Foundation Ensemble’s Programmes Fund and Small Grants Fund for Sustainable Development, Water & Sanitation and Animal Biodiversity

Foundation Ensemble based in Paris has issued a call for proposals in its priority areas of water and sanitation, sustainable development and animal biodiversity. In fact, there are two types of funding available with the Foundation with different priorities in terms of issues and location.

1. Under the Programmes Fund, the Foundation has allocated over 88% of its annual endowment and covers areas of water and sanitation and sustainable development. This fund is limited geographically to eight selected countries Benin, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mali, Senegal, Cambodia, India and Peru. Projects proposed here are usually for a period of 2 to 4-5 years and funding requests can be made up to 50,000 Euros per year.
2. For the Small Grants Fund, there are no geographical priorities. Although the above mentioned areas are also covered under it, nearly 50% of the budget here is allocated for animal biodiversity. Grants available under this fund do not exceed more than 30,000 Euros per year. The Fund can also support testing innovating solutions at a small scale.

The Foundation has defined following solutions that can be proposed under its priority areas

Water and Sanitation: Integrated water resources management; water supply; protection of underground water reserves; sustainable irrigation, ecological sanitation, biogas, low-cost technical solutions (micro-irrigation water treatment, disinfection, purification, solar water pump etc); user water management including agricultural run offs; water payment (management of supply of drinking water; and support of infrastructure maintenance circuits.

Sustainable Development: Decentralized renewable energies; sustainable agriculture, promotion of agricultural sector (urban and peri-urban) and of environmental conscious cooperatives; alternative waste management, recycling; community-based, income-producing management of biodiversity; and processing and commercialization of agricultural products.

Animal Biodiversity: Conservation of threatened species.

Applicants intending to submit project proposals are advised to carefully read the specific eligibility criteria and download the 3-page application form for submission. Proposals can be submitted by email or regular mail. Proposals under the Small Grants Fund are accepted round the year from any country while proposals under Programmes Fund are accepted from select countries (mentioned above) only and there are specific deadlines. The next deadline for submitting proposals under Programmes Fund is 5 March 2010. For more information, visit this link.