The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Ramsar Convention's Small Grants Fund

SGF portfolio of project funding opportunities, 2008. The Ramsar Small Grants Fund (SGF) was established in 1990 as a mechanism to assist developing countries and those with economies in transition in implementing the Convention and to enable the conservation and wise use of wetland resources. From 1991 to 2007 the Fund has provided a total of 7.3 million Swiss Francs to 217 projects from 104 countries, providing up to 40,000 Swiss francs (about US$32,000) per project. Over this same period, 470 feasible projects were not supported due to lack of funds. The Fund relies exclusively upon voluntary contributions from government agencies and national and international NGOs.

Each year a rigorous evaluation procedure is carried out by the Ramsar Secretariat to assess the project proposals according to the strength of the project design, their relevance to the Convention’s objectives, and the capacity of the proponents to complete the project successfully. The SGF Portfolio 2008 (PDF) describes 18 projects that were favorably evaluated, but for which financial support has not yet been found. We strongly encourage you to consider providing financial support for one or more of these projects.  If you are able to help or would like additional information, please contact Ms Alexia Dufour (dufour@ramsar.org).

Suitable project proposals are those which contribute to the implementation of the Convention's Strategic Plan 2003-2008 for the conservation and wise use of wetlands; provide emergency assistance for Ramsar sites; or provide 'preparatory assistance' to allow non-Contracting Parties to progress toward accession. Eligibility is restricted to countries on the List of Aid Recipients established by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), effectively meaning developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Projects may be proposed and implemented by any agency, NGO, or individual, but proposals MUST be endorsed and monitored by the Administrative Authority (the Ramsar implementing agency) in the Party's government, and seldom is more than one proposal approved from the same Party in any year. Successful proposals receive 80% of the allocated funds upon signature of the contract and the remainder upon submission of an adequate final report, but countries from which adequate final project reports have not been received may be denied further consideration for funding until those outstanding project dossiers have been closed.

Projects for the 2008 cycle were selected by the Standing Committee in October 2008. The call for proposals is now being made for the 2009 cycle, with a deadline of 30 June 2009 for application and with a decision by the Standing Committee around the end of the year. The current edition of the "SGF Operational Guidelines", which includes complete information and the required forms, is now available on the Ramsar Web site in Word and PDF formats, as well as directly from the Secretariat.

The Secretariat's regional teams also offer an advisory service to help with the preparation of suitable proposals, for which drafts should be submitted to the Senior Regional Advisors by 30 April 2009. Please note that our advice is intended to help to improve project proposals for re-submission to the Small Grants Fund process, but it is not a guarantee that the proposals will be approved by the Standing Committee when it makes its decisions.

Readers can also find below lists of the successful project proposals for each year since 1992 and news reports of successfully completed projects, which may provide useful tips as to the kinds of projects and approaches most often selected for assistance.

The deadline for applications for the next round is 30 June 2009.

The deadline for submissions of draft proposals for the SGF advisory service is 30 April 2009.

All of the required forms for applying to the Small Grants Fund are included in the Operational Guidelines.

Ramsar Small Grants Fund: Operational Guidelines for the triennium (Word) (PDF)
Fonds Ramsar de petites subventions: Principes opérationnels pour la période triennale (Word) [PDF]

Fondo Ramsar de Pequeñas Subvenciones: Directrices Operativos para el trienio (Word) [PDF]
OECD DAC List of Overseas Development Aid Recipients (PDF)
Liste des bénéficiaires d'APD établie par le Comité d'aide au développement (CAD) de l'OCDE (PDF)
Lista de beneficiarios de asistencia elaborada por el Comité de Asistencia para el Desarrollo (CAD) de la OCDE [sólo en inglés]

Ramsar Small Grants Fund Allocations Reports

The Allocations Reports contain one-paragraph descriptions of each of the projects approved for each year's funding cycle.

2007 SGF Allocations Report 1999 SGF Allocations Report
2006 SGF Allocations Report 1998 SGF Allocations Report [Français, Español]
2005 SGF Allocations Report 1997 SGF Allocations Report [Français, Español]
2004 SGF Allocations Report 1996 SGF Allocations Report
2003 SGF Allocations Report 1995 SGF Allocations Report
2002 SGF Allocations Report 1994 SGF Allocations Report
2001 SGF Allocations Report 1993 SGF Allocations Report
2000 SGF Allocations Report 1992 SGF Allocations Report

News items on completed SGF projects

[Note: these are occasional SGF news items as they have come to hand, not a thorough survey of completed projects.]

dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Armenia 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Georgia 1998 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Senegal, 2000
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Belarus, Lithuania, & Russia 2001 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Kenya 2002, 2003 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Serbia 2001
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Bolivia 1998 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Latvia 1999 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Sierra Leone 2002
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2005 (final rpt) dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Lithuania 1999 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Slovak Republic 1997, 1999
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Chile 1998, 2002

dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Moldova 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009

 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Slovenia 1997
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Croatia 2006

dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Namibia 1997

 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Sri Lanka 1999
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Eastern Europe 1997 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Russian Federation 1997, 1998 dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Syria 2001
dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Estonia 1997   dotgrdark.gif (905 bytes)Zambia 1997

Critical evaluation of the Ramsar Small Grant Fund for Wetlands Conservation and Wise Use (SGF) undertaken by the Ramsar Bureau (provided to the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, 1999)

Évaluation critique du Fonds Ramsar de petites subventions pour la conservation et l’utilisation rationnelle des zones humides (FPS), réalisée par le Bureau Ramsar
Evaluación crítica del Fondo de Pequeñas Subvenciones para la Conservación y el Uso Racional de los Humedales (FPS)

"Identifying, Preparing, and Drafting a Project Proposal": advice for developing project proposals

Cómo identificar, preparar y redactar una propuesta de proyecto
Identifier, préparer et rédiger une proposition de projet


See also reports of completed Wetlands for the Future projects.

For further information about the Ramsar Convention or the Small Grants Fund, please contact: the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel. +41 22/999 0170, fax +41 22/999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 5 March 1998, updated 14 April 2009, Dwight Peck.

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