Regional Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) Grants for Pacific Island State | 2018 SUVAREO OES

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2018 SUVAREO OES

The Regional Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) Grants for Pacific Island State opportunity is a small-grants program run through the Regional Environmental Office of the Pacific (REO) at the U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji. It funds local or regional, small-scale environmental projects across eligible Pacific Island countries, with each individual award capped at USD 24,999. Any proposal requesting USD 25,000 or more is automatically ineligible, which signals that the program is designed for targeted, practical projects that can be delivered on a modest budget and within a clear, well-defined scope. Funding is provided by the U.S. Department of State, specifically the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) together with the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs (EAP), under the legal authority of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (as amended).

Projects must align with at least one of the program's environmental focus areas, which are broad enough to cover many community, NGO, research, and applied-technology initiatives. Priority themes include food security and sustainable agriculture and/or fisheries; sustainable economic development tied to environmental stewardship; adaptation to changing environmental conditions such as coastal management; waste management including land-based sources of marine pollution; air quality improvements; reforestation; reef and coral restoration; watershed management; biodiversity conservation and maintaining healthy ecosystems; and the creation and/or management of marine protected areas. The announcement also explicitly welcomes environment- or health-related education efforts, especially those aimed at underserved groups, as well as capacity building for scientific research on environmental issues and the deployment of new technologies that can be applied to environmental challenges. In practice, that means a proposal could be community-based (for example, improving solid waste practices to reduce ocean leakage), science-driven (such as a baseline study that supports better resource management), education-focused (like outreach for schools or remote communities), or technology-enabled (like piloting monitoring tools or data systems), as long as it fits the small-grant scale.

Geographically, projects must be targeted to one or more of these eligible Pacific Island countries: the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, or Vanuatu. The program emphasizes relevance and local ownership: proposals are expected to respond to local or regional needs and to incorporate local expertise and know-how during both design and implementation, rather than importing a solution without strong in-country participation. Another core expectation is that applicants build monitoring and evaluation into the project from the beginning, including time-bound milestones that make it possible to track outputs and results. This implies that competitive proposals should be able to explain not just what activities will happen, but also how progress will be measured, when key deliverables will be completed, and what evidence will demonstrate success.

A notable feature is that the grants can fund discrete phases of larger efforts, rather than requiring an entire multi-year program to fit within the USD 24,999 ceiling. The notice gives examples like supporting a single country component of a multi-country program, funding only the public education phase of an environmental law initiative, carrying out tree planting in one region of a broader national effort, or conducting a fish population study as one component of a larger river or watershed quality program. This makes the opportunity especially useful for organizations that already have an overarching project concept or partnership but need resources to complete a specific, well-bounded segment that has clear outcomes and can stand on its own.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: 2018 SUVAREO OES) administered by the Department of State, U.S. Mission to Fiji. It was released for FY2018 funding, with an original posting date of July 12, 2018 and an original closing date of August 15, 2018. The anticipated number of awards was 7, and the funding activity categories span agriculture, education, environment, food and nutrition, health, natural resources, science and technology, and research and development, reflecting the program's cross-cutting environmental and public-wellbeing objectives. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional clarification typically provided in the full notice, but the program is clearly aimed at organizations capable of delivering community-anchored, results-oriented environmental work in the specified Pacific Island contexts under the strict sub-USD 25,000 limit.

• The Department of State, U.S. Mission to Fiji in the agriculture, education, environment, food and nutrition, health, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Regional Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) Grants for Pacific Island State" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.124.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 12, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 15, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $24,999.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 2018 SUVAREO OES

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