Sustainable Communities Proposals Being Evaluated

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

The initiative provides grants of up to $50,000 each to support community projects that address some of the challenges of rapid urbanization, with a focus on at least one of four priority areas. The most popular category of proposals submitted was for projects focusing on waste management, recycling (including electronic waste), and improved water resource management, which accounted for 31 of the proposals. The other categories are community-based clean energy and energy efficiency, resilience to natural disasters, and sustainable transport solutions.

Institutions and organizations from 12 countries participated in the call for proposals, the majority of them from Central America. Participants were from both the public and private sectors, to open the possibility for public-private funding partnerships at the local level.

The OAS team in charge of this initiative is analyzing the proposals with the support of an Executive Committee made up of specialized agencies and nongovernmental organizations with technical expertise in urban development, as well as representatives of U.S. government agencies. The technical aspects that will be evaluated include innovation, impact and scope, sustainability and inclusion, and gender sensitivity.

For more information about ECPA’s Sustainable Communities in Central America in the Caribbean, click here.