Aral Sea MPHSTF announced the 4th Call for Proposals

About the MPHSTF

The UN Multi-Partner Human Security Trust Fund for the Aral Sea region in Uzbekistan (MPHSTF), officially launched on the margins of the 73rd UN General Assembly on November 27, 2018 serves as a unique unified platform for international development cooperation and the mobilization of donor resources to implement integrated measures and complement the efforts to address the consequences of the Aral Sea disaster by the Government in the Aral Sea region through the Human Security approach.

MPHSTF Programmatic Framework

The MPHSTF’s programmatic areas complement existing national and UN-led efforts to mitigate the Aral Sea crisis. Proposals must contribute to one or more of the following areas that are the focus of the Fund’s Programmatic Framework:

• Environmental insecurity
• Economic insecurity
• Food insecurity
• Health insecurity
• Social insecurity

Thematic Focus for the Fourth Call

As per the decision of the MPHSTF Steering Committee from 24 November 2023, the MPHSTF’s Outcome 1 - The stress on local communities due to the deteriorating environmental situation reduced and its outputs such as (i) local management practices and knowledge of ecosystem services are improved, (ii) new technologies in the area of water purification, agroforestry, afforestation,  and soil stabilisation are piloted and (iii) the quality of water, air and soil pollution is monitored and addressed through local regulatory practices and relevant thematic areas are the priorities of the current (Fourth) Call for Proposals.

Who is eligible to submit proposals?

The Participating UN organizations (PUNOs), i.e., UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNODC, WHO, FAO and UNOPS are eligible to submit proposals to the MPHSTF. PUNOs are encouraged to develop proposals in partnership with national and international counterparts (e.g., government agencies, local authorities, NGOs, CSOs, academia, etc.).  Proposals can only be formally submitted by PUNOs.

Preliminary discussions between participating organizations (PUNOs, government agencies, local authorities, NGOs, CSOs, academia, private sector, other) should take place to determine the scope of the project/programme, its strategic and programmatic relevance, governance arrangements, risks, sustainability among other aspects. 

The proposals will be assessed against the following principles and selection criteria:

Innovative:

• Focusing on technology transfer and the piloting of new approaches
• Investing in ICTs and research and development opportunities for the region
• Developing new public-private partnerships, including with the government, to ensure protection and empowerment for the long term

People-centered:

• Based on an assessment of the needs, capacities and insecurities of people as well as the risks of the region;
• Designed, implemented and evaluated with the help of the communities, building on people’s own aspirations and capabilities
• Involving and mobilizing communities for problem identification, planning, implementation and evaluation and ensuring participation.
• Promote equal opportunities for men and women and ensure mainstreaming gender equality in proposed activities.

Context-specific:

• Designed based on the conditions of the Aral Sea region and on knowledge of the situation of communities targeted
• Differentiated consideration of the needs of the population at the level of each aul, kishlak, makhalla, rural areas, based on environmental factors, population distribution and transport accessibility
• Developed on the basis of community development plans for targeted localities.
• Ensuring sustainability and support the mitigation of adverse effects

Integrated solutions:

• Based on the MPHSTF Theory of Change and not prepared in isolation
• Strategic and multidimensional, so that interventions target several insecurities at the same time
• Concentrating all interventions in the same area/with the same community, piloting around specific geographic area
• Implementing interventions through consortiums and partnerships of providers from different sectors and with different specializations in order to link interventions across different insecurity areas

What are the Selection Criteria?

MPHSTF will evaluate proposals on the basis of the following key criteria:

• The extent to which the goals and objectives of the proposal conform to the MPHSTF Programmatic Framework;
• Alignment within the priority area of the MPHSTF’s Outcome 1 - The stress on local communities due to the deteriorating environmental situation reduced and its outputs such as (i) local management practices and knowledge of ecosystem services are improved, (ii) new technologies in the area of water purification, agroforestry, afforestation,  and soil stabilisation are piloted and (iii) the quality of water, air and soil pollution is monitored and addressed through local regulatory practices for the Fourth Call for Proposals;
• Integration of gender issues;
• Context specific and relevance;
• Effectiveness, impact and scalability;
• Sustainability and cost efficiency;
• Potential of the proposals to strengthen the national capacities, strengthen institutions and provide support to local actors;
• Clear description of budget requirements and link to achieving results.

The call for proposals is open from 24 November 2023 till 24 December 2023 (18:00, Tashkent time, Uzbekistan).

Completed proposal forms should be submitted to the following e-mail address uktam.abdurakhmanov@undp.org to the attention of the MPHSTF Technical Secretariat.