Rapid Response Facility launches new website
The Rapid Response Facility (RRF), the emergency small grants programme jointly operated by Fauna & Flora International (FFI), UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and the United Nations Foundation, has just launched a new website at www.rapid-response.org.
The RRF is a unique small grant programme. With a target processing time for grant applications of just 8 working days, the RRF provides rapid support to enable conservation practitioners to tackle emergencies in some of the World's most important sites for biodiversity. To date it has supported 16 rapid interventions in 14 UNESCO designated natural World Heritage sites, responding to the conservation impacts of a range of emergencies such as natural disaster, armed conflict and sudden increases in illegal activity within these protected areas.
For those interested in approaching the RRF for emergency funding, the new website provides details on application procedures, funding criteria, and case studies of past RRF grants.
The RRF website also houses tools and guidance for practitioners dealing with emergency conservation response around the globe, including resources developed as part of FFI's exploration of the value of cross-sectoral partnerships in post-conflict and post-disaster situations. This work, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has generated tools and case studies designed to support both conservation and development practitioners maximise the efficacy of cross-sectoral partnerships, particularly in very challenging situations.
At the request of several RRF grantees, the new website also features an interactive forum where past and current grantees, potential applicants and other interested parties can pose questions and share experiences of conservation emergency. This forum represents an important step in the RRF's efforts to share knowledge across stakeholders, to improve the speed and efficacy of emergency conservation response.
In the coming weeks the website will also be available in French & Spanish. For further information about the RRF please contact the RRF Secretariat: rrf@fauna-flora.org
