NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

The Resilient, Inclusive and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge is a first-of-its-kind granting mechanism that supports activities designed to address gender-based violence and environmental linkages in environmental and climate-related programmes and generate evidence on promising interventions.The RISE grants challenge is led by IUCN with support from Norway, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, and is a direct response to a landmark study on gender-based violence and environment linkages by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), commissioned by USAID through the Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) partnership. With input from IUCN and diverse partners and peers, this first-of-its-kind grants mechanism was designed to fill knowledge, cooperation and investment gaps at the gender-based violence and environment nexus. In complement, IUCN launched the Gender-based Violence and Environment Linkages Center (GBV-ENV Center), which brings together resources and tools, mobilises learning, provides tailored technical support and forges collective action to build knowledge, capacities and improved policies. Since 2022, the RISE grants challenge has been managed and hosted by the IUCN, in conjunction with the GBV-ENV Center. In 2024, Norway joined the RISE grants challenge.  The 2025 RISE Call for Proposals is the sixth RISE grants challenge open call. A new cohort of RISE grantees will join the five previous cohorts, growing a community of practice and contributing to critical knowledge and strategies toward meeting interlinked global goals of eradicating gender-based violence and securing a healthy and peaceful planet.

Objective

The overarching purpose of the RISE grants challenge is to fund projects that address gender-based violence that is occurring within and linked to environment and climate-related sectors.

 

Scope

In 2025, the RISE grants challenge seeks to fund applications that embed gender-based violence risk mitigation in environmental projects working with or led by communities within and/or around marine and/or terrestrial Indigenous-managed lands, protected areas, and lands conserved using other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).While gender-based violence prevention and response measures can be included as complementary activities, the RISE grants challenge in 2025 seeks to fund applications that focus on gender-based violence risk mitigation.The RISE grants challenge encourages applications to also deliver improved rights-based, gender-responsive, socially inclusive conservation, climate action and sustainable development outcomes. In 2025, we continue to be interested in intersectional approaches that include or emphasise vulnerable groups such as Indigenous women, environmental defenders, youth, LGBTQIA+ individuals and women and girls who are underrepresented and marginalised in their communities, among others.