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Request for 2018-2019 project bids

The British Embassy Moscow and Consulates General St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg invite proposals for project initiatives in Russia in 2018/2019 financial year.

The British Embassy Moscow and Consulates General St. Petersburg and Ekaterinburg now invite proposals for project initiatives in Russia in 2018/2019 financial year.

The programme provides funding for projects that support activities directly connected with the UK’s foreign policy priorities and the objectives of the British Embassy and Consulates in Russia. The programme allocates funding through a competitive bidding process.

Bidding Round

We expect project initiatives to contribute to the following objectives:

I. Human Rights and Rule of Law

Priority areas include: freedom of expression, media freedom, equality and non-discrimination, human trafficking and modern slavery.

II. Climate Security

Priority areas include: delivering the Paris Agreement, carbon markets and incentives for energy efficiency, corporate climate leadership, waste, sustainable cities and construction, strategic climate science, professional development for sustainability, aviation, renewables, energy market reform.

III. Economic Reform and Trade & Investment

Priority areas include: business environment, rule of law, financial regulation, anti-corruption, tax reform, transparency, economic diversification, encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, building human capital, improving delivery of healthcare, developing UK-Russia dialogue on joint economic challenges, promoting UK-Russia student economic engagement, education reform, growing the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) base, for example through increased links between UK and Russian incubators and business schools to facilitate knowledge transfer.

lV. Science and Innovation

Priority areas include: post-doctoral/early career researcher links in areas of Russian and UK excellence; joint programmes including Arctic research, agri-science and agri-tech, global health, life sciences and clean energy innovation & technology; building the capacity of Russian science to internationalise.

V. Support for British nationals overseas

Priority areas include: supporting our most vulnerable British nationals, including but not limited to victims of child abduction, elderly travellers, and those with mental health issues; and activity in support of Embassy preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2018.

We invite project proposals of up to twelve months duration (April 2018 to March 2019).

Projects must have a clear purpose supported by achievable and measurable outputs (e.g. events and reports) and outcomes (change that is beyond the control of the project implementer). Please keep proposals as concise as possible and present the purpose of the project as the benefit which you expect to result from the project activities (maximum one sentence). The project costs must give the equivalent value in Pounds sterling.

Project bids can be up to £100,000.

Applicants are requested to fill in the Concept bid form Project Concept Form 151210 (MS Word Document, 93 KB) in English and to send them electronically to the British Embassy in Moscow at ukinrussia@fco.gov.uk,

indicating ‘Concept bid’ in the subject field.

The closing date for concept bids is 09.00 am (MSK) 5 February 2018.

Selected bidders will then be invited to develop their concept into a full project proposal. You will be notified by 20 February 2018 if you are invited to do so. Please note that an invitation to submit a full project proposal does not represent a commitment to fund; it merely indicates that we are interested in your idea and would like to know more.

We will aim to make final decisions on project grants in April 2018.

Please note that bidding is competitive and only selected projects will receive funding. The Embassy reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids without incurring any obligation to inform the affected applicant/s of the grounds of such acceptance or rejection. Due to the volume of bids expected we will not be able to provide feedback on unsuccessful bids.

Published 18 January 2018