Call for projects for the reinforcement of CHM websites 2020

Introduction

Policy context and objectives

During COP12 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Decision XII/2 paragraph 15-17 called up on parties to further develop their national Clearing House Mechanisms (CHMs) and assistance from other parties to developing country Parties. This has been reiterated in Decision XIV/25 paragraph 3. These decisions work towards AICHI Target 19 (By 2020, knowledge, the science base and technologies relating to biodiversity, its values, functioning, status and trends, and the consequences of its loss, are improved, widely shared and transferred, and applied). Furthermore, the development of the CHMs contributes also to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In order to implement CEBioS programme of work for 2019-2023 as well as COP Decision XIV/25, the Belgian CHM partnership within the CEBioS programme of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), financed by the Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD) has decided to launch a call for proposals to support its partner countries boost their national CHM networks. One of the objectives of the initiative is to develop websites:

  • officially endorsed by the national authorities
  • operational both in terms of format and content
  • updated with the relevant information and data
  • which contain comprehensive information and national documents
  • which promotes the follow up of the implementation of National Biosafety Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)
  • which make links with other relevant websites at national and international level.

Technical background and needs of the South-CHMs

The digital world has considerably evolved since the early days of the Belgian CHM partnership. Web-based tools are different, as well as the use of the Internet by society. Focal points around the world have adapt to these changes in order to take the best possible advantage of the emerging technologies for their work on the CHM.

Since 1999, the Belgian CHM partnership has promoted national CHMs in developing countries. From 2006 to 2018, partner CHMs were trained in the use of the CHM Portal Toolkit (PTK). As of 2019, CHM trainings will use the new CMS ‘Bioland’ tool. This easy-to-use and open-access tool is developed by the CBD Secretariat. It enables the integration of data from the CBD and its Protocols as well as other relevant data providers for national CHMs. Various users can contribute to the website content through a web interface (the only requirement is to have a login and password).

Through several meetings held with its partners over time (2007 in Brussels, 2012 in Cotonou, 2013 in Marrakesh) CHM partners identified their constraints in the implementation of their tasks at a national level. These meetings enabled CHM partners to share best practices to overcome these constraints. The main identified constraints are:  insufficient time for managing the websites, irregular and problematic Internet connections, lack of computer expertise of several actors supposed to contribute to the websites, interaction with the national focal point and other stakeholders not well institutionalised as well as lack of ownership by the government due to lack of budget allocations.

Eligible activities

This call for project proposals does not aim to tackle all constraints identified by CHM focal points. The focus of the present call is: development of a special section on the implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategic and Action Plan, promote the sharing of information by other actors and/or improvement of the website content.

By way of example, the following activities are possible:

  • data collection and acquisition (data mining)
  • assistance for the digitisation of important documents or data
  • establishment of special thematic sections, such as a kids’ section, a section on ABS and the Nagoya Protocol, a section on water or waste, a section on eco-tourism, etc.
  • translation into local language(s)
  • development of a communication plan and strategy for the CHM
  • organisation of meetings of the CHM steering committees (Only if a national CHM Strategy exists or if there is mention of the CHM and the committee in the national biodiversity Strategy, can be funded for maximum 2 years)
  • reaching out to policy makers and to other stakeholders (on the subject of technical and scientific cooperation and the CHM website)
  • South-South cooperation to promote the national CHMs of partner countries
  • follow-up training given by the national CHM web manager (Only for countries where national training workshops have been given by the Belgian tutors since 2015).

Activities which are not eligible:

  • Training by the Belgian tutors (such as continuous training at national level or the training of new national collaborators)
  • Workshops, if their objectives are not directly related to the improvement of the CHM website
  • Publication and printing of documents other than CHM brochures and flyers.

Project deliverables

The deliverables are:

  • A project implemented according to the terms of the contract
  • Implemented project and narrative report, including indicators as requested by CEBioS
  • Financial report following the template provided by CEBioS (Excel)
  • CHM up-to-date, functional and officially recognised by the country

Eligible countries and partners

Are eligible:

  • CHM National Focal Points of partner countries of Belgium: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, D.R. Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda.

Important notice: partners who did not provide reports and/or supporting documents in due time for their projects in 2019 are not eligible to this call (since the 2019 budget of these projects will be taken out of the 2020 budget).

Duration of the project

For this call projects can be supported for maximum 8 months (end of project 15 December 2020).

Type of support

RBINS will finance the selected projects up to 80% of their estimated costs. The remaining 20% will have to be co-financed by the local partner.

The maximum amount funded by the Belgian CHM NFP is 8,000 euros per project.

The projects:

The distribution of financing will be the following:

80% of the requested budget at the beginning of the project and 20% after the end of the project This last payment will only be made after reception of justification of expenses (scanned receipts and supporting documents). The financial report must be handed in the latest on 1 January 2021. When exceeding the foreseen budget there won’t be reimbursement of the extra costs.

Estimated number of projects

5 to 8 projects will be financed. This number will depend on the type, size and quality of proposed projects.

Project promoter and partners

The official project promoter is the CHM National Focal Point of the submitting country, in agreement with the supervisory authority. An approval letter of the supervisory authority must be joined to the application file.

South-South cooperation is eligible under this call, however it should be clear which activities will be undertaken in which country. The Promotor should come from one of the eligible countries mentioned above.

Collaboration or subcontracting with a local partner is possible. In this case, such collaboration or subcontracting must clearly be indicated in the application.

Preparation of a proposal and submission instructions

Projects must be submitted to RBINS by 25 April 2020 at the latest, at the electronic address cbd-chm<at>naturalsciences.be.

Projects must be submitted using the following template.

To prepare the budget you have to use the model for budget(budget template) and read carefully the vademecum. The budget should be included in the proposal but also be sent as a separate Excel file.

Reporting

A report of activities and a financial report must be submitted to RBINS at the end of the project.

Scans of all original supporting documents and justification of expenses will be asked, in order to conform to the requirements of the Belgian Development Cooperation following the guidelines of the Vademecum. Any expenses that cannot be justified will not be considered and will have to be supported by the partner. All original justifications of expenses have to be kept by the partner for a duration of 10 years, in case CEBioS or DGD might need them for an audit.

Shipping costs of these reports, the supporting documents and/or original expense justification in case of an audit will have to be foreseen in advance in the budget.

The deadline for reporting for the projects is 1 January 2021.

Financial reports must be submitted using the financial report template.

Indicative dates for the examination of proposals and for the execution of the projects

 The projects

23 March 2020

Distribution of the call for proposals through the Belgian CHM website

25 April 2020

Deadline for the submission of proposals

8 May 2020

Successful project beneficiaries are contacted

12 May 2020 - 15 December 2020

Project implementation

1 January 2021

Activities and financial reports are required

 

Contacts

The following persons will be in charge of the evaluation and follow-up of projects, with the support of experts (DGD and others):

  • Han de Koeijer, Belgian National focal point for the CHM
  • Marie-Lucie Susini, Belgian National focal point for the GTI and assistant NFP CHM or her replacement
  • Sandra Meehan, Assistant at the CBD

In order for each of these persons to be informed at all times of the status of the application, it is asked to use only the generic e-mail cbd-chm<at>naturalsciences.be. If you didn’t receive a confirmation email that your project has been received, you can contact Han de Koeijer directly.

Physical address

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Rue Vautier 29
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Email: cbd-chm<at>naturalsciences.be