need to limit human resource costs to a maximum of 30% of total eligible costs. The applicants were also told that partners were expected to meet the same criteria as applicants and that, as such, the technical, managerial and financial capacity of partners would also be evaluated.

Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, the grant application briefing was held on 24 August 2015. It was organized by the Permanent Secretary of the Conseil National pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (SP/CONEDD) and held in the SP/CONEDD conference room.

Mr. Rasmane Ouedraogo, the SWITCH Africa Green focal point from SP/CONEDD, chaired the meeting. All five applicants were represented at the meeting, during which the representatives were taken through the application guidelines and had the opportunity to ask questions about the application requirements.

South Africa

In South Africa, the grant application briefing was held on 4 August 2015. The briefing was organized by the International Sustainable Development and Trade Cooperation section of the Department of Environmental Affairs and held in Pretoria at the Environment House Building of the Ministry of Environment, Department of Environmental Affairs.

Mr. Tlou Ramaru, the chair of the South Africa National Technical Cooperation Committee, chaired the meeting. Nine applicants (seven country applicants and two multi-country applicants) were represented at the meeting, during which the representatives were taken through the application guidelines and had the opportunity to ask questions about the application requirements.

Closing of the second call for proposals

The second call for proposals was launched on 23 March 2015 with a closing date of 18 May 2015. The closing date was extended to 22 June 2015, at the recommendation of the country focal points, to give applicants ample time to prepare their concept notes. A total of 56 concept notes were received by the closing date, and 29 were approved and recommended to the United Nations Environment Programme for full application submission.