As part of the Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project funded by the MAVA Foundation today we are launching a Small Grants Programme. This programme will support governmental authorities and wildlife conservation non-governmental organisations from six states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia) from Balkan Peninsula in detection and persecution of poisoning incidents through implementation of National Roadmaps and Strategies. 

Small Grants Programme Aims and Objectives

Aim: To reinforce national capacities within relevant governmental authorities and conservation NGOs from the Balkan Peninsula (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia) in detection and persecution of poisoning incidents through implementation of National Roadmaps and Strategies. 

• Secure implementation of priority anti-poisoning actions listed in the National Anti-Poisoning Road-maps/Strategies.
• Strengthen the capacities of relevant national governmental institutions in combating the illegal use of poison baits and enforcement of relevant legislation.  
• Attract other funding opportunities for implementation of large-scale anti-poisoning projects in the region.

Eligibility Guidelines

• The geographical scope of this grant programme is the Balkan Peninsula including the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia. 
• Submitted project proposals must clearly address priority issues related to wildlife poisoning as defined in the National Anti-Poisoning Road Map of the target country. 
• This call for proposals is open for Civil Society Organisations situated in the respective target countries. 
• Applicants are allowed to submit only one project proposal, multiple applications from the same organisation will not be considered for funding. 
• Joint applications from two or more CSOs are eligible for funding. 
• Total amount of funds available per project is 10 000€, with a maximum of two projects per target country being eligible to receive funds

Project Duration

Duration of the project should not be less than 6 months and should not exceed 18 months.  Projects can only start on the 1 May 2019 as earliest and should be fully implemented by 31 October 2020. 

Ineligible costs

• Purchasing of cars and land is not eligible.
• Staff costs for employees of governmental institutions are not eligible.

Funding criteria 

• Project proposal have to include priority actions already listed in the draft National Anti-Poisoning Roadmaps/Strategies. 
• Project proposals should be coherent towards implementation of International Species Action Plans: Vulture MsAP, Cinereous Vulture Flyway Action Plan, Egyptian Vulture Flyway Action Plan, EU Bearded Vulture Action Plan, EU Cinereous Vulture Action Plan and EU Egyptian Vulture Action Plan.
• We strongly encourage submission of proposals which include active cooperation with relevant governmental institutions and other relevant CSOs. 
• Costs from governmental institution can be included in the budget proposals, not more than 30 % of the overall project budget. 
• All submitted proposals should be accompanied by supporting letters from relevant governmental institutions. 
• Project proposals can be used for co-funding and combined with larger projects. 
• Personal costs (salaries) should not exceed more than 40% of the total budget

Submission of proposals

The project proposal and respective budget must be based on the templates provided with this call and must to be submitted until 17h CET on the Monday 25 March 2019 via e-mail to bapp@4vultures.org. We will confirm the receipt of the proposal and will notify whether it is complete or whether additional information is required. Positive results can be expected from the Monday 15 April. 

Selection process

A committee comprised of Vulture Conservation Foundation Staff and Advisory Board members will evaluate each project proposal based on their feasibility, impact, adherence to national priorities and cost-effectiveness ratio, after which the outcome and results of this call of proposals will be made available on the Vulture Conservation Foundation website and applicants will be contacted directly.

Co-funding from other sources is considered an added value and any co-funding that has been or can potentially be secured for the proposed project should hence be mentioned in the proposal and clearly stated in the budget.  

Contact

If you would like further information you can contact the Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project team:

Uros Pantovic, Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project Officer

Jovan Andevski, Vulture Programmes Manager 

As part of the Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project our national partners have been working on Road Maps to tackle illegal wildlife poisoning in each of our target countries. These Road Maps can be downloaded below:

Albania - prepared by Taulant Bino & Besjana Sevo (AOS-Albanian Ornithological Society)

Bosnia & Herzegovina- prepared by Dražen Kotrošan, Tarik Dervović (Ornithological Society “Naše ptice”)

Croatia - prepared by Association BIOM

Greece - prepared by Hellenic Ornithological Society/BirdLife Greece

North Macedonia - prepared by Macedonian Ecological Society

Serbia - this is currently being finalised by the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia and will be available in the next few days

Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project 

The use of poisonous substances such as the banned toxic pesticide Carbofuran and baits laced with these substances in the environment is one of the most widely used predator eradication methods worldwide as highlighted in the Vulture Multi-species Action Plan. During the last 20 years a total of 465 vultures were found poisoned in 227 separate incidents, in total an estimated 2,300 vultures have been the victim of poisoning since 1998.  

The Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project is a cross-border initiative bringing together wildlife conservation organisations, governmental agencies and other stakeholder such as; hunting associations, farmers and scientists, in five Balkan countries to tackle illegal wildlife poisoning.

Funded by the Mava Foundation we aim to secure real and continued engagement of the relevant national governmental authorities in the Balkan region against illegal wildlife poisoning and increase their capacity to counteract it and working together to take positive steps to protect vultures.  

The Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project is a partnership between us here at the Vulture Conservation Foundation and the Albanian Ornithological Society-AOS, Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania-PPNEA, Ornithological Society “Naše ptice”,Association BIOM, Hellenic Ornithological Society-HOS, Macedonian Ecological Society-MES. 

The Balkan Anti-Poisoning Project  also contributes directly into the implementation of the Vulture Multi-Species Action Plan by carrying out anti-poisoning actions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece and Macedonia, and is building on our work for the last decade in the Balkans thorugh the Balkan Vulture Action Plan.