USAID Africa Trade and Investment Partnerships Opportunity: 

USAID Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) 

June 8, 2023

Announcement Type:                                        Annual Program Statement                               

Funding Opportunity Number:                          APS-ATI-001

Issuance Date:                                                    June 8, 2023

Deadline for Questions:                                     N/A – accepted on rolling basis

Closing Date Concept Papers:                            January 31, 2024 5:00PM EDT - CLOSED

Submit Questions on the following link:            ATI APS 001 Questions

Submit Concept Papers to:                                  USAID Africa Trade and Investment Initial Plan  

Addendum:                                                         USAID Central Africa Region Program for the                                                                                             Environment (CARPE)  APS Addendum                                                                                           

Overview of ATI

USAID Africa Bureau has established the Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Program. ATI’s purpose is to mobilize enterprise-driven solutions that increase trade and investment in Africa.

Overview of CARPE

The Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) has been U.S. Government’s flagship biodiversity and climate change program in Central Africa for over 20 years and through CARPE, USAID has promoted natural resource conservation, low emissions economic development, and poverty alleviation across the region. This program has improved the sustainable management of tens of millions of hectares of fragile and highly sensitive tropical forest across eight Central African countries. CARPE has trained thousands of individuals from national governments, local and international NGOs and communities in a variety of conservation methods and techniques, and assisted national and local civil society organizations to work hand-in-hand with local communities, governments and the international community to promote forest management and biodiversity conservation.

However the challenges facing both biodiversity conservation and the protection of forests are significant and continue to evolve. Threats to biodiversity such as the bushmeat market often have their roots outside national parks and protected areas and result from resource use patterns established in cities, towns and villages many miles away from the impact. Similarly, the greatest contributor to the loss of forests are often unrelated to professional forest management practices but rather are a response to poverty and hunger which drives the expansion of subsistence agriculture and the demand for charcoal in villages, towns and cities. Systemic threats such as these will need to be addressed at sufficient scale in order to expect improved management and results in protected areas and forests. In the case of both bushmeat and charcoal, well-functioning markets have contributed to the growth of these threats beyond a scale that can be addressed as part of protected area management. Market forces must be harnessed and private sector models are needed to address these threats at a meaningful scale and will need to be considered in the context of both local and pervasive conflict and gender dynamics.

Globally and in Central Africa, the availability of private resources for development far surpasses the level of official development assistance. USAID/DRC and the regional USAID CARPE Program are committed to strategic partnerships to leverage these private resources, increase the impact of conservation and make these efforts sustainable and beneficial for local communities. Partnerships enable USAID CARPE to leverage private sector assets, innovation, markets and expertise, as well as public sector resources and platforms.

USAID CARPE will facilitate, catalyze and support such partnerships through the Africa Trade Initiative (ATI) in areas where USAID and partners share Development Objectives for CARPE, such as professional park management, wildlife trafficking, bushmeat alternatives, charcoal alternatives, shifting agriculture, tourism and community forestry management.

USAID recognizes that new strategies are required to successfully meet major global development challenges in biodiversity conservation and forest protection. To be successful, interventions must be cost-effective, effectual, sustainable, measurable and provide meaningful incentives and benefits to local communities.

CARPE Strategic Themes

The USAID Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) works through four key themes including conservation enterprises and market systems, law enforcement, civil society strengthening, and land governance, which together support a vibrant and resilient environment. Through the ATI mechanism, CARPE seeks to advance the following objectives in the Congo Basin ecosystem:

  • Investing in protected areas as hubs of biodiversity, peace, security, and green growth investment;
  • Supporting inclusive, conservation-friendly enterprises and market systems to improve livelihoods;
  • Mobilizing innovative, international sustainable financing for forest management, biodiversity conservation and climate change;
  • Strengthening of environmental monitoring and advocacy efforts;
  • Strengthening of law enforcement capacity for combating wildlife and forest crime;
  • Facilitating private investment in sectors such as tourism and climate finance while bringing long-term, climate-resilient, sustainable development in and around protected areas in the Congo Basin; and
  • Building local community capacity to implement and monitor conservation-minded land-use management while mitigating threats to biodiversity.

Buy-In Objectives

ATI is seeking concept notes that advance CARPE’s objectives, targeting conservation-based enterprises and climate-related sectors to catalyze significant trade and investment.

 Overarching Priorities

  • Support inclusive, conservation-friendly enterprises and markets to improve livelihoods.
  • Mobilize innovative, international sustainable financing for forest management, biodiversity conservation, and climate change.
  • Facilitate private sector investment for biodiversity conservation while bringing long-term, climate-resilient, sustainable development in the Congo Basin.

Eligible Applicants

We are accepting concepts notes from biodiversity conservation and ecotourism related entities, non-profit and civil society organizations, climate finance institutions, investors, businesses, business service organizations, industry sector organizations, trade or other private sector associations. All entities must be legally registered to operate in  any of the following Congo Basin countries (Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon).

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities can include, but are not limited to, for example, novel ideas and innovative business models or business solutions that advance biodiversity conservation and other CARPE key areas of interest in the Congo Basin. The timeline for activity implementation is 12 months from the date of award.

Merit Review Criteria

What does a successful concept note look like? To improve the chance of receiving financial support a successful concept note: 1) supports CARPE’s objectives and ATI’s priorities of increased trade and investment in Africa; 2) represents a solution for which there is sound evidence to conclude that the intervention will have a significant positive impact on biodiversity in the Congo Basin; 3) can be scaled while maintaining environmentally sustainable practices and processes. CARPE will target its financial support towards concept notes that can closely meet most of the success criteria outlined above and can address one or more of the CARPE key areas of interest (or a new environmentally related theme) which include protected area management, biodiversity conservation, bushmeat consumption, charcoal use, wildlife poaching and trafficking, community forest concessions, shifting agriculture, and tourism. Creative and innovative concept notes that closely meet the success criteria and intersect one or more of the CARPE key areas of interest (or a new environmentally related theme) with the ATI priority of increased trade and investment in Africa, are highly encouraged and considered advantageous for receiving financial support. 

Therefore, to improve the chance of receiving financial support a successful concept note should at a minimum:

  • Closely meet most of the criteria for a successful concept note; and
  • Intersect one or more of the CARPE key areas of interest (or a new environmentally related theme) with the ATI priority to increase trade and investment in Africa.

Current Funding

Support awarded under this activity will be in grants ranging from US $100,000 to $1,400,000. Applicant contribution is required to be a cash investment to the activity of equal to or greater than the value of ATI’s grant.

Information on Applying - CLOSED

Powered byFormsite