Applications open for Tanzania Forest Fund

The Fund is under the t Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and is governed by a Board of Trustees while day to day activities is done by the Fund Secretariat.

Objectives

• To promote awareness of the importance of the protection, development and sustainable use of forest resources through public education and training;
• To promote and assist in the development of community forestry directed towards the conservation and protection of the forest resources of the country through the making of grants and providing advice and assistance to groups of persons wishing to form themselves into a group;
• To promote and fund research into forestry;
• To assist in enabling Tanzania to benefit from international initiatives and international funds directed towards the conservation and protection of biological diversity and the promotion of sustainable development of forest resources;
• To assist groups of persons and individuals to participate in any public debates and discussions on forestry and in particular to participate in processes connected with the making of an environmental impact assessment provided under section 18 of the Forest Act;
• To assist groups of persons and individuals to ensure compliance with the Forest Act; and
• To promote such other activities of a like nature to those set out in this section as will advance the purposes of the Forest Act.

Priority Areas

• Forest resources protection, conservation and management
  • In 2024 call of project proposals, grants applicants can submit proposals on the following areas:
    • Establishment of tree nurseries in primary and secondary schools and tree planting in schools and surrounding communities. Eligible beneficiaries are primary and secondary schools from 34 districts of 11 regions.
    • Establishment of woodlots of which the eligible beneficiaries are individual persons, CBOs, CSOs and FBOs. The grants applicants should show evidence of owning 10 acres of land or more for individual persons and 20 acres or more for CBOs, CSOs and FBOs. Applications can be submitted from all regions of Tanzania mainland except Dar es Salaam.
    • Tree planting in plantations or land owned by the government institutions. Eligible applicants are government institutions managing forest plantations or have land reserved for establishing forest plantations and the applicants are advised to apply special purpose grants.
    • Alternative energy sources including biogas and stoves using alternative energy sources. The aim is to reduce dependence of firewood and charcoal as sources of energy and improvement of forest protection and conservation. Eligible applicants are NGOs, CSOs, FBOs and government institutions.
• Improvement of livelihood of communities living adjacent to forest resource base
  • In 2024 call of project proposals, grants applicants will compete on the sub-theme of improving forest conservation through beekeeping. Eligible applicants are CBOs which should apply small grants up to TZS 10 million and government institutions which should apply for medium and large grants. Women and youth registered groups are encouraged to apply.
• Research in forestry geared at:
  • Improving forest development, protection, conservation and management
    • Eligible research proposals should aim at providing answers to prevailing problems and challenges in the forest and beekeeping subsector. The research topics or fields should come or link to the national forest or beekeeping research master plans or priority research areas of higher learning institutions and accepted or approved by the national forestry research coordination institution.
  • Improving quantity, quality and value addition for sustainable use of forest produce
    • Eligible research proposals should aim at improving quantity, quality and value addition to forest and or bee products as per national forest master plan and/or beekeeping research master plan.
• Enhance capacity building to training and/or research institutions and best student awards
  • Proposals requesting grants are invited from the following areas:
    • Capacity building to government institutions responsible for coordinating forestry research and government training institutions under the Forest and Beekeeping Division responsible for conducting training in forestry, forest industries and beekeeping.
    • The second area of focus is best student award including sponsorship award. Eligible beneficiaries are best students who have completed Certificate and Diploma courses in Forestry,

Types of Grants

• Small Grants (Amounts not exceeding TZS 10 million)
  • Small grants are awarded to individual persons, CBOs and primary and secondary schools for supporting small-scale interventions that contribute to improving forest protection, conservation, management and development. Individual persons and primary and secondary schools are eligible for applying small grants not exceeding TZS 5 million, while CBOs are eligible for applying small grants up to TZS 10 million. Duration for implementing projects awarded small grants is six (6) to 12 months.
• Medium Grants (Amounts above TZS 10 million but not exceeding TZS 20 million)
  • Medium grants are awarded to support interventions with bigger contribution on forest protection, conservation, management and development compared to interventions supported using small grants. All beneficiaries are eligible for this grant’s category except individual persons, primary and secondary schools and CBOs. The duration for implementing projects awarded large grants is 18 to 24 months.
• Large Grants (Amounts above TZS 20 million but not exceeding TZS 50 million)
  • Large grants are awarded to support interventions with bigger contribution to forest protection, conservation, management and development compared to projects awarded medium grants. All beneficiaries are eligible for this grant’s category except individual persons, primary and secondary schools and CBOs. The duration for implementing projects awarded large grants is 18 to 24 months.
• Special Purpose Grants (Amount exceeding TZS 50 million)
  • Special purpose grants are awarded to government institutions only for the purpose of implementing projects with a significant impact on protection, conservation, management and development of forest resources, which cannot be realized using other types of grants. Projects to be considered for being awarded special purpose grants include establishment of forest plantations, large-scale afforestation schemes and infrastructure development with enormous impact on forest protection, conservation, management and development. Type of project and the amount to be awarded as special purpose grants is the discretion of the Board of Trustees. Duration for implementing projects awarded special purpose grants will depend on the nature of activities, but should be at least three years (36 months).

Eligibility Criteria

• Tanzania Forest Fund awards grants to various stakeholders undertaking interventions which contribute to forest development and improving forest protection, conservation and management in Mainland Tanzania. The following are eligible beneficiaries who can submit applications to request grants awarded by TaFF:
  • Individual persons
  • Community-based Organizations
  • Non-governmental Organizations; Civil Society Organizations, and Faith-based Organizations
  • Training and Research Institutions
  • Government Institutions

For more information, visit Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.