The Norwegian development programme to reduce plastic pollution and marine litter was launched in 2018, for the period 2018-2024. In 2024, the Norwegian government announced a second phase of the programme, from 2025 to 2028. Norway has an ambition of 1 billion Norwegian Kroner funding to the program during this period.
Prioritised Objectives, Target Groups and Countries
The objective for the call for proposal:
To be prioritised for funding, projects must contribute to the following main objective of the Norwegian development program, and the related outcomes of the programme.
The main objective of the Norwegian development programme is to reduce plastic pollution and marine litter in developing countries. To achieve this, the programme focuses on five outcomes:
- Strengthened global and national frameworks to stop plastic pollution and marine litter
- Reduced consumption and demand for plastic
- Improved plastic waste management in partner countries
- Increased resource mobilization and safe job creation in the private sector within the circular economy
- Reduced health and environmental damage from plastic pollution and marine litter
Norad will prioritise proposals that contribute most to the above objectives in the geographies prioritized (see further below).
Grant Scheme Performance Criteria
Norad will use the following performance criteria to measure results under this grant scheme:
- Plans and global commitments for combating marine litter are being implemented in partner countries.
- Privat sector contributes to sustainable production, consumption and waste management within the blue economy and a circular economy on land.
- Partner countries are improving the environmental condition of the ocean by improving waste management on land, reducing marine pollution, protecting vulnerable ecosystems.
- People in partner countries are part of a just transition to a circular economy, and the most vulnerable are protected.
Types of Projects Eligible for Funding
Grants may be awarded for all types of projects that contribute to the objectives of this call for proposal. The following provides a non-exhaustive list of examples of type of projects that Norad may consider:
- Strengthened global and national frameworks to stop plastic pollution and marine litter:
- Projects that support countries in the treaty process of a global treaty to combat plastic pollution. (Please note that Norad will not prioritize proposals focused on other global frameworks for this call for proposal).
- Projects that support countries in strengthening national frameworks (including policies and action plans) to combat marine litter and plastic pollution, including extended producer responsibility (EPR) frameworks and waste management policies.
- Reduced consumption and demand for plastic
- Projects that support the development of frameworks for reduced consumption and demand for plastics (as indicated above)
- Projects that develop or adopt innovative technologies to reduce plastic consumption and demand
- Projects that support piloting or testing of solutions related to increased circular economy of plastics, including phasing out problematic chemicals in plastics and problematic plastic products.
- Improved plastic waste management in partner countries
- Projects that support countries (local and/ or national government) in strengthening waste management systems of plastic waste, such as development of relevant frameworks and plans, resource mobilization plans and long-term financing models for waste management
- Projects that support countries in closing the data gaps on waste and plastic waste, in connection to policy development and improvement of waste management systems
- Projects that support the strengthened rights of the informal sector working in waste management, and especially women
Please note that Norad will not prioritise waste crime and environmental crime within this call for proposals.
- Increased resource mobilization and safe job creation in the private sector within the circular economy
- Projects that support countries towards the circular economy transformation for plastics, including strengthening the framework conditions and relevant policies (such as EPR policies)
- Projects that support the development of innovative financing mechanism for plastic pollution
- Projects that contribute to strengthening private sector contribution to reduce plastic pollution
- Projects that focus on safe job creation in the circular economy of plastics
- Reduced health and environmental damage from plastic pollution and marine litter
- Projects that focus on reducing the health and environmental damage from legacy waste and hazardous waste
All applicants must be able to demonstrate how their project will contribute to the achievement of one or more of the objectives/outcomes of this call for proposals.
Norad will give preference to projects with a total budget of 20 million Norwegian kroners and above.
Target Group(s)/Countries
The Norwegian development programme to combat plastic pollution and marine litter is focused on countries in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and SIDS in the Caribbean and Pacific, especially emphasising India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and South Africa.
The target group is populations in ODA-recipient countries.
For this specific call for proposal, Norad’s prioritised target group is the local population in Indonesia and Vietnam, and Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania. It is possible to submit a concept note for a regional project. Applicants must demonstrate how the target group(s) will be reached.
Who Can Apply for Grants?
This call is open to non-governmental organisations, as single organisations and consortia. Consortia are encouraged. Only non-governmental organisations can apply as lead applicant. However, Norad will accept for-profit organisations/companies, foreign governmental institutions, multilateral organisations and intergovernmental organisations as participants of consortia.
For this call, preference will be given to non-profit organisations.
The applicant must be an independent legal entity. Accurate and complete information about the organisation must be provided. If applying as part of a consortium, all members must be eligible grant recipients.
About the application process
The application process will be set up in two stages. Successful concept notes will be invited to submit a full application.
A. Stage 1: The Concept Note
For the first stage of the application process, applicants will be asked to submit a short concept note (PDF format, uploaded to Norad’s Grants Portal, maximum 4 pages with font 12), describing the project. The concept note must include the following information in this order:
- A problem statement i.e. what is the underlying problem the project will address, an outline of a theory of change and a short description of the proposal’s main activities, that will be supported by the grant. The project’s geographic focus and relevance for the target group should be clearly justified (ca. 1/2 page).
- A short description of how the project will contribute to the objective(s) of this call (ca. 1/2 page).
- Expected results of the supported activity and how they will be measured, and the long-term sustainability (ca. 1/2 page). All applicants must specify which one or several of the programme outcomes the proposal is relevant to.
- Description of applicant and partners, and their roles in the project (ca. 1/2 page).
- A short summary of the competence and experience of the implementing partners (ca. 1/2 page).
- Indicative budget containing total costs and the 5-10 largest expected cost categories of the project (ca. 1/2 page).
Please note that failing to meet the minimum criteria will result in an automatic rejection of the concept note.
B. Stage 2: The full application
Applicants that successfully pass Stage 1 will be invited to submit a full and formal application through the Grants Portal (Stage 2). Applicants will be asked to comprehensively address all requirements in section 3 and supply full documentation (in English or Norwegian) for all claims made in Stage 1. Norad will require more detailed information about the project and the applicant to allow for the assessment. The information provided about partners must be verifiable.
For more information and application.
