Canada: Caribbean disaster risk management fund’s second call for proposals

The Canadian High Commission is pleased to announce the launch of the Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management (CCDRM) Fund’s second call for proposals (RFP2). The main objective of the Fund is to support local, small projects that deliver tangible and practical natural disaster risk reduction benefits to vulnerable communities in 12 eligible CARICOM member states, namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname.

Eligible Caribbean-based organizations (e.g. national and regional organizations, community groups, NGOs, service clubs, and governmental agencies ) are invited to submit proposals for small, community-based, projects designed to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards (e.g. floods, landslides, storms, hurricanes, droughts, wild fires, storm surges, or tsunamis).

A limited number of grants will be issued on a competitive basis to eligible organizations whose proposals best address the Fund’s qualification criteria as assessed by the Fund’s Project Steering Committee. Information on the CCDRM Fund and the assessment criteria used to evaluate and rate project proposals can be found on the Fund’s web page: www.cdera.org/projects/ccdrmf.

The guidance documents that can be found on the web page include the Guide for Project Submission, the Project Application Template, the Project Evaluation Matrix, and the Fund profile. Proposals may be submitted to the CCDRM Fund from April 1st 2009 until midnight Eastern Time (GMT -05:00) on June 30th 2009.

Project proposals should be addressed to the Consultant Coordinator of the CCDRM Fund, Leslie Walling, at:

Canadian High Commission
Bishop’s Court Hill
St. Michael
P.O. Box 404
Bridgetown
Barbados.
Proposals may be submitted by post, hand, or e-mail.
Tel: 246-429-3550 Fax: 246-429-3876
Email: ccdrmf.cancarib@gmail.com

Features of the CCDRM Fund that should be considered when preparing a proposal are that it is locally-responsive and results-based in character. Locally-responsive means that the community that is to benefit from the project must consider the disaster risk reduction problem identified in the proposal as an important priority requiring action.

The beneficiary community must also be involved in all aspects of the project cycle. Results-based means that the project that is submitted to the Fund must be designed to deliver tangible, and measurable, disaster risk reduction benefits to the community in question. Priority will be given to projects that produce disaster risk reduction benefits in low-income, rural, or marginalized communities.

The Canada Caribbean Disaster Risk Management (CCDRM) Fund is an important component of the Canadian International Development Agencies (CIDA’s) regional Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Program (CDRMP) which is administered from the Canadian High Commission in Barbados.

The goal of the CDRMP is to strengthen the regional capacity to manage and coordinate gender and environmentally sensitive responses designed to reduce the negative impacts of natural hazards in the Caribbean.