Call for Proposals: The 2025 RISE grants challenge (up to USD 200,000 – 300,0000 each awarded)
Closing Date: 8 September 2025
Call for Proposals: The 2025 RISE grants challenge (up to USD 200,000 – 300,0000 each awarded)
About the RISE grants challenge
The Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge is a first-of-its-kind granting mechanism that supports activities designed to address gender-based violence and environmental linkages in environmental and climate-related programmes and generate evidence on promising interventions. The RISE grants challenge is led by IUCN with support from Norway, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, and is a direct response to a landmark study on gender-based violence and environment linkages by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), commissioned by USAID through the Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) partnership.
With input from IUCN and diverse partners and peers, this first-of-its-kind grants mechanism was designed to fill knowledge, cooperation and investment gaps at the gender-based violence and environment nexus. In complement, IUCN launched the Gender-based Violence and Environment Linkages Center (GBV-ENV Center), which brings together resources and tools, mobilises learning, provides tailored technical support and forges collective action to build knowledge, capacities and improved policies. Since 2022, the RISE grants challenge has been managed and hosted by the IUCN, in conjunction with the GBV-ENV Center. In 2024, Norway joined the RISE grants challenge.
The 2025 RISE Call for Proposals is the sixth RISE grants challenge open call. A new cohort of RISE grantees will join the five previous cohorts, growing a community of practice and contributing to critical knowledge and strategies toward meeting interlinked global goals of eradicating gender-based violence and securing a healthy and peaceful plane
Summary of key information
Thematic Scope:
The RISE grants challenge seeks proposals that embed gender-based violence risk mitigation in existing or continuing environmental projects with communities within and around marine and terrestrial Indigenous-managed lands, protected areas, and lands considered using other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).
Award:
The 2025 RISE grants challenge has planned up to USD 600,000 to award, seeking to support projects of up to USD 200,000 – 300,0000 each, implemented for up to 12 – 18 months.
Geographic Scope:
The RISE grants challenge will invest in projects in the targeted 23 countries namely:
- Brazil
- Cambodia
- Colombia
- Democratic Republic of
- the Congo
- Ecuador
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Ghana
- Guatemala
- Indonesia
- Kenya
- Mexico
- Mozambique
- Nepal
- Peru
- Philippines
- Republic of Congo
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Thailand
- United Republic of
- Tanzania
- Vietnam
- Zambia
Please note that any country of implementation must be included in the list.
Eligibility Requirements:
The RISE grants challenge requires partnerships between environmental organisations, GBV experts or organisations, Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations, local communities and/or other relevant experts. Please note that all projects require a staff member, consultant and/or partner organisation that focuses on addressing GBV. At least one of the lead or partner organisations must be either a IUCN member organisation OR a past RISE grantee OR a past/present EbA Fund grantee.
Application Process:
The 2025 RISE grants challenge application process includes a technical proposal, including budget, activity plan, logframe and ESMS questionnaire. The application must be submitted through the SMApply application portal, and budget, activity plan, logframe and ESMS must be developed using the provided templates and uploaded to SMApply.
Online application: Applications must be written and submitted using the online application platform, available at SMapply.
Who can apply?
RISE is open to legally registered local, national, regional or international organisations, including but not limited to:
- Local and International non-governmental organisations (NGOs/ INGOs)
- Intergovernmental organisations (IGOs)
- Community-based organisations (CBOs)
- Civil Society organisations (CSOs)
- Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations (IPOs)
- Universities and other academic institutions
- Research institutes and think tanks
- Private sector companies (International, regional, national, local)
- Please note: the applicant must already have presence in the country in which the activities are proposed to be implemented, OR be a local organisation, OR have a duly registered local partner that meets the requirements for consortia and partnerships.
- Please note that some organisations are not eligible for participating in this Call for Proposals as applicants or partners but may be engaged as project stakeholders.
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