The Small Grants Programme Newsletter

GEF Small Grants Programme Newsletter December 2024

Our Stories

From Soil to Strength: How Climate-smart Agriculture is Empowering Persons with Disabilities

Gaynel Agustus likes to be on the ground, feeling the soil under her feet: “I love to get my hands dirty, and I love plants. Because I can’t see, I use my hands, nose and feet to ‘see’ what the soil needs, or if it is just right.” Gaynel used to work at a local radio station, but after completely losing her vision due to health-related complications, she had to stay home. From that point forward, she started focusing on working on her little backyard garden with her son. Now, at 43 years old, Gaynel is the Vice President of the Antigua and Barbuda Association for Persons with Disabilities (ABAPD), where she gets to work with horticultural therapy, a process of using plants and soil for therapy, among other activities.

Guardians of the Páramos: Rural Women Lead the Fight to Save the Andes’ Water Temples in Colombia

On the cold, wet and foggy slopes of the Andes mountains in South America, a unique but fragile ecosystem illustrates the interconnection between the three most urgent global environmental crises we face today: biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation. Known as páramos, these high mountain ecosystems are found at altitudes higher than 3,000 metres, above the high Andean forest line, but below the permanent snow line. Characterized by cold and humid weather and a typical Andean vegetation of frailejones (‘big monk’ perennial shrubs, from the genus Espeletia), giant rosette plants and grasses, the páramos are important biodiversity hotspots with over 700 endemic plant species that do not exist anywhere else in the world.

Model Cooperation: Building Resilience in Small Island Developing States Through South-South Cooperation

While working as the Environmental Health and Safety Manager for a top hotel on the picturesque eastern Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, Richard Matthias received a call from the maintenance department: a swarm of bees had gathered at one of the restaurants. Richard contacted a local beekeeper, William ‘Vavan’ Antione, who showed up promptly with a small wooden box and captured the bees. As Vavan gently shook the buzzing insects inside the box, he told Richard to take them home, place the box in his yard, and give him a call in a fortnight. “I spent the next two weeks watching the bees going in and out of that box every morning, and the rest is history,” Richard recalls.

Six SGP grantees among Equator Prize 2024 winners

Grantees of the GEF SGP in Iran, Morocco, Senegal, Colombia, Kenya and Bangladesh are among the prestigious Equator Prize 2024 winners, which UNDP, Equator Initiative, and its partners announced this month. Implemented by UNDP for over three decades, SGP has been providing financial and technical support to projects that conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people's well-being and livelihoods around the world. The Equator Prize is an international award that recognizes the vital role that local communities, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society play towards achieving nature, climate and sustainable development targets for people and the planet.

Knowledge is Power: Environmental Education for Stateless Indigenous Youth in Malaysia Deepens Connections to Nature and Our Shared Digital Future

Jai Jericho bin Omar is 18 years old and lives in Kampung Bangau-Bangau, a sprawling community of tightly packed wooden stilt huts over the sea on the outskirts of the town of Semporna, Malaysia. Located on the east coast of Sabah, Kampung Bangau-Bangau is mostly home to marginalized Indigenous Peoples, including the Bajau Laut, which Jai belongs to. The Bajau Laut are a sea-faring group that traditionally lived across the Sulu Sea on small wooden boats called lepa, getting everything they needed from the ocean.

Almonds and Joy: Conservation and Sustainable Use of Almonds in Bolivia’s Chiquitano Forest

The nókümonísh (almond in the Indigenous Chiquitana language) is one of the most traditional seeds of the Chiquitana region in Bolivia. Until recently, it was nothing more than a vague memory in the minds of older adults, with many local families unaware of the different ways in which this typical fruit of the forest can be used. Now, the chiquitana almond (Dipterix alata) is a product that has great economic potential for local communities, besides being a key element in the life cycles of local flora and fauna, as part of the regional ecosystem.

The power of local action: SGP highlights community-led solutions for triple environmental crises in global conferences

For SGP, 2024 is ending on a high note after three major global conferences that brought together governments, donors, international organizations and civil society to discuss the most urgent environmental crises our world currently faces: biodiversity loss, climate change and land degradation. This planetary emergency is global, but its impacts are experienced locally, with vulnerable communities in developing countries bearing the brunt of impacts.

High Level Political Forum 2024 Virtual Side Event: COMDEKS Phase 4

Aligned with the theme of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held in July 2024, the GEF Small Grants Programme, implemented by UNDP, held a side event with partners to highlight the role of the COMDEKS programme in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and key targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including those on ecosystem restoration, protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.

GEF Small Grants Programme Results Report 2023-2024

The infographic version of the GEF SGP Results Report 2023-2024 presents results for the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, based on the information from 115 SGP Country Programmes. The report highlights examples of successful projects from around the world, and demonstrates how the active leadership of local communities, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples can contribute to the effective stewardship of the environment and sustainable development.

COVID-19 Response Initiative of the ICCA-GSI

The Global Support Initiative to territories and areas conserved by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (ICCA-GSI) launched its COVID-19 response initiative in late 2020 to support Indigenous Peoples and local communities in 45 countries to cope with and recover from the impacts of this new challenge. This publication presents diverse examples from around the world on the coping mechanisms and recovery measures employed based on the self-determined priorities of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to address varied site-specific challenges.

COMDEKS Phase 4: Societies in Harmony with Nature

The Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) was launched in 2011 as a flagship program of the Satoyama Initiative, a global initiative that aims to realize societies in harmony with nature through conservation and sustainable management of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes. This brochure presents an overview of the COMDEKS Programme. It includes a brief background on COMDEKS Phases 1 to 3, a description of the COMDEKS Framework and key terms, as well as an overview of COMDEKS Phase 4. Additionally, the brochure features two brief case studies from previous Phases.

CBA Phase 3 Guidance Note

This brochure provides and overview of the Community-Based Adaptation Programme in Asia and the Pacific (CBA Phase 3) funded by DFAT. It also provides programmatic and operational guidance to the 26 countries participating in CBA Phase 3.