Articles

Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is funding organisation providing support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for projects designed to achieve environmental benefits.
GEF was established on the basis of collaboration and partnership, as a mechanism to promote international cooperation and foster action in providing new and additional grants to eligible countries to meet the agreed incremental costs. It is therefore the main funding mechanism for the environmental conventions related to the implementation of Agenda 21.

21. The focal areas for GEF support are:

• Biological Diversity
• Climate Change
• International Waters
• Land degradation
• The protection of the ozone layer
• Persistent organic pollutants (POPS)

 
Beneficiaries of GEF and Criteria
GEF funding is available to government agencies, United Nations specialized agencies, non-governmental organizations, bilateral development agencies and private sector institutions. In 1992, the GEF Small Grants Programme was established to provide grants of up to US$50,000 to Community Based Organizations (CBOs). The programme is administered by the UNDP on behalf of the GEF.

GEF Criteria Funding Categories

The criteria for eligibility for the GEF grants including:

A project proposal must be within one of the GEF focal areas.
The project must complement national programmes and policies to maximize global benefits.
The project must address global environmental issues, which are co-financed and GEF only comes to meet the incremental costs.
The project must address stakeholders participation.
 
GEF Funding Categories

• There are several categories of funds managed by the GEF namely:
• Full-sized project ($1 million and above)
• Medium sized project (up to $1 million).
• Financing can be available for preparing projects;-

   1. Project Development
   2. PDF-A up to $ 25,000
   3. PDF-B up to $ 350,000