Programme Officer, GEF SGP

The Small Grants Programme (SGP) is a flagship program of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which provides financial, technical and capacity building support to civil society organizations (CSOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) to implement local conservation, development and livelihood actions with Global Environmental Benefits. For the eighth operational phase, the GEF will adopt a new approach, called SGP 2.0, which aims to diversify the agencies implementing the program and maximize the amount of financing flowing to CSOs and CBOs.

In Sri Lanka, the core resources allocated for the SGP will be operationalized through Conservation International (CI) as the Implementing Agency. CI will deliver the SGP through the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF): a joint initiative of CI and the GEF, in partnership with l’Agence Française de Développement, the European Union, Fondation Hans Wilsdorf, the Government of Canada, the Government of Japan and the World Bank, which was established in 2000 as a mechanism to engage local actors in the conservation of the global biodiversity hotspots. At the national level, CI and CEPF will partner with the IUCN Sri Lanka Country Office as National Executing Agency. Created in 1948, IUCN has evolved into the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, which provides public, private and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

As well as the program implemented by CI/CEPF and executed by IUCN, UNDP will implement SGP 2.0 in Sri Lanka, using GEF funding from the national STAR allocation. The two programs will be implemented in a parallel but coordinated manner.

SPECIFIC DUTIES:

Informing key audiences about SGP 2.0
• Serve as the principal point of contact about SGP 2.0 at IUCN, for civil society, government and donor stakeholders.
• Advertise SGP 2.0 (especially calls and training opportunities) widely among CBOs, NGOs and CSOs, giving particular attention to groups led by women, youth, Indigenous people and local communities, and other marginalized or vulnerable groups.
• Organize informational webinars for potential applicants in Sinhala and English.
• Respond to inquiries from potential applicants.
• Contribute to press releases, web stories and social media content on SGP 2.0.

Coordinating grant making
• In consultation with the National Steering Committee, and in coordination with CEPF and UNDP, develop a schedule for solicitation and review of applications, and issue calls for Letters of Inquiry (LOIs).
• Conduct due diligence of LOIs received under each call to ensure applicant eligibility and capacity to comply with SGP 2.0 funding terms.
• Screen applications against CEPF’s environmental and social standards and provide guidance to applicants on compliance with applicable standards.
• Conduct preliminary reviews of LOIs received under each call for proposals, drawing on support from other IUCN staff as needed.
• Convene a Panel of Experts to evaluate LOIs.
• Based on the expert reviews, invite shortlisted applicants to prepare full proposals.
• Review full proposals to ensure they satisfactorily address feedback from the Panel of Experts.
• Submit the final list of grant awards to the National Steering Committee for endorsement.
• Submit endorsed list of grants to CEPF for contracting and fund transfer.
• Encourage partnerships and collaboration among applicants and grantees, to build a coherent portfolio of grants that contributes to achieving the objectives of the Country Programme Strategy.

Capacity building for CSOs
• Assist potential applicants to turn their project ideas into coherent LOIs that meet the eligibility criteria of SGP 2.0 and address the geographic and thematic priorities set out in the Country Programme Strategy.
• With the assistance of CEPF, organize proposal development workshops for shortlisted applicants, to help them design impactful, gender sensitive and socially inclusive projects.
• Build the institutional capacity of grantees to ensure efficient and effective project implementation and financial management.
• Build the capacity of grantees, on an as-needs basis, to comply with CEPF’s Environmental and Social Management Framework.
• Identify suitable grantees to participate in regional training and networking events organized by CEPF.

Monitoring compliance and impact
• Assist grantees in complying with reporting obligations, including CEPF’s Civil Society Tracking Tool, and Gender Tracking Tool.
• Verify completion of milestones by grantees, as described in their proposals.
• Conduct at least one Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation mission to each SGP project.
• Review and verify grantees’ Final Completion and Impact Reports.
• Enter data on GEF and CEPF indicators into the online grants monitoring platform, Conservation Grants.
• Obtain quotations, photographs and short-format video of SGP activities for use in communications materials by CI, CEPF and IUCN.
• Participate in the Mid-term Evaluation and Terminal Evaluation of the SGP 2.0 project implemented by CI and CEPF.
Facilitating collaboration
• Prepare briefing materials for National Steering Committee meetings.
• Take minutes of National Steering Committee meetings.
• Meet at least quarterly with the SGP National Coordinator at UNDP, to avoid duplication of effort, identify opportunities for synergy and ensure clear and consistent external communications about SGP 2.0.