Criteria for funding international projects
International projects funded by the DBU have their place of action primarily abroad and local partners must be substantially involved. The funding guidelines of the DBU (EN: Funding guidelines of the German Federal Environmental Foundation) must always be observed.
The following formal requirements apply to international projects:
- As a rule, a personal contribution (amounting to 50% of the total costs) must be made.
- A German cooperation partner should be the applicant.
- Bilateral cooperation agreements between project participants are recommended.
- Evidence of the use of grant funds must meet the requirements of an external audit. Evidence and invoices must be translated into German or English and presented