USAID’s VukaNow: Combating Wildlife Crime in Southern Africa Activity, implemented by Chemonics International, is seeking concept papers for implementation of activities designed to address a multi-faceted program that aims to significantly reduce the level of poaching and illegal trade in wildlife through innovative approaches to: enhancing law enforcement capacity, enhancing judiciary systems, minimizing wildlife crimes and illegal trade, enforcing the law more effectively, and reducing the root causes and enablers of wildlife crime. VukaNow specifically focuses on coordinating learning from other USAID supported efforts with relevant partners in four priority landscapes: 1) the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA); 2) the north western regions of Namibia; 3) Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area; 4) the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which includes areas in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

VukaNow is awarding grants to local, regional, or international not-for-profit and for-profit NGOs, associations, and private sector firms legally registered and recognized under the laws of a South African Development Community (SADC) member country. Execution of grant activities must take place in one or more of VukaNow’s geographic focus areas within Southern Africa. Preference will be given to NGOs, associations, and firms that have experience working in the geographic footprint of the VukaNow Activity. The following themes are open for grant applications:

• Innovative approaches to disrupting wildlife crime (poaching and trafficking)
• Mitigating political, economic, and social drivers of wildlife crime
• Robust investigative reporting on wildlife crime
• Novel approaches for communities to derive benefits from combating wildlife crime taking in to account application of current legislation and mechanisms

It is anticpated that each grant award may range from between the local currency equivalent of USD 50,000 – USD 250,000, but the final amount will be dependent upon grant activities and final negotiation and may be lower or higher than that range. The duration of any grant award under this solicitation is expected to be no more than 12 months. The grants will be awarded and implemented in accordance with USAID and U.S. Government regulations governing grants under contracts and USAID’s VukaNow internal grant management policies. The funding from this grant shall not provide any direct benefits to the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) or any department, ministry, or organ of the GoZ, including entities or parastatals owned in whole or part by the GoZ unless specifically approved, in advance, in writing by USAID.

For the APS containing the application instructions and the associated documents, please follow the GoogleDrive link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rcD73j-dpnihc_hO7hQm8r8GKjCr6O8-?usp=sharing.

All applications with supporting documents should be submitted to applications[at]vukanow[dot]com on close of business 17.00 local time (South Africa) 31 March 2021.

The APS content can also be requested from dmdhluli[at]vukanow[dot]com with subject matter REQUEST FOR APS No.4