COMMUNITY DISASTER RISK REDUCTION FUND
GUIDANCE NOTE
1.
THE COMMUNITY DISASTER RISK REDUCTION FUND: CALL FOR PROPOSALS
1.01
The Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (CDRRF) invites eligible organisations to submit
applications for grants to reduce levels of natural hazard risk to vulnerable populations at the communitylevel, through the implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and/or climate change adaptation (CCA)
projects.
2.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
2.01
Communities in the Caribbean are severely affected by natural hazards and climate change. The
Caribbean has a high level of exposure to natural hazard events such as storms, hurricanes, droughts,
earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Climate change increases the Caribbean’s exposure to natural hazard
risks, as climate change impacts include: warmer temperatures which can lead to severe drought, reduced
water supply, and the development of stronger storm systems in the region; extremes in rainfall that can
trigger floods, and landslides or long dry periods; and rising sea levels which threaten coastal resources.
Disasters related to climate change have a serious impact on key sectors in the Caribbean including health,
agriculture, fisheries, water resources, and tourism.
2.02
In order to help communities to prepare for, and cope with negative impacts of natural hazards and
climate change, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has established the CDRRF with financing from
Canada’s Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the United Kingdom’s Department
for International Development.
2.03
The purpose of the Trust Fund is to finance community-driven, gender responsive, and
environmentally sustainable DRR and CCA projects at the community level, in 18 CDB Borrowing
Member Countries (BMCs).
3.
THE GUIDANCE NOTE
3.01
This guidance note provides information to help prospective applicants better understand the
Fund’s purpose, its two-stage application process, and its application requirements. It is a guide for
applicants to support them in:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Identifying relevant types of project activities for their proposal.
Identifying the information needed for the Fund’s application documents.
Completing the Fund’s application documents.
Submitting the Fund’s application documents.
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4.
GUIDANCE POINTS
4.01
Who Can Apply To The CDRRF?
4.02
(a)
Applicant organisations must be from CDBs list of BMCs, namely: Anguilla, Antigua and
Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands,
Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Turks and Caicos
Islands.
(b)
Applicants must be based in, belong to, or partner with, the communities for which projects
are being proposed. A wide range of organisations can apply to the CDRRF provided they
are registered in the country in which the proposed project will be implemented. This
includes, but is not limited to: Community Based Organisations (CBOs), NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs), Faith Based Organisations, Local Government
Agencies and National Research Institutions based in eligible Caribbean countries.
(c)
Proposals can be submitted by individual NGOs or CBOs or in partnership with other
organisations, provided the beneficiary community is central to the conceptualisation and
development of the proposal.
What Types Of Projects CDRRF Supports?
(a)
The CDRRF supports a wide range of community-driven projects aimed at DRR and/CCA,
that:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(b)
can demonstrably reduce communities vulnerability to natural hazards or the
longer term impact of climate change;
have been designed, developed, and owned by the community itself – with a
partner or partners where necessary;
can demonstrate that upon project completion, the DRR/CCA benefits produced
by the project will be sustained in the absence of CDRRF funding;
will produce DRR/CCA results, and lessons that can be captured and shared with
communities experiencing similar disaster or climate change problems;
where possible, can enhance sustainability of livelihoods strategies in the
beneficiary community or communities; and
provide new, innovative and appropriate approaches to effective community
DRR/CCA.
While communities cannot prevent natural hazard events, they can reduce the risks which
natural hazards pose. They can put in place infrastructure and systems to: reduce the
vulnerability of community members and property to hazards; manage land, and the
environment in a sustainable way, and improve their preparedness for disasters. Similarly,
although community members have little control over the changing climate, they can adapt
to climate change – that is, they can make changes to the physical environment, and their
lifestyle, to cope more effectively with the emerging and anticipated changes.
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(c)
4.03
The CDRRF will therefore fund community-level projects which have identified
innovative, practical, effective, and sustainable ways to carry out DRR/CCA work that will
lead to measurable reduction in community vulnerability.
What Is The Amount Of Funding Available For These Projects?
The CDRRF supports each successful community DRR/CCA project with a grant of between
USD400,000 and USD650,000. Each project should have an implementation period of twentyfour months. Grant requests that fall outside of these specifications will not be considered for
support.
4.04
What Is The Process For Submitting An Application To The CDRRF?
The CDRRF has a two stage application process:
4.05
(a)
In stage one, the applicant will develop a concept note providing basic information on the
proposed project. A template with guiding questions/points will be provided for this. The
CDRRF Secretariat will review each concept note to see if it meets the CDRRF eligibility
criteria for progressing to phase two of the application process. Interested parties must
prepare and submit their Concept Notes within two weeks from the date of the Call for
applications.
