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International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative—Community-based Adaptation Activity Grants

The Australian Government called for applications for Australian and international non–government organisations (NGOs) to work with local organisations to scale up current successful community–based adaptation activities or to build an adaptation component onto existing community–based activities in the Pacific region and East Timor.

The objective of the Community-based Adaptation Activity Grants is to increase the resilience of communities in the region to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

This funding opportunity is made available under Australia’s $150 million International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, which aims to meet high priority climate change adaptation needs in vulnerable countries in our region.

Applications closed on 26 February 2010. Generic feedback is provided below and a summary of successful applicant activities will be available once funding agreements have been finalised.

Generic feedback from the selection process

As outlined in the application guidelines, applications received by the deadline were first checked to ensure the application met the eligibility criteria. Eligible applications were then assessed on their merits against the selection criteria by a selection panel consisting of representatives from AusAID, the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, and an independent climate change expert from the region.

There was strong competition for the grants with 44 applications received, a substantial number of which were of high quality. Given the competitive nature of the grants and the limited funding available, three applications were endorsed for funding.

The applications that ranked highly:

• were clearly articulated and well structured
• fully addressed all selection criteria
• contained a good analysis of the issues
• involved a range of organisations in the proposed project including international or Australian NGOs working with regional and/or national development and/or conservation NGOs
• included a detailed budget with appropriate allocations showing good value for money
• identified key stakeholders, including relevant government authrorities
• identified a participatory approach and strong community engagement.

Applications could have been strengthened by:

• substantiating broad statements with details on how stated outcomes or outputs would be achieved
• clearly articulating the beneficiaries of the proposed activity and the on–ground adaptation actions
• outlining how cross–cutting issues would be integrated into the proposed activity, such as gender equality, environmental sustainability and social inclusion
• including a work program for activities and details on the monitoring and evaluation arrangements.