SDM

SDM 2016: Results Announcement

2016.09.27

Report on the SDM 2016 Project Selection

 

(from the SDM Executive Board)

  1. Background

Since its launch in October 2010, the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) has been working with its diverse partners to promote the sustainable use of Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS) in both developed and developing countries.

In 2013, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), and the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ) jointly launched the “Satoyama Development Mechanism (SDM)” as a collaborative activity under the framework of IPSI to facilitate further implementation of IPSI activities by providing seed funding to promising project proposals.

  1. SDM 2016 operations

For its fourth year of operations, SDM 2016 was commenced after preparations and approval by the Executive Board in April 2016, and the announcement of the call for proposals was made via email and website on 23 May 2016. After the initial announcement, a reminder was made by email to IPSI members through the IPSI mailing list. The final deadline of the proposals to SDM was set to 30 July 2016.

The SDM 2016 received a total of 22 applications, of which 19 were from eligible IPSI members presenting promising proposals for the implementation and promotion of the concept of the Satoyama Initiative. This also served as an opportunity to send invitations to non-member applicants to join IPSI.

Based on a preliminary examination of the received applications by the SDM Secretariat, a Board Meeting was held on 31 August 2016, where the Executive Board approved the selection of six funding recipients.

  1. Summary of the result

The selection took a stepwise process in accordance with that prescribed in the Outline Document for the Operation of Satoyama Development Mechanism 2016. First, each of the 19 proposals from eligible organisations were marked against the ten Screening Criteria, resulting in a shortlist of 12 proposals marked higher than the rest in terms of relevance, effectiveness, feasibility and sustainability. Second, the Board evaluated the 12 shortlisted proposals using the Prioritisation Criteria, which was to establish a portfolio of a set of six projects that effectively promotes the facilitation of IPSI Collaborative Activities, takes balance across thematic and geographical areas, considers wider distribution of funding, responds to important funding needs, and demonstrates innovativeness by alternative, unique or other novel approaches to addessing critical local needs and/or issues of internaitonal concern. Finally six proposals were selected for the SDM 2016 granting as listed in the table “SDM 2016 Selected Projects” below.

The selection was not easy where all the 12 shortlisted proposals were highly qualified for the SDM grant but only six amongst out of them can be selected as the grant recipients. Three out of the six selected organisations are returned applicants who won the SDM grant in the previous rounds. They demonstrated critical importance of the proposed projects with robust proposals, either to implement an IPSI Collaborative Activity, to tackle a new topic that had not been addressed by previous SDM projects, or to roll out a model to the regional level harnessing on what they accomplished by the previous project.

To these end, the Board decided to open an avenue for the six organisations that were shortlisted but not finally selected this year to reapply for the next SDM call for proposals in 2017. The Board expects that such a measure can mitigate the fulctuation in number and quality of proposals across years, as observed in the past three years, and thus ensures stable and better portfolio for project selection for the year to come. All in all, the increased number and enhanced quality of proposals for SDM 2016 were highly appreciated, which are indeed the source of core asset for SDM.

SDM 2016 Selected Projects

Applicant Project type Country Project title Region Funding
Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) Community/field-based project implementation Kenya Strengthening Community Participation in Biodiversity Conservation through

Benefit Sharing and Capacity Building

Africa US$ 10,000
A Rocha Ghana Community/field-based project implementation Ghana Mangrove restoration to improve socioecological production landscapes and seascapes for fisheries recovery at the Muni Pomadze Ramsar Site Africa US$ 10,000
Japan Environmental Education Forum (JEEF) Community/field-based project implementation Bangladesh Project for conserving Bangladesh Sundarbans SAYATOMA and developing its showcase through creating action plan and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources by promoting mangrove restoration, traditional culture and skill of mangrove’s shrimp Asia US$ 10,000
M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation Research activities India Problems and ‘prospects’ of SEPLS’ conservation for alternate benefits –A research case study from the Western Ghats Asia US$  9,900
National Dong-Hwa University Activities to facilitate cooperation among IPSI members Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) Facilitating the Development of a Taiwan Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (TPSI) Asia US$ 10,000
DVL Germany Activities to facilitate cooperation among IPSI members Europe Preparing the conservation and development of cultural landscapes on a European level Europe US$ 10,000