Grants Portal

Our Grant Making Guidelines

Bahamas Protected Areas Fund was established by an Act of Parliament in 2014 to ensure sustainable financing in perpetuity for protected areas (PAs), within The Bahamas. The Act permits the Fund to extend grants to various PAs Managers including the Bahamas Natural Trust, the Forestry Unit of the Ministry of Environment, the Department of Marine Resources, Clifton Heritage Authority, Other Government Agencies and Ministries, academic and research institutions and other NGOs, whose grant requirements, align with the Act, BPAF’s Strategic Plan and Grant Priorities 2019-2022.

BPAF’s responsibilities are extensive, covering national parks, marine protected areas declared under the Fisheries Resources Act 1977, the sustainable management of forests on public and private lands, and the declaration of protected forests and forestry reserves under the Forestry Act. Apart from supporting the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, its mandate also supports areas set aside under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as threatened ecosystems as defined under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

The Fund’s overall scope directly supports three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 13 –Climate Action, Goal 14 – Life under Water and Goal 15 – Life on Land. Our strategic goals and funding priorities were designed to also support other SDGs, including sustainable economic growth, access to clean energy, gender equality and the promotion of partnerships for improvements in management effectiveness.

Funding Purpose and Priorities

All project concepts must focus on at least one of eight, key BPAF funding priorities. These priorities are displayed in the table below.

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Evaluation Process

Project concept proposals submitted by the application deadline – see Section 8, will first be assessed for eligibility based on the information outlined in this document. Proposals which meet the basic eligibility criteria (See Section 5, below), will be invited to submit a full proposal application. This application will be reviewed by the BPAF Grants Review Committee. Following this review, the top ranked proposals will be subject to approval by the BPAF Board of Directors. Once approved by the Board, successful full proposal applicants will be notified of the award of a grant.

Eligibility Criteria

Apart from falling within the scope of this special call for proposals, other basic eligibility criteria for grants from BPAF include the following:
Grantees must be legally incorporated NGOs or Government agencies;
Proposed projects for grant funding must have consistency of purpose with that of the Fund as outlined in section 6 of the BPAF Act 2014 and
Proposed projects must align with the funding purpose and priorities identified in Section 2 above.

Activities which are NOT eligible for grants from the Fund are:
Salaries for public officers of Ministries, Departments or Government agencies; Salaries for executive officers and staff of NGOs;
Recurrent costs of Ministries, Departments or Government agencies;
Activities related to extraction of non-renewable natural resources and
Activities that do not align with funding priorities identified by the BPAF Board.

Evaluation Criteria

Project concept proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Alignment with the special call for proposals, fund priorities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Aichi Targets
• Methodology – Proposals must clearly articulate how project objectives will be achieved, what the outputs of the project will be, the type of impact the project will have and how the project will be monitored and evaluated for success. A Monitoring & Evaluation plan is also required.
• Organization capacity and expertise – Proposals must demonstrate the organization’s ability to execute the project through its internal administrative processes as well as the skills and experience of its staff and/or consultants responsible for executing the project. A logical framework is also required.
• Cost-effectiveness – Project costs should be reasonable and clearly presented. Full proposal applications must be accompanied with a detailed budget and budget narrative.
• Clarity and focus – Proposal objectives and design should be clearly articulated.

Reporting

Successful grant awardees will be required to provide progress reports on a quarterly basis and a final report at the end of the project.

Progress reports will include:

• Summary of work to date, inclusive of objectives and outputs achieved based on the project workplan
• Financial expenditure report for the quarter
• Identification of challenges encountered during the reporting period and solutions for addressing these challenges
• Activities planned for the next quarter

Final reports will include:

• All deliverables completed through the course of the project
• Lessons learned inclusive of successes and challenges
• Financial audit/report for the entire project

Application Process

Interested organizations should complete the concept application through the BPAF online portal here no later than 5:00 pm EST on April 7^th, 2021 (Extended). All applicants will be required to register (create an account), to use the on-line grants portal. Further information on selection criteria and the application process can be found on the online portal site.

Notification of Applicants

Only applicants selected to proceed to Phase II – the Full Project Proposal Phase, will be notified. BPAF will not be able to provide feedback on unsuccessful applications.

Grant Conditions

Conditions of the grant will be detailed in the grant agreement executed between grantees and BPAF.

Enquiries

Enquiries should be directed to grants@bahamasprotected.com.

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