SeyCCAT announces new Blue Grants Fund Projects |09 March 2024
SeyCCAT chief executive Marie-May Jeremie
The Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT), the leading trust fund investing in the country's blue economy, has approved 21 new Blue Grants Fund projects from applications submitted in April 2022.
These applicants will soon sign their grant agreements and begin with the implementation of their projects. The seventh cycle of the Blue Grants Fund from last year received 76 applications, and after a year of application screening and due diligence processes, 21 projects are now approved.
The project funds are of different sizes. There are a total of four small grant projects with funding up to R100,000.
Thirteen projects are receiving medium grants with fund sizes of up to R1 million, and four projects are large grant projects receiving funding of up to R2 million.
Organisations and individuals benefiting from this cycle are of diverse fields and backgrounds. The Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS), the Marine Conservation Society of Seychelles (MCSS) and the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Foundation (SSTF) are some of the organisations acquiring the grants.
The Blue Grants Fund, which is inclusive in its nature, has always awarded grants to individuals or entities with different levels of expertise in project management. To ensure that each grantee produces project results that meet SeyCCAT standards, a Project Implementation Workshop was held on March 6, 2024, at the Ceps conference room.
The workshop aimed to equip grantees with guidelines for effective project management, including monitoring processes, financial reporting, technical reporting, and others. It is one of the many assistance SeyCCAT offers and has proven to be highly beneficial to past grantees.
The workshop received a high turnout. Participants had the opportunity to meet other grantees and clear up their queries regarding project implementation.
Since its initiation in 2017, the Blue Grants Fund has been financing innovative and impactful projects to advance the development of the country's blue economy. The grant facility itself is funded by the proceeds of the Debt-for-nature swap, the world’s first Sovereign Blue Bond, as well as the Blue Nature Alliance.
For more information on the Blue Grants Fund (BGF), contact the BGF coordinator, Michel Pierre, at mpierre@seyccat.org or cc info@seyccat.org
The accompanying photos show some of the grantees during the Project Implementation workshop.
