The Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge, funded by USAID and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and managed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), funds projects that address gender-based violence that is occurring within and linked to environment and climate-related sectors.

Supported projects must be implemented in one or more of the following target countries, or be a global policy-focused project: Brazil, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, and Zambia.

In 2024, the RISE grants challenge seeks to fund applications that adopt strategies to prevent, mitigate, and respond to the risk of gender-based violence and environmental linkages in the context of the dual global biodiversity and climate crises.

Applications will be accepted spanning diverse biodiversity and climate sectors and contexts, however, this year, there is also a specific earmark for at least several projects to specifically address gender-based violence in fisheries sectors.

RISE continues to be interested in intersectional approaches that include or emphasize vulnerable groups such as Indigenous women, environmental defenders, youth, and women and girls who are underrepresented and marginalized in their communities.

The RISE grants challenge seeks to build evidence and cross-sector collaborations in three primary ways, investing in:

• existing environmental programming that embeds gender-based violence prevention, mitigation, and/or response in an integrated manner to environmental work;
• existing gender-based violence and environment programming that aims to continue, scale up, or replicate an intervention; and,
• new projects that address gender-based violence and environment linkages at the global policy level.

The RISE grants challenge requires partnerships between environmental organizations, gender and gender based violence-expert organizations, Indigenous peoples’ organizations, local communities, and/or other relevant experts.

RISE is open to legally registered local, national, regional, or international organizations, including but not limited to:

• local and international non-governmental organizations;
• intergovernmental organizations;
• community-based organizations;
• civil society organizations;
• Indigenous peoples’ organizations;
• universities and other academic institutions;
• research institutes and think tanks;
• private sector companies; and,
• consortiums, partnerships, and other already existing forms of collaboration.