The Selection Committee of the Small-Scale Initiatives Program (PPI) met at the headquarters of the French Committee of the IUCN to review applications for the "small grants" call for projects launched in March 2017. The call for projects targeted Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that had never received PPI funding across 12 countries in West and Central Africa Africa.

By the time the call for projects closed, 592 project proposals had been received (214 for West Africa and 378 for Central Africa). 21 projects were shortlisted and invited to submit a full applications which would be reviewed to identify eligible CSOs which will receive support from the IUCN’s West and Central Africa Program (IUCN PACO).

On 12 December, members of the Selection Committee, representatives of various institutions (list of members available here), reviewed the projects against relevance, consistency, technical and financial feasibility as well as sustainability criteria.

Of the 21 proposals submitted, the selection committee picked 14 projects to receive funding to the tune of EUR 450,000. Of the 14 successful projects, 7 will be implemented in West African countries and 7 in Central Africa dealing with themes ranging from protection of endangered species, through mitigation of man/wildlife conflicts to improving protected area governance (complete list of selected projects available here). The selected organizations will have a common aim to implement biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation projects locally (32 k€ on average over 18 months) through concrete action on the ground.

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