(b)
In stage two, applicants whose concept notes are judged eligible will be asked to prepare
and submit a full proposal or Project Application Document (PAD). Applicants are given
a maximum of 30 days to prepare and submit the PADs. PADs will be screened for
eligibility, completeness, and quality before being submitted to the CDRRF’s Project
Technical Review Committee for appraisal. If the PAD is successful in passing this stage,
the CDRRF will conduct on-the-ground appraisals in applicant communities to ensure
feasibility of the proposals and strengthen the PAD. The revised PAD will then go to
CDB’s Loans Committee which makes the final decision on which projects will be granted
funding.
(c)
At each stage of the application and appraisal process, the CDRRF team will provide
feedback on applications and guidance to applicants towards strengthening their
submissions.
What Are The Key Considerations To Be Included In Proposals To The CDRRF?
The CDRRF has some key criteria and cross-cutting themes that must be reflected in project
proposals:
(a)
Community-Driven: the proposed project must be led by the needs and priorities of the
target community members and the proposal must reflect this clearly. A “community” is
considered to be a group of individuals or households (a) living in the same location or,
(b) sharing a common interest.
(b)
Participatory: the proposed project must be developed with the full and active participation
of a wide range of community members, and must be designed to have community
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members participating in project implementation. The proposal must reflect this
community participation by showing how, and when community members were involved
in identifying the problems to be addressed, and developing the proposal, and how they
will be involved in project implementation.
4.06.
(c)
Gender Sensitive/Responsive: gender refers to the different roles assigned, and different
opportunities provided by a society to its members, based on whether they are men and
women. Because of these differences, women and men experience, perceive, and identify
risks differently. Everyone can be exposed to a hazard, but women and men have different
levels of vulnerability based on different access to resources and employment, different
levels of responsibility to family members and different roles in the community. Gender
creates different levels of resilience to natural disasters. The proposals to the CDRRF are
expected to be gender sensitive. They should identify the differences in how women and
men are affected by hazards and disasters in the community, and develop project activities
that identify and address the needs and priorities of both women and men. The projects
must also try to ensure that women and men from communities participate equally in
project development, planning, and implementation.
(d)
Environmentally Sustainable: it is expected that the proposed projects will be able to be
implemented with little or no adverse impact to the environment. The project must have
an overall positive impact on the natural and/or social environment.
(e)
Supportive of Sustainable Livelihoods: a livelihood consists of all the resources needed by
an individual or a community to provide a means to make a living. These resources include
occupation, access to assets, and support from social groups and organisations. The
vulnerability level of an individual or community to a hazard is determined by access to
these resources, which help a community to cope with disasters. It is expected that the
proposed projects will reduce the vulnerability of livelihoods to natural disasters and,
where possible, make livelihoods more sustainable.
What Types Of Supporting Documents Can Strengthen Project Application Documents?
(a)
A PAD will not be considered complete if the following information is not presented in the
PAD or as an Appendix to the PAD:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(b)
Maps or diagrams of the community;
A budget and a procurement plan;
An implementation plan showing when the project activities will be implemented
over the period; and
Proof of community participation in the proposal development process (for
example, attendance sheets, notes/minutes/reports from community meetings).
Your submission can be made more competitive by the submission of additional items of
relevant information such as:
(i)
Documents that show the impact of hazards on the community (For example,
reports of any hazard mapping or vulnerability assessments done in the community;
media reports on disasters in the community such as newspaper clippings or website
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links to articles; reports from government agencies or other organisations on
disasters or hazards in the community; photos);
4.07
(ii)
Evidence of commitments from identified implementation partners (For example,
letters, statements of commitment, Memorandum of Understanding; and
(iii)
Independently prepared reports on projects your organisation has completed in the
past two years.
How Can Application Documents Be Submitted?
Application documents can be submitted by email.
4.08
4.09
Where should CDRRF applications be submitted to?
(a)
For Email: Application documents submitted via e-mail should be sent to the Project
Manager at thomasm@caribank.org, and copied to the Administrative Assistant at
licoric@caribank.org. The subject line of the electronic message must contain the words
“CDRRF Call for Proposals” and the name of the applicant organisation.
(b)
Application documents and information on the CDRRF can be found at the CDRRF’s
webpage at http://www.caribank.org/programmes/cdrr1.
When Will The CDRRF Calls For Proposals Be Announced?
The Call for proposals will open in July of each year.