Mountain Facility

The Mountain Facility is a financing mechanism operated by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) to respond to Mountain Partnership members’ requests and needs with grants.

Climate change and unsustainable land use in mountains trigger natural disasters and, combined with isolation and social marginalization, intensify the vulnerability of mountain peoples and makes living in the world’s mountain areas increasingly difficult.

By investing in the Mountain Facility, you will join a multi-partner fund that supports concrete action on the ground to improve livelihoods and natural resource management in mountain communities. The Facility also focuses on strengthening the abilities of mountain peoples to feature prominently in decision-making processes at local, regional, national and global levels.

Six broad thematic areas of work for funding have been identified in consultation with MP members:

Policy support and institutional strengthening;
Capacity-building;
Climate change adaptation and resilience building;
Natural resources management;
Strengthening of local economies; and
Data collection and dissemination.

How does the Facility work?

Calls for grant proposals are made regularly and applications are prioritized against criteria set by the Facility Steering Committee.
Each application should involve at least two organizations and the lead applicant organization has to be an MP member.
Each application must involve at least one organization or institution from a developing country.

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The Mountain Facility Investment Support – First Phase

This first phase of the Mountain Facility aims at the promotion of climate resilient business models based on mountain biodiversity and of sustainable local economies in mountain areas.

It will target three of the six thematic areas of work described above, including: III) Climate change adaptation and resilience building, IV) Natural resources management and V) Strengthening of local economies.

The purpose is to assist mountain innovative entrepreneurship in implementing their concrete and achievable business plans, to provide financial and technical capacity to cope with climate change effects and reduce livelihoods vulnerability.

This Call for Proposal will target:

Investments to promote mountain biodiversity and agrobiodiversity conservation, through improved production, productivity, quality, clean technologies, processing, access to markets and value addition.
Promotion of mountain products based on native biodiversity and agroecology principles, as a strategy for food security and food sovereignty.
Promotion of fair value chains and social enterprises, strengthening local producers’ participation and governance.
Implementation of nature-based solutions, including reforestation and agroforestry practices, for climate change mitigation and adaptation in mountain ecosystems.

The investment support will be implemented as follows:

- FAO contribution maximum USD 25 000 (maximum 65 percent of the proposal’s total budget);

- Applicant’s cash contribution minimum 30 percent of the proposal’s total budget;

- Total budget can include additional in-kind contribution maximum 5 percent of the proposal’s total budget. The total amount committed for this phase is USD 120 000, funded by the MP member Terra del Terzo Mondo Onlus.

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Application information

All recipients will be selected competitively. Lead applicants for grants through the Mountain Facility must be members of the Mountain Partnership. Lead applicants may partner with non-members for their project proposals.

- Read the Mountain Facility – Phase 1 Manual to learn more about eligibility and selection criteria here.