ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Indonesian civil society and community-based organizations can now access small grants of up to USD 75,000 (around IDR 1.2 billion) through the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Program (GEF SGP), and benefit from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation’s (FAO) technical assistance to support community-led actions for better environment and livelihoods.
FAO joined the GEF Small Grants Program under its Eighth Operational Phase (GEF SGP–OP8) and is implementing the program across 13 countries, including Indonesia. The GEF SGP is the GEF’s longstanding flagship initiative that scales innovative grassroots actions by empowering civil society and community-based organizations, ensuring the inclusion of customary communities (Masyarakat Adat), youth, women and girls, and persons with disabilities.
In Indonesia, FAO partners with non-profit organization Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan (YBUL) as the executing agency, which has managed GEF SGP in the country since 1997. Both organizations signed an Operational Partnership Agreement on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, at the FAO Indonesia office in Jakarta.
“In addressing the global challenges we face today, we need a bottom-up approach that enables local people to sustainably manage natural resources and foster their livelihoods. FAO is committed to providing technical support to GEF SGP grantees, strengthening grassroots communities’ capacity to deliver their own solutions. FAO and YBUL are already preparing to expand this partnership to reach more communities across Indonesia’s vast archipelago,” said Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.
Thematic priorities
GEF SGP will prioritize financing for initiatives aligned with Indonesia’s development plans and global commitments, as well as GEF SGP-OP8’s five thematic priorities. These include: (1) community-based conservation of threatened ecosystems and species; (2) sustainable agriculture and fisheries, and food security; (3) low-carbon energy access co-benefits; (4) local to global coalitions for chemicals and waste management; and (5) sustainable urban solutions.
National and local GEF SGP stakeholders will select certain priority regions in Indonesia, taking into consideration the regions’ biodiversity value, environmental and livelihood challenges, as well as prior exposure to GEF SGP financing.
Beyond financing
Beyond direct grants, GEF SGP will equip grantees with access to knowledge and skills development, as well as technical and grant assistance facilitated by FAO. Adopting business-oriented approaches, the programme will also match grantees with potential markets and the private sector for greater scale and impact.
“Our goal is to localize Indonesia’s international commitments, from the FOLU Net Sink 2030 to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, by empowering those who are the true custodians of our biodiversity: our local and indigenous communities,” said Yani Witjaksono, Executive Director of Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan.
Toward inclusive sustainable development
Calls for proposals will begin in June this year. With financing and technical support, community-driven projects are expected to deliver measurable global environmental benefits while addressing cross-cutting issues of livelihoods improvement, poverty reduction, social inclusion, gender equality, and empowerment of vulnerable communities and youth.
Over the 2026-2029 period, the GEF SGP OP8 aims to support over 14,000 beneficiaries including over 7,200 women, 2,300 youth and 2,300 persons with disability. The GEF SGP country team and partners will ensure that at least 30% of the grants will go to women or women-led groups, no less than 10% for youth or youth-led groups, and at least 5% for customary local communities to ensure inclusivity.
Projects financed by the program are expected to help restore over 6,400 hectares of land, improve management practices across over 110,000 hectares of landscapes and 8,000 hectares of seascapes, and mitigate an estimated of 640,000 CO2e of green house gas emissions. All the outcomes can be tracked through FAO’s online GEF SGP Portal.
To ensure an impartial, inclusive, and transparent grantee selection and implementation process, FAO and YBUL have appointed 11 members of GEF-SGP-OP8 National Steering Committee. The members represent civil society, the Indonesian government, and the private sector to ensure strong national ownership.
“It is very timely that we start now as we continue to face the triple planetary crisis. We have a lot of challenges at the local, regional and global level. Following the GEF SGP slogan; local action, global impact, we hope we will contribute significantly to addressing these challenges,” said Laksmi Dhewanthi, a National Steering Committee member representing the Ministry of Environment.
About the GEF Small Grants Program (GEF SGP-OP8)
The GEF Small Grants Program is a flagship initiative designed to solve the “last mile” challenge of connecting GEF global priorities with grassroots implementation, delivering Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs) while boosting livelihoods, ensuring local ownership, and fostering innovation. FAO, together with Conservation International (CI), was selected as a new SGP Implementing Agency for OP8 Tranche II. Since its inception in 1992, GEF SGP has supported close to 30,000 grantees across 136 countries, administering over USD 1.5 billion in GEF funds to local communities and CSOs and securing over USD 990 million in co-financing.
About FAO
FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations leading international efforts to defeat hunger under the Four Betters principle: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life that leaves no one behind. Together with its partners, FAO works in over 130 countries to achieve food security for all. Indonesia has been a member of FAO since 1948, and over 650 projects and programmes have since been implemented across the country in collaboration with the Indonesian government.
About Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan (YBUL)
Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan (YBUL) is a non-profit organization based in Indonesia that has been actively promoting environmental conservation and sustainable development since 1992. YBUL focuses on empowering local communities, fostering partnerships, and implementing innovative solutions to address pressing environmental challenges. As the national executing agency for the GEF Small Grants Program (GEF SGP) in Indonesia since 1997, YBUL has facilitated community-led projects across the archipelago, demonstrating its commitment to grassroots environmental action and local capacity building. (Midwan)
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