PCLG Small Grants

PCLG is excited to announce that it is piloting a new small grants initiative. Our new funding mechanism will foster multi-stakeholder collaboration and learning between conservation and development and/or rights focused organisations in three great ape range states.

The first round of small grants has now closed for applications.

View French version (PDF).

Is my project eligible?

Eligible countries

Activities must take place in one or more of:

• Cameroon
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Uganda

Eligible applicants

Learning groups must be made up of:

• Community-based associations or organisations
• Community-based enterprises and cooperatives
• Women's associations or organisations
• Indigenous or ethnic minority groups or associations
• Youth groups or associations
• Non-governmental organisations

What support is available and when?

The minimum PCLG small grant you can apply for is USD$ 500. The maximum PCLG small grant you can apply for is US$ 5000. Please note that our overall grant budget is approximately USD$ 25,000 and we hope to fund more than five grants with this amount. 

You will be required to implement your learning activities during the period: March/April 2021 to June 2021. Please note that the very earliest start date we can offer is likely to be 15 March 2021. End dates must be no later than 30 June 2021.

What are the key requirements?

1. Identify a key learning issue

For the first round of PCLG small grants, we are particularly keen to support activities that respond to COVID-19 and the challenges this disease is creating in great ape range states for conservation and development.  

We are open to the key learning issues you identify as important to conservation and development in your country. A list of potential interest areas is listed in our Frequently Asked Questions section at the end of this webpage.

The key thing to remember is that there must be a PEOPLE component, a CONSERVATION component and a LEARNING component to your work to be eligible for a small grant. These three components need to be linked by a coherent strategy.

2. Create a learning group

To be eligible for a small grant, at least two eligible applicants (including the lead applicant) must collaborate to form a learning group. These learning groups must demonstrate:

1. Collaboration between conservation and development or rights-focused organisations,
2. Learning on the great ape related conservation and development issue you tackle, and
3. Timely and relevant activities in the context you are working. 

Learning groups must include at least one organisation working on great ape conservation and at least one organisation working on development and/or rights. There is no maximum number of organisations that can be involved in the learning group.

You can involve non-eligible applicants in the activities of your learning group, but these applicants cannot receive funding through the small grant. For example, you may want to include a relevant government department and/or private sector partner in your activities – such as inviting these partners to workshops.

We are particularly interested in novel partnerships that include Indigenous Peoples or ethnic minority groups or associations, women’s groups or associations, youth groups or associations and community-based groups associations, enterprises or cooperatives.

How do I apply?

To apply for a small grant, please complete the small grants application and accompanying budget template (available in English only) and submit it to smallgrantspclg@iied.org by 13:00hrs GMT on Monday 1^st February 2021. All submissions must be in English.

Download application form (Word)

Download budget template (Excel)

Please make it clear in your proposal if you might need extra support from the PCLG Secretariat to carry out your learning activities. For example, we could provide hints, tips or guidance on policy advocacy, press briefings, building a communications strategy, etc.  This will not affect your eligibility as the PCLG Secretariat exists to support conservation, development and rights-focused organisations to confidently undertake learning and policy advocacy activities.

*Please check back here regularly in case of any updated information

Other Requirements and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who should be the lead applicant?

Grant proposals and successful projects must be led by an eligible applicant based in one of the eligible countries. The lead applicant will need to be an established organisation with an organisational bank account. The lead applicant should be confident in using English for written and conversational reporting on the small grant with the PCLG Secretariat.

The lead applicant will be responsible for leading the proposed activities, administering the small grant and submitting technical and financial reporting to the International Institute for Environment and Development (the host of the PCLG Secretariat).

Should all eligible organisations in the learning group receive funding from the grant?

There is no maximum number organisations that can be involved in the learning group. Certainly, in the case of larger groups, not all the members will necessarily receive funding from the small grant. Nevertheless, it should be clear how each organisation will play a role in the activities proposed.

What themes are of interest to the PCLG small grants initiative?

Potential themes of interest include:

• Responses to emerging conservation and development challenges in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Indigenous Peoples and local communities and conservation – including equity, justice, governance and/or human rights
• Issues relating to conservation and wellbeing – including, for example, negative social impacts of conservation, benefit-sharing from conservation, conflict in the context of conservation and development interventions.
• Human-wildlife conflict
• Gender equity in conservation approaches
• The role of communities in tackling illegal wildlife trade
• Large scale infrastructure projects and/or land acquisition, communities and conservation

Please note this is not a prescriptive list. We recognise different countries and different localities have different priorities.

What activities will the PCLG small grants initiative support?

The PCLG small grants must support learning activities. These could include, for example:

• Facilitating national, regional or local dialogues
• Learning workshops or related exercises
• Participation in relevant national or regional conferences/policy consultations/events as a key speaker/contributor
• Evidence synthesis and sharing findings
• Establishing new partnerships
• Mobilising for policy advocacy
• Communicating research findings/insights or learning from experience of a project.

Some examples of activities we will not support include: sensitisation/education projects, tree planting projects, law enforcement, project evaluations or equipment needs.

What can I expect from the PCLG Secretariat?

The PCLG Secretariat will:

• Review applications and feedback to successful and unsuccessful grantees
• Administer successful small grants
• Support successful grantee learning groups where they have identified additional support is necessary to undertake their proposal
• Keep in regular contact with small grantee learning groups to a) identify any emerging support needs and b) to monitor and capture learning and evidence from small grants supported learning group
• Look for opportunities to foster learning between the small grantee learning groups within and across countries.

If you have read this webpage and still have a question, please contact: olivia.wilsonholt@iied.org