Deadline: 7-May-23

The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) is pleased to announce a call for concept notes under CDKN’s new five-year phase (2022-27).

The ‘knowledge-to-action’ call will provide grants to projects led by African organisations that mobilise Indigenous and local knowledge to support locally-led and inclusive climate-resilient action in Africa.

Local people and communities in Africa and the global South are experiencing multiple intersecting and compounding risks, including climate vulnerability, economic poverty, lack of development services and political marginalisation. Despite these challenges, there is a growing appreciation that these communities have the knowledge, experience and capacity to develop and implement their own effective resilience solutions. Even with their rich experience and knowledge of resilience, they largely have inadequate influence and leadership opportunities in decisions and actions that most affect them.

Economically and socially marginalised groups in particular – such as women, young and elderly people, children, people with differing abilities, diversity in sexual orientation and gender identity, Indigenous Peoples, people living in informal settlements, marginalised ethnic groups, and migrants and displaced people – are often worse-affected by climate change, and lack the opportunity to use their agency and voice in planning and implementation processes.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to put local and marginalised people at the centre of climate-resilient action. Acknowledging this, organisations around the world are adopting the principles of locally-led adaptation that recognise the expertise and talents of individuals and communities on the climate frontlines to shape their own responses to the climate challenge.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report also highlights that African Indigenous and local knowledge systems provide a “rich foundation” for resilience actions.

Themes: Climate finance, Capacity development

Call Focus

• The ‘knowledge-to-action’ call will provide grants to projects led by African organisations that mobilise Indigenous and local knowledge to support locally-led and inclusive climate-resilient action in Africa. Projects must align to one or more of the following CDKN themes working to achieve climate resilience:
  • Driving gender equity and social inclusion
  • Improving access to finance for locally-led climate-resilient action
  • Supporting just and appropriate ecosystem-based approaches
  • Enhancing climate literacy
  • Empowering young people

Objectives of the call

• This knowledge-into-action call aims to support locally-led climate-resilient action across the themes of gender equity and social inclusion, finance for resilience, ecosystem-based approaches, enhancing climate literacy and empowering young people in Africa.
• Through these initiatives CDKN aims to mobilise Indigenous and local knowledge for supporting resilience action that is shaped by local understanding and experience. Projects can engage other knowledge types, such as academic evidence, but great care must be taken to ensure knowledge-toaction co-creation processes provide safe and inclusive spaces for various knowledge holders to come together in a way that respects the value and validity of each.
• In the application form, applicants are asked to show how their project is bringing together a combination of knowledge holders and types5 with other relevant stakeholders to support locallyled action.
• CDKN will play an active role in collaborating with projects as appropriate and as needed, providing capacity strengthening support and facilitating peer learning, especially in the areas of gender equity and social inclusion, finance for resilience, ecosystem-based approaches, climate literacy, empowering young people as well as moving local knowledge into action. Furthermore, CDKN will link project teams with the CDKN network and seek to provide opportunities to attend regional and global events to share their insights and learnings, and garner global recognition for their work

Funding Information

• Budget: Up to US$ 150,000 per project
• Duration of grants: Up to 3 years (36) months

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead organisations must be based in Africa. Further preference will be given to African organisations, that is organisations founded in and led from Africa.
• One organisation, or a group of organisations may apply. Groups comprising African organisations or those from the global South will be given preference.
• At least one organisation must have an established presence in the locality in which the project is based.
• Successful applicants will need to have at least one person within the team with reasonable English or French language skills who can communicate with the CDKN team throughout the project.
• All projects should be locally-led and the concept note should clearly substantiate why this is the case.
• Projects must align with at least one of the CDKN themes namely: gender equity and social inclusion, finance for resilience, ecosystem-based approaches, enhancing climate literacy and empowering young people. However, every project must incorporate a substantial gender and social inclusion element irrespective of their principal focus.
• Projects must agree to comply with safeguarding and ethics principles.
• Only concept notes that meet these basic eligibility criteria will be considered for review.

For more information, visit CDKN.