Governmental agencies, NGOs, private sector (including start-ups), academia, UN, and intergovernmental organizations are eligible to apply. Individuals are not eligible.  

Project proposals must be implemented in and benefit stakeholders in developing countries but may be submitted by applicants in either developing or developed countries.

Applications may be submitted online at (link) until 9 May 2021, 23:59 Central European Time.

The application fields request information on co-financing but this is not mandatory nor is the amount/ratio of co-finance a selection criterion; OIC applicants may include start-ups which understandably may have limited initial financial resources. 

Yes, for the second call for proposals, they need to be linked to sustainable fisheries. In general, only applications that address the theme specified in the call for proposals will be considered.

The core eligibility criteria for the OIC include the following: 

1. Eligible entity – these include governments, NGOs, private sector, academia, UN, and intergovernmental organizations. Individuals are not eligible (pass/fail criterion) 

2. Technically feasible – is the project feasible technically and otherwise (politically, financially, etc.)? 

3. Is the idea truly new and innovative? This can be achieved in either of two contexts: a. truly innovative, not attempted anywhere before, or b. bringing existing proven innovations from elsewhere to completely new geographies and contexts. 

4. Is the project easily replicable and scalable, e.g., there do not appear to be significant barriers to replication and upscaling of the innovation once demonstrated and the proponent has a clear strategy for replication and upscaling. 

5. Is the project potentially transformational, e.g., could its replication and upscaling transform a relevant ocean (or land-based) sector leading towards significant contributions to improving ocean health. 

6. Does the idea create the potential/likelihood to contribute to poverty reduction, gender equity and/or livelihoods creation, e.g., could the ultimate beneficiaries include the poor and women who depend on healthy ocean ecosystems for their livelihoods, food security, etc.? 

7. Local/Country Ownership and Coordination - does the project have strong local and country ownership and buy-in, by government, civil society and other stakeholders as relevant, such as linkages to national and sub-national development, ocean and biodiversity plans and strategies? 

8. Stakeholder Engagement - has the project identified the appropriate target stakeholder groups and has a clear strategy to engage such stakeholders?  

9. Project Management - Do the project management arrangements appear appropriate and sufficient to effectively deliver the project outputs and outcomes? 

Each criterion (2-9) will be evaluated by UNDP OIC Technical Review Committee using the following scoring system to arrive at a total score (equal weighting): 

0 = no potential 

1 = limited potential 

2 = good potential 

3 = high potential 

In this section we would like you to describe the management arrangements – specifically, how will the implementation of the innovation be managed? Who will have oversight and be responsible to ensure that the technical application and OIC reporting requirements are met? If the innovation is to be implemented in more than one country, who will be responsible in each country for the implementation? Or, if there are several organizations collaborating, what are the accountability and reporting lines?

Following the above assessment process and depending on available OIC financial resources, a limited number of the highest scoring projects will be invited to submit full proposals addressing each of the criteria in more detail.  These full proposals will need to be accompanied by additional detail about the proposed innovation and implementation approach. Additional documentation includes organization legal status verification; quarterly workplan and itemized budget; results framework; risk register; financial statement; organization capacity assessments; and social and environmental safeguards screening. In addition, a full management review and external expert peer review will be conducted for all short-listed full proposals before proceeding to the final stage of submission of selected finalists to the UNDP Advisory Committee on Procurement. Please note that an invitation to submit a short-listed proposal does not imply acceptance and funding of that proposal.

Costs of proposal preparation cannot be charged to the OIC.

Eligible items include project staff costs, consultant fees, travel, equipment, communications, publications/other media, meetings, training, audits.  All payments are made on deliverables, not in advance.

Overhead costs, such as those associated with academic research, are not eligible for OIC support.

Each concept proposal is evaluated based on its own merit.  Regardless of the origin of the concept proposal, only those that score highest by the evaluation panel will be advanced to the next level and invited to submit a full proposal. There is no formal rule regarding the number of submissions allowed from a single organization. However, it is recommended that if an organization submits multiple proposals, these should come from different sections or departments of the organization.

UNDP anticipates announcement of its 2021 Ocean Innovators in late 2021. 

Please note that only submitted innovations invited to submit a full proposal will be contacted. Visit the UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge website and social media, and subscribe to the OIC Quarterly Newsletter for the latest updates and announcements.

You may resubmit your modified application up until the 9 May 2021 deadline. After that date all applications will be considered final and only the most recent application will be considered.

All applicant entities (private, NGO, etc.) should have an established legal basis in the country/ies in which they are based.  

You may contact us by email (oic.info@undp.org) for any problems or questions.