GTI Awareness Projects
The purpose of the Awareness Grants is to enable (former) GTI Scholarship holders to carry out an awareness-raising project in their home country to disseminate the scientific results they obtained during their internship(s) in Belgium.
The target audience of the awareness-raising campaign may include the local population, students, decision-makers, managers of protected areas, and/or other stakeholders.
About the Awareness Grant
The aim of the GTI Awareness Grants is to enable researchers from eligible developing countries to carry out local awareness-raising campaigns based on the scientific results obtained via their GTI internships that took place at a taxonomic research institute in Belgium. Therefore, applications may only be submitted by students or scientific staff members who have received one or more GTI Scholarship Grants in the three years preceding the GTI Awareness Call.
Awareness activities may include the dissemination of flyers/brochures/posters, the publication of articles in popular journals, the organization of a meeting with local communities, policy-makers and/or other stakeholders, the hosting of an academic event for students and professors, participation in a radio or television program, etc.
The overall objective of the GTI awareness activities is to educate the general public and interested stakeholders on how a better understanding and management of the components of biodiversity can contribute to the provision of ecosystem services and thus to improved livelihoods.
A call for proposals for GTI Awareness Projects is launched every three-four years, usually following a GTI Alumni Workshop. Please check the Open Calls page to stay up to date on active calls.
Grants awarded in the past
In 2016, 10 projects were funded to help our alumni disseminate their research results among selected stakeholders in their countries.
In 2020, 7 projects were awarded a GTI Awareness Grant.
Current eligibility criteria
Only students/researchers who have benefited from the financial support of the Belgian GTI via a Short-term Scholarship Grant in the three years preceding the GTI Awareness Call are eligible to respond, provided that they have not already benefited from a GTI outreach project in the 2020 call.
Contracts can only be concluded with an official institute (NGO, university lab or other). No contract can be concluded with an individual.
Projects, tools and their results must be posted on the national CHM in your country. You must then add a letter of agreement from your CHM or CBD focal point. A list of national CBD and CHM focal points is available here.
What activities are covered by the Awareness Grant?
The activities can be very diverse. We propose a list which is not exhaustive:
- Making and printing posters or flyers and other awareness-raising material;
- Meeting with the local population of the area where you have sampled, in order to explain to them how your research can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and/or ecosystem services and the fight against poverty; explain your pedagogy, the interactions you are looking for with the target audience, the work in small groups on certain themes etc. Avoid a purely formal presentation, involve your audience (question-answers, working groups, co-production of posters with the audience, playful or creative presentations, etc.).
- Organisation of an academic session to inform students and professors of your results and their importance in relation to conservation of biodiversity and/or ecosystem services and the fight against poverty; here again, explain how you are going to excite and engage your audience.
- Organisation of an information session with policy makers and other stakeholders in the area of your research; again, explain how you will engage your audience.
- Participation in a radio or television program to explain your research. Your CHM focal point can help you make contacts;
- Publication of your results in scientific and popular journals.
Cannot be taken into account :
- Participation in scientific conferences;
- Fees for preparing PowerPoint presentations.
Application documents
Examples of former GTI Awareness Projects:
More examples are available here.
The budgets allocated to the projects are up to €2,500.
Note that applications are only possible when the call is open. Please check the Open Calls page to stay up to date on active calls.
Reporting
At the end of the project, a narrative and financial report must be sent to CEBioS accountancy (vpinton[at]naturalsciences.be) and the Belgian GTI-NFP (cbd-gti[at]naturalsciences.be).
The financial report must be submitted using the official Excel template provided by CEBioS and must be accompanied by all supporting documents (good quality scans of receipts) in accordance with the official instructions of the Belgian Development Cooperation and respecting the criteria set out in the Vademecum of CEBioS. Any expenditure not justified by an eligible document will be at the expense of the partner. The original receipts must be kept by the partner for a period of 10 years in case of audit by CEBioS or the DGD.
