Since its inception, SGP has provided over $724.91 million of GEF and other donor funds to over 26,429 projects around the world. In addition, over $876.94 million have been mobilized as co-finance to community-based projects.
The Small Grants Program (SGP) is a corporate program of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) since 1992. GEF SGP grantmaking in over 125 countries promotes community-based innovation, capacity development, and empowerment of local communities and civil society organizations (CSOs) with special consideration for indigenous peoples, women, and youth.
The GEF SGP provides grants of up to USD 50,000 directly to CSOs and community-based organizations (CBOs) to undertake local projects that contribute to the global environment while generating sustainable livelihoods.
Since the programme’s inception, the SGP has provided more than USD 541.7 million in grants, complemented by more than USD 686 million in cash and in-kind co-financing.
Global Environment Facility
Recipients of grant support are responsible to conduct monitoring and evaluation (M&E) at three key stages of project implementation (i.e. project concept planning and proposal, project implementation, and project completion). They are also obliged to submit an annual report to SGP (UN-Environment) that includes the details from the M&E activities. More information about monitoring and reporting procedures here.
The SGP is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
At the global level, the Central Program Management Team provides global oversight to SGP's global operations and decentralized country programs. Since 2011, the most mature SGP country programs have upgraded to full-sized projects and are managed by UNDP's Communities, Livelihoods and Markets cluster. These countries are: Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
At the national and local levels, SGP operates in a decentralized and country-driven manner through country program teams composed of a National Coordinator (NC), often a Program Assistant (PA), and a National Steering Committee (NSC) in each participating country. SGP country programs are hosted primarily by UNDP Country Offices, but also by national host institutions (NHI).
All project proposals submitted to SGP country teams need to demonstrate:
How the proposed project proposal meets the GEF SGP criteria by articulating how project objectives and activities would have an impact in the SGP areas of work -GEF focal areas-. For more information on this please visit our areas of work section.
How they respond or are aligned to the targets and objectives of the SGP Country Programme Strategy(CPS) of their country. Please visit your coutry page to download a copy of the CPS or contact the NC.
Be proposed by national CBOs and NGOs.
Click here to see a list of SGP participating countries.
Please go through the eligibility test if you want to seek funding from this grant.
The project proponent - a national CBO or NGO- contacts the SGP National Coordinator to receive project application guidelines and forms.
With assistance from the National Coordinator, the proponent prepares a brief project concept paper and submits this to the coordinator.
The national coordinator reviews and pre-screens the concept paper according to see if it meets the GEF SGP criteria and other criteria adopted by the NSC for activities in that country and explain in the Country Programme Strategy (CPS).
If the project is judged eligible, the project proponent prepares a project proposal; in some cases, this step may be supported by a planning grant.
Completed project proposals are submitted by the National Coordinator to the NSC.
The NSC reviews the proposal and either accepts it, rejects it, or returns it to the proposer with a request that further work be done on formulating and refining the project data.
Approved proposals enter the national SGP work programme. SGP grants are usually paid in three installments: an up-front payment to initiate the project; a mid-term payment upon receipt of a satisfactory progress report; and a final payment on receipt of a satisfactory project completion and final report.