Deadline: 27 September 2022

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is seeking proposals for its program entitled “Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility (IPAF)” that focuses on advancing indigenous peoples’ conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity for adaptation and resilience to climate change.

The objective of the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility (IPAF) is to strengthen indigenous peoples’ communities and their organizations by financing small projects which foster their self-driven development in the framework of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and generate lessons learned and approaches for replication and up-scaling.

Priority Areas

• Priority will be given to proposals with a strong social inclusion focus on gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment and proposals submitted by indigenous peoples’ organizations that have indigenous women and youth in their decision-making bodies. Organizations whose structures include indigenous people with disabilities will be given special consideration.
• With a focus on advancing indigenous peoples’ conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity for adaptation and resilience to climate change, projects financed by the 2022 IPAF will improve indigenous livelihoods in:
  • Food security and nutrition and sustainable and resilient food systems
  • Rights to land, territories and resources
  • Biodiversity conservation and sustainable management
  • Access to markets

Funding Information

• Proposed project budget requests to the IPAF should range between US$20,000 and US$70,000.
• The project would be completed within a maximum of 32 months for implementing activities and 4 months for reporting on results and costs. The maximum project duration (including reporting) is 36 months from the date of the grant agreement.

Eligibility Criteria

• The applicant must be an indigenous or tribal peoples’ organization;
• The project proposal must have been designed with and by the communities it will benefit, and evidence of their free, prior and informed consent must be enclosed in the proposal.
• Not-for-profit/non-governmental organizations and local institutions such as a local government can apply if designated by the indigenous peoples’ communities to act on their behalf. Evidence of the FPIC by the indigenous peoples’ communities must be enclosed with the application form. For-profit organizations (e.g. for-profit cooperatives) are not eligible for funding;
• The applicant’s headquarters must be located in the country of grant implementation, which must also be an IFAD developing Member State, and be close to the area where the project will be implemented;
• The applicant should have an established bank account in the name of the applicant organization and be able to receive international financial contribution under applicable law;
• The applicant should demonstrate internal controls to govern the use of funds (upon approval of project proposals, organizations will be requested to produce documentary evidence of the organization’s financial and control capacity to receive and manage funds, under applicable law, and the latest annual audit of the organization’s accounts or any other external or internal assessment of the organization’s internal controls);
• The applicant must demonstrate gender and intergenerational balance in its governing system and that women, youth and, if applicable, people with disabilities participate in decision-making;
• The applicant should not be implementing an IFAD grant at the time of the application;
• The applicant can submit only one proposal to the 2022 IPAF. If an applicant submits more than one proposal, only the first completed proposal received will be considered.
• An indigenous peoples’ community or organization may ask a legally registered not-for-profit organization, non-governmental organization or local institution such as a local government (municipality, indigenous or tribal regional, territorial autonomous district, etc.) to act as applicant and recipient of the grant on its behalf.
• Furthermore, the applicant must indicate the name and address of the representatives of the indigenous or tribal peoples’ community that will benefit from the project

Ineligible

• The Facility WILL NOT consider applications from organizations without legal registration, or applications from individuals applying in their personal capacity.
• The Facility WILL NOT consider applications from for-profit organizations, such as for profit cooperative societies, etc.
• The Facility WILL NOT consider applications that do not include as a separate enclosure evidence of the FPIC process and consent agreement by the benefiting communities.

For more information, visit https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/call-for-proposals-indigenous-people-s-assistance-facility-ipaf