Call for Letters of Inquiry No. 9 Investment in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot Request for Proposals

CEPF’s strategy in Wallacea was formulated through a participatory process that engaged civil society, donors, and governmental stakeholders throughout the region. The result of this process is an Ecosystem Profile, a five-year strategy, running from 2015-2019, to support biodiversity conservation in the region.

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and Burung Indonesia
Call for Letters of Inquiry No. 9
Investment in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot

Request for Proposals

1. Opening Date: Tuesday, 27 December 2016

2. Submission
Deadline:    Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Application format:        CEPF LOI Template
Submission method:      Submit Letter of Inquiry to cepfwallacea@conservation.org

3. Call for Letters of Inquiry

Burung Indonesia, in its role as Regional Implementation Team (RIT) for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) in the Wallacea Biodiversity Hotspot, invites civil society organizations to submit Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) for projects per the Scope of this Call, as described in Section 5, below.

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International (CI), the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation. More information on CEPF can be found at www.cepf.net.

CEPF’s strategy in Wallacea was formulated through a participatory process that engaged civil society, donors, and governmental stakeholders throughout the region. The result of this process is an Ecosystem Profile, a five-year strategy, running from 2015-2019, to support biodiversity conservation in the region, available at:

Ecosystem Profile Wallacea

4. Eligible Applicants

Non-government organizations, community groups, private enterprises, universities, and other civil society organizations may apply for funding. Applications from organizations that propose to build capacity of local civil society and community groups are particularly encouraged. Projects must be located within the sites and countries identified in the Ecosystem Profile. Organizations must have their own bank account and be authorized under relevant national laws to receive charitable contributions.

Government-owned enterprises or institutions are eligible only if they can demonstrate that the enterprise or institution:

has a legal personality independent of any government agency or actor;
has the authority to apply for and receive private funds; and
may not assert a claim of sovereign immunity.

5. Eligible Sites and Activities

This is one of several Calls for Letters of Inquiry to be released between 2015-2019. While normally our Call for Proposals targets specific priority corridors and or strategic directions, this time it is purposefully open for all priority key biodiversity areas and corridors targeted for funding in the Ecosystem Profile. Refer to the following tables in the Profile:

Table 12.1. Priority terrestrial species in Indonesia
Table 12.2. Priority marine species in Indonesia
Table 12.4. Priority KBA clusters
Table 12.5. Priority terrestrial KBAs in Indonesia
Table 12.6. Priority marine KBAs in Indonesia
Table 12.7. Priority terrestrial corridors in Indonesia
Table 12.8. Priority marine corridors in Indonesia

The projects submitted must address at least one of the following Strategic Directions, as described in detail on pages 240-248 of the Ecosystem Profile:

Strategic Direction 1: Address threats to high priority species.

Strategic Direction 2: Improve management of sites (KBAs) with and without official protection status.

Strategic Direction 3: Support sustainable natural resource management by communities in priority sites and corridors.

Strategic Direction 4: Strengthen community-based action to protect marine species and sites.

Strategic Direction 5: Engage the private sector in conservation of priority sites and corridors, in production landscape, and throughout the hotspot.

Applicants are advised to submit proposals that apply appropriate elements of CEPF Strategic Directions to the sites with a focus on conservation results. LOIs must address at least one Strategic Direction, but we expect that approaches and results will actually cross more than one Strategic Direction.

Regarding applications submitted under SD 1 (priority species), CEPF will not look favorably upon projects that propose pure research, projects that generate action plans absent community consultation or government stakeholder support, or projects that effectively end with the writing of an action plan. Rather, projects under SD 1 should move beyond the species or the written plan to actual action, typically via connections to the other Strategic Directions.

For projects under any of the named Strategic Directions, we encourage applicants to consider the indicators/intermediate indicators column in the Logical Framework (pages 261-268 of the Ecosystem Profile). CEPF will look favorably upon those projects that work toward these indicators in the short, medium, or long-term.

6. Budget and Timeframe

Typical grants from CEPF are for US $100,000 for between 12-30 months. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit proposals in this range, or for less money.

7. Letter of Inquiry, Full Proposal, and Award Process

Applicants are requested to submit a letter of inquiry at this time. Applicants that submit LOIs that receive a positive review will be asked to submit a full proposal. Full proposals that receive a positive review will lead to the award of a grant between Conservation International, as the home of the CEPF Secretariat, and the recipient (the “grantee”). Grants will be denominated in United States dollars and grant agreements will be in English.

8. Instructions for submitting a Letter of Inquiry

Applicants must use the CEPF letter of inquiry template referenced here: CEPF LOI Template
The template is also available from the CEPF Secretariat and Burung Indonesia.
Letters of inquiry must be submitted to cepfwallacea@conservation.org
Letters of inquiry submitted to any other e-mail address may not receive full review.

9. Submission language

Letters of inquiry may be submitted in English or Bahasa Indonesia. However, if you are invited to submit a full proposal per Item 7 above, the full proposal must be submitted in English.

Reference Documents

All potential applicants should refer to the Ecosystem Profile, the LOI Form, and the following references available on the CEPF website.

10. Contact

Please direct any questions or concerns to: hibah.wallacea@burung.org
Further information and assistance can be obtained from:
CEPF Wallacea Regional Implementation Team, Burung Indonesia, Jl. Dadali No. 32 Bogor 16161, West Java, Indonesia,
Telp. +62-251-835-7222.