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2022 call for concept notes—Indigenous Peoples Partnering for Climate

This funding opportunity process is now closed. The deadline for submitting a concept note was February 8, 2023.

This call for concept notes is part of Canada’s $5.3 billion international climate finance commitment. Within the $5.3 billion, $315 million has been allocated to the Partnering for Climate initiative, which aims to leverage the climate action expertise and commitment of organizations in Canada. Of the $315 million, $15 million has been earmarked over 5 years to fund projects that support climate action priorities of Indigenous PeoplesFootnote 1.

Indigenous leadership and knowledge are essential to address climate change: Indigenous Peoples have unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. This call emphasizes the importance of Indigenous climate leadership and seeks to foster partnerships between Indigenous Peoples that build the climate resilience of Indigenous Peoples in developing countries.

This call for concept notes is for overarching projects led by Indigenous organizations in Canada, non-Indigenous organizations in Canada with strong connections with Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and/or partnerships between the 2 kinds of organization. 

You must submit your concept note by Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 12 pm (noon) ET.

The submission of a concept note is the first stage of a 2-stage application process. Funding will not be provided on the basis of a concept note. At the second stage, we will invite a limited number of organizations to submit a full proposal. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) may fund 1 to 3 proposals or none, up to the maximum funding available ($15 million).

A working group with representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada, Métis National Council, and Global Affairs Canada designed this call.

Be sure to:

Objectives

This call is designed to improve the climate resilience of Indigenous Peoples in developing countries. The aim is to support the Indigenous climate leadership of Indigenous organizations in Canada and/or non-Indigenous organizations in Canada that have strong connections with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.

The selected overarching project(s) will have various components, including sub-granting, capacity building, monitoring, reporting, and overall governance (see Image 1). The sub-granting component will result in funding for climate action partnership projects designed and implemented by Indigenous Peoples in Canada in partnership with Indigenous Peoples in developing countries. The partnership projects will also need to align with the international climate finance outcomes described below.

Note: This call seeks concept notes for overarching projects only. It is not seeking concept notes for partnership projects between Indigenous organizations in Canada and in developing countries. The partnership projects will be funded through the subsequent sub-granting component of the overarching project(s) selected through this call.

Image 1. Description of relationship between overarching and partnership projects
Text version

This call will select 1 to 3 overarching projects. These projects will be responsible for the following components:

  • Sub-granting
  • Monitoring, evaluation, research and learning
  • Project management
  • Governance
  • Capacity building
  • Reporting

Partnership projects(s) will be funded through a sub-granting component of the overarching project(s) and take place in developing countries. Indigenous Peoples in developing countries and in Canada will co-lead these partnership projects.

Outcomes

See Results-based management (RBM) for international assistance programming: A how-to guide to ensure that your outcome statements respect results-based management principles. Note: The Indigenous-led partnership projects as part of the sub-granting component will also have to support the climate adaptation priorities of Indigenous Peoples in developing countries and align with the Climate Finance Program Logic Model.

Organization eligibility

To be eligible, your organization (and any co-signatories) must demonstrate how it meets each of the following eligibility criteria and, where stipulated, must provide supporting documentation. If your organization is submitting a concept note on behalf of a group of organizations that would all sign the funding agreement with Global Affairs Canada, each organization (i.e. co-signatory) must meet all of the following requirements and provide documentation:

Guiding parameters

Required project parameters

Carefully review the parameters of this call to determine whether your concept note is well aligned with these parameters. Your concept note must comply with all of the following statements, otherwise it will not be assessed:

Cost share (optional): Where feasible, organizations (and co-signatories) are encouraged to contribute to the overarching project costs in cash and/or in-kind. See Global Affairs Canada’s Policy on Cost-Sharing for Grant and Non-Repayable Contribution Agreements.  

How we assess your concept note

Note: If multiple signatories submit the concept note, the experience and technical capacity criteria will be assessed collectively for all signatory organizations. However, financial capacity will only be assessed based on the lead signatory. The lead signatory is the organization that submits the concept note.

Concept note application packages will undergo a screening to verify that all required documentation has been submitted related to organization eligibility, and that required project parameters identified on this call page are met.

Concept notes that are screened in will undergo a merit assessment based on the following criteria:

Rationale for the overarching project

The following criteria will be used to assess the description of the context and issues to be addressed:

Solution

The following criteria will be used to assess the solution, i.e. the proposed means of solving the development challenge:

Note: preference may be given to concept notes that provide biodiversity co-benefits.

Note: preference may be given to approaches that use innovation processes/methods or implement a novel, improved approach.

Organization experience

The following criteria will be used to assess the capacity of your organization, and that of co-signatories if applicable, to implement the overarching project.

The applicant cites experience:

Note: preference may be given to applicants demonstrating experience managing project(s) related to environment and climate action.

Note: preference may be given to organizations that have worked in a developing country.

Once the merit assessment is complete, GAC will send a letter to applicants indicating whether or not they are invited to submit a full proposal.

How to apply

Before applying:

Deadline

You must submit your concept note through the Partners@International portal by Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 12 pm (noon) ET.

Note: late submissions will not be accepted or considered. We recommend beginning to upload documents at least 3 business days before the deadline to ensure that you can request support if needed and technical difficulties do not prevent you from submitting on time.

Co-signatories

If you are applying with other organizations that will co-sign the funding agreement with Global Affairs Canada, ensure that each organization has

What to submit

Submit the following mandatory documents:

General notes

Global Affairs Canada will not reimburse any costs associated with the preparation or submission of the concept note application in response to this call. All costs are the sole responsibility of your organization.

GAC reserves the right to amend or cancel the process of application and assessment.

Submitting an application does not guarantee funding even if the application meets all of GAC’s criteria for assessment. Your application will be reviewed based on merit and assessed according to the criteria described in the previous section “How we assess your concept note”.

The amount of funding available can fluctuate and may therefore result in less funding than requested. When provided, funding will be in the form of a grant or a contribution, the terms and conditions of which will be set out in a separate funding agreement. Any financial assistance that may be provided will be subject to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Policy and Directive on Transfer Payments and other applicable legislation.

Subject to all applicable laws and policies, should your organization’s submitted application not receive funding, the content of the application will not be shared with a third party or put to use. The information collected in this application will be used and may be disclosed only for the purposes of assessing the merits of your organization’s application. As part of the assessment process, the information may be shared with external consultants, review committee, and/or officials in other departments.

Using the Partners@International portal

Follow the instructions for using the Partners@International portal. Links are on the right-side menu. Do not open multiple windows within the portal as this may cause technical problems.

It may take up to 10 business days to register your organization. If you encounter technical difficulties while trying to register or submit a concept note, email partners-partenaires@international.gc.ca.

Note: During the last 2 weeks before a call closes, the service standard for replying to your enquiry is 3 business days. Technical support for the portal is only available Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm ET.

Webinar

On November 25th, 2022 a webinar reviewed information about this call page and the application form.

A recording of the webinar is now available.

Questions specific to this call

If you still have questions about this call after reading the general questions and answers about applying for funding and/or attending the webinars, send them to Indigenous-Dev-Autochtones@international.gc.ca  by 12 pm ET on January 11, 2023.

We will not respond to questions received after this deadline or to questions on specific organizational circumstances or specific project concept notes.

We will not respond to individual applicants who submit questions; instead, we will post answers on the Questions and answers for this call. This ensures that all applicants have equal access to the same information.

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