Deadline: 22-Aug-22

The Illegal wildlife Trade (IWT) has launched a funding call “Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund” to provide innovative and scalable solutions to reduce pressure on wildlife from illegal trade and, in doing so, reduce poverty in developing countries.

The IWT Challenge Fund provides flexible funding to innovative and scalable solutions to drive transformational change. The IWT is a complex, fast changing and varied problem where traditional approaches that focus on the supply and anti-poaching interventions alone, have so far largely failed to solve.

The IWT Challenge Fund sets out to stimulate the development of innovative and unconventional solutions to IWT that are responsive and relevant to local contexts. To really deliver on the impacts they want, successful interventions need to be scaled, facilitating a pipeline of proven projects for other public and private investment to support and deliver global change.

Thematic Focus

Proposals must align to one or more of the four project themes – listed below – which align with the pillars of action agreed and reconfirmed by global leaders at the IWT Conference Series. Suggests areas under each pillar where the IWT Challenge Fund can advance global efforts and drive innovation.

• Reducing demand for IWT products
• Ensuring effective legal frameworks and deterrents
• Strengthening law enforcement
• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT

Funding Information

The anticipated IWT Challenge Fund grant size for each project stage along with the supporting evidence required in applications.

• Evidence – Projects between £20,000 and £100,000 – Projects which gather evidence to design an intervention.
• Main – Projects between £100,000 and £600,000 – Projects which test new and innovative interventions to provide proof of concept at a smaller scale.
• Extra – Projects between £600,000 and £1.5 million – Projects which have already demonstrated success at a smaller scale and can be scaled.

Geographical Focus

Proposals should work in sub–Saharan Africa, East and South East Asia and Latin America and meet ODA eligibility requirements listed.

Eligibility Criteria

• The IWT Challenge Fund is entirely Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded, therefore activities must promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. The countries eligible for support on the current OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) List. Proposals that work in sub–Saharan Africa, East and South East Asia and Latin America will be prioritised during the application assessment process.
• Upper-middle income countries (UMICs) are eligible, however, projects applying to work in a UMIC must clearly demonstrate a stronger case for support. This includes operating in areas of strategic significance in tackling IWT and reducing poverty. Such applications must also clearly demonstrate that they will:
  • advance knowledge, evidence and impact in Least Developed or Low-Income Countries, or
  • contribute to the global public good, for example by advancing understanding and/or strengthening the knowledge base related to biodiversity conservation/sustainable use and poverty reduction, or
  • contribute to serious and unique advancements on a critical issue as a result of specific circumstances of the upper-middle income country that could not be made elsewhere.

For more information, visit https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/apply/