Sub-granting to local community-based organizations (CBO’s) and civil society organisation (CSO’s)

1. INTRODUCTION
Istituto Oikos (www.Istituto-oikos.org) is a non-profit organization committed for over 25 years in Europe and in the countries of the South of the world in the protection of biodiversity and for the dissemination of more sustainable lifestyle models.
Istituto Oikos is currently implementing a EU funded project named COAST (COllaborative Actions for STrengthening Thai CSO’s participation in Tackling Climate Change, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) to support good governance and sustainable development in Thailand while contributing to the attainment of SDGs.
As part of our project's strategy to support and empower local CSOs and CBOs, we are excited to announce the launch of our sub-granting program. This program is designed to provide financial support to initiatives that align with our project's goals, focusing on biodiversity conservation and community empowerment. The best proposals will be rewarded with up to 10,800 Euros each for the implementation of the proposed activities.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The sub-granting program aims at supporting community-based initiatives to improve environmental management and local livelihoods and specifically :
● Support local CSOs and CBOs in their efforts to improve their living conditions in a sustainable and durable way.
● Enhance community empowerment through capacity-building and financial support.
● Ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance with the EU regulations.
 

3. WHO CAN PARTICIPATE/ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
To be eligible for the sub-granting program, applicants must meet the following criteria:
1. be non profit making,
2. Be a legally registered CSO/CBO.
3. be based in the project target area (Ranong, Pha Nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun provinces of Thailand).
4. have at least 5 members,
5. be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action
4. WHAT TYPE OF PROJECT TO PRESENT

The thematic of the sub-grant proposal must adhere with the project’s goals, that includes but is not limited to environmental improvement , livelihood enhancement actions, waste management, education campaigns, environmental monitoring.
Project proposals must have the following characteristics:
1. Be implemented inside or nearby a Community Forest or Marine Protected Area or any other location with environmental significance.
2. Be carried out within the Ranong, Pha Nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun provinces of Thailand
3. Be accomplished within 12 months and no later than December 2026.
4. Have a maximum budget of 10.800 euro.
Multiple proposals from the same CSO/CBO are acceptable provided that the total amount of funds of all applications requested does not exceed 10.800 Euros.

5. HOW TO SUBMIT THE PROPOSAL
Attached to this call for proposals document, there’s an application form template to fill in (available both in Thai and English languages), in the same template all the necessary documents requested for the application are clearly listed.
After thoroughly compiling the application form template and collecting the requested documents, you need to send all the documents to Miss. Ampika Ananta at the email address ampika.ananta@istituto-oikos.org by the deadline of 30/07/2024.

If you need any clarification on how to properly compile the application format or if you have any other question related to this call for proposals, please do not hesitate to contact Ampika at her email address or through the phone (092-704-3383), she will be more than happy to assist your organisation and follow you up step-by-step.

6. EVALUATION CRITERIA
After the eligibility check, during the evaluation of the proposals phase, a Selection Committee (composed of at least 3 people from Istituto Oikos team and respected community members vetted from conflicts of interest) will take the following evaluation criteria into consideration:
1) Consistency with the thematic objectives of the call (30pts)
2) Clarity and completeness of the proposal (30pts)
3) Budget clarity and cost effectiveness (20pts)
4) Inclusivity: proposals that enhances the role of marginalised population and vulnerable groups (women, children, unregistered migrants, ethnic minorities, etc.) (10pts)
5) Originality, creativity and innovation of the proposal (10pts)
The overall score (max 100) is assigned by adding the scores attributed to the individual criteria.
Applications scoring less than 70 points and/or less than 5 points under the budget clarity criteria will be rejected.

The Selection Committee reserves the right to present the applicants with recommendations for improving the proposals and to suggest budget modifications.

7. RANKINGS
For the ranking of the sub-grants proposals, Istituto Oikos will establish a Selection Committee, composed of at least 3 people from the project’s team and respected community members vetted from conflicts of interest, that will rank all the eligible proposals according to the abovementioned evaluation criteria.
The organisation that submitted the top ranked proposal (starting from the top ranked and proceeding according to the ranking order) will be contacted to confirm their interest in implementing the proposed project. If one selected organisation will not confirm, the following in ranking organisation will take its place and so on until the available funds are exhausted.

8. CONTRACT
After all the previous steps are completed and before the first instalment is disbursed, all the selected organisations and Istituto Oikos will have to negotiate and sign a contract that will formalise the rights and duties of both parties.
All the contracts will have to include, but will not be limited to, the following reporting requirements:
1) Midterm and Final Report, with photo evidence of the activities implemented;
2) Financial report with a detailed list of expenditures, accompanied by supporting documents for subsequent audit purposes.
Furthermore, the sub-grantees must comply with the visibility guidelines and guarantee the visibility of the EU funding and of Istituto Oikos over the course of the project (a simple guideline will be attached to this document).

Please note that the award will be paid in multiple instalments (timing and amounts to be negotiated in the contract according to the timeline of implementation of the activities), the first instalment will be disbursed at the signature of the contract and the following tranches will be released after submitting to Istituto Oikos
the list of expenditures, accompanied by its supporting documents, and a brief narrative report of the already implemented activities.
 

9. IMPACT ASSESSMENT
After the end of the implementation period of every single sub-grant, Istituto Oikos will conduct an impact assessment to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the sub-granting program in achieving biodiversity conservation and community empowerment objectives. To this extent, Istituto Oikos will have to administer a simple questionnaire to both the CSO/CBO members and some other members of the community.
Lessons learned and best practices will be shared with stakeholders and the EU for future funding considerations.