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New round for UK Bilateral Projects Programme 2017-2018 to accept bids in Russia

As part of the UK’s Global Britain Fund, the British Embassy Moscow and Consulates General St. Petersburg and Ekaterinburg now invite proposals for Bilateral Programme Budget (BPB) project initiatives in Russia in 2017/2018 financial year.

This BPB 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 UK Bilateral Projects Programme allocates funding through a competitive bidding process.

Bidding Round

The Bilateral Projects Programme expects project initiatives to contribute to the following objectives:

I. Human Rights and Democracy

Priority areas include: civil society, freedom of expression, media freedom, rule of law, equality and non-discrimination, human trafficking and modern slavery

II. Climate Security

Priority areas, in context of the 2017 Russian Year of Ecology, include: delivering international agreements, carbon markets and incentives for energy efficiency, corporate climate leadership, sustainable cities and construction, renewables, energy market reform, strategic climate science, professional development for sustainability

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, and education reform, growing the Small Medium Enterprise (SME) base and the number of entrepreneurs in Russia, for example through increased links between UK and Russian incubators, business schools to facilitate knowledge transfer.

lV Science and Innovation

Priority areas, in context of the UK Russia Year of Science and Education 2017, include: post-doctoral/early career researcher links in areas of Russian & UK excellence; joint programmes including Arctic research, agri-science & agri-tech, global health and life sciences; 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 2017 to March 2018).

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 (MS Word Document, 56 KB)) in English and to send them electronically to the British Embassy in Moscow at ukinrussia@fco.gov.uk,

indicating ‘Bilateral Projects Programme Bid’ in the subject field.

The closing date for concept bids is 9.00 am (MSK) 6 February 2017.

Selected bidders will then be invited to develop their concept into a full project proposal. You will be notified by 17 February 2017 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 2017.

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 23 January 2017