Biodiversity Challenge Funds (BCFs) is the collective name for three of the UK Government’s competitive grants, Darwin Initiative, IWT Challenge Fund and Darwin Plus, aimed at conserving biodiversity and safeguarding the environment for local people.
The Darwin Initiative was launched at the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 in order to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of resources around the world (https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/). It aims to support countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and a number of other multilateral environment agreements, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). The Initiative funds projects carried out in developing countries and the Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom (UKOTs). Successful projects are collaborative – involving local institutions and/or communities, promote and demonstrate sustainable use to contribute to poverty reduction, leave a lasting legacy and act as a catalyst for action.
Since its inception, the Darwin Initiative has supported over 1,370 projects in more than 159 countries, committing over £289 million in funding. It is therefore important for Darwin to monitor and evaluate the programme in order to assess whether the programme as a whole and its individual projects are achieving its objectives and meeting key criteria, representing value for money and having a lasting impact and legacy on biodiversity in host countries and helping them to meet their obligations.
The Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) Challenge Fund is a competitive grant scheme, open to projects aiming to tackle the illegal wildlife trade in developing countries. The fund was launched following the UK hosted the IWT international conference held in London in February 2014, and is designed to help the UK Government to meet its commitments set out at the international IWT conference series including the London Conferences of 2014 and 2018, the Botswana Conference of 2015 and the Hanoi Conference in 2016. The objective of the IWT Challenge Fund is to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and in doing so, to contribute to sustainable development in developing countries, through projects which address one, or more, of the following themes:
- Reducing demand for IWT products
- Ensuring effective legal frameworks and deterrents
- Strengthening law enforcement
- Developing sustainable livelihoods and economic development, to benefit people directly affected by IWT
To date, the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) Challenge Fund has committed over £68 million of ODA to more than 187 projects across over 69 countries. It is therefore important for IWT Challenge Fund to monitor and evaluate the programme in order to assess whether the programme as a whole and its individual projects are achieving its objectives and meeting key criteria, representing value for money and having a lasting impact and legacy on biodiversity in host countries and helping them to meet their obligations.
Darwin Plus is a UK government grants scheme that helps deliver long-term strategic outcomes for the unique biodiversity, the natural environment and improving resilience to climate change within the UK Overseas Territories.
The Darwin Initiative and IWT Challenge Fund are funded by Defra through Official Development Assistance (ODA), and have also received contributions from the FCDO. A strong feature of Darwin and IWT projects is the involvement of partners within host communities and lasting benefits from the project. The Initiative draws upon international expertise and supports projects of high quality and scientific excellence through research, training, and capacity building. Whenever possible, Darwin funding is used as a catalyst to lever additional funding for non-state actor project work, which would not otherwise be forthcoming.
The latest phase of the contract, starting in 2022, has all funds (Darwin Initiative, IWT Challenge Fund and Darwin Plus) collectively under the umbrella of the “Biodiversity Challenge Funds” (BCFs).
The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) component of the BCFs works in close partnership with Project Leaders, Delivery Partners and host institutions to generate evidence, strengthen adaptive management and support improved project design, implementation and impact across the Biodiversity Challenge Funds. NIRAS manages and delivers all aspects of the MEL component, including coordinating the review of annual and final reports; undertaking project reviews and field evaluations; commissioning thematic, portfolio-level and regional evaluations; developing and maintaining MEL frameworks, quality assurance mechanisms and learning processes; and synthesising evidence and lessons.
