Partnerships for Forests

Organizational profile:

Partnerships for Forests catalyses investments in which the private sector, public sector and communities can achieve shared value from sustainable forests and sustainable land use. By creating market-ready ‘Forest Partnerships’ that offer an attractive balance of risks and benefits for the private sector, public sector and communities, the programme aims to mobilise significant investment, principally from the private sector. Partnerships for Forests provides a combination of grants and technical assistance to help selected partnerships move towards commercial scale up—from an idea or concept through to full proposal, business plan, pilot and finally commercial scale-up.

The programme also supports demand side measures that strengthen demand for sustainable commodities, and activities o create the right enabling conditions for sustainable investment.

The eight-year programme is funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). 

Financing Instrument: Grants, Technical Assistance

Project scale: Grants provided will normally range from GBP 10,000 to 1 million for Forest Partnerships. Applicants should provide co-financing of at least 25%

Recipient countries/regions/country groups: West and Central Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America —regions where there are significant opportunities for investment in sustainable forests and land use.

Recipient categories: NGOs/NPOs, Private sector companies, Research institutes, Co-operative/trade associations, Civil society or Community-based organisation

Eligibility Criteria:

Partnerships for Forests operates according to a principle of additionality. This means that grants and TA must not substitute or replace organisation’s core funding, or subsidise activities that private sector companies or other partners should undertake themselves. Instead, they must lead to outcomes that may have not have happened without the programme’s involvement. Grants and TA must support new or innovative projects that catalyse investment and develop knowledge in the form of new tools, techniques, lessons, or models.

Examples for an early stage partnership:
Technical assistance for early-stage partnerships could include advising on the business case, improving the financial model, supporting organisational design, providing access to data on commodities and identifying and mitigating risks.
Grants for early-stage partnerships could include support for setting up organizations and capacity building, introducing high standards for community consultation or social and environmental impact assessments, and external advisors to facilitate deals between partners.

Examples for a later stage partnership:
Technical assistance for later stage partnerships could include advising on strategy, developing the business case for commercial scale-up and making introductions to potential investors.
Grants for partnerships that have already piloted could include grants for expert advice and problem-solving teams in order to achieve commercial scale-up, identifying new locations for growth, new monitoring and reporting tools, and new approaches to the management of social and environmental impact.

Application guidelines: 

If you have an idea for a project, please submit a short proposal through the online application form: https://partnershipsforforests.com/submit-a-proposal/  

The programme is designed to be flexible. Calls for concepts may be targeted towards particular commodity chains or areas of opportunity. They will also be issued as needed to build and balance the pipeline of partnerships. Partnerships for Forests will announce each call for concepts on their website and provide the eligibility and selection criteria specific for that call. Using criteria agreed with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Partnerships for Forests team will review these concepts and present them to FCDO for decision on which proposals receive grants and technical assistance.

Last updated: 14 September 2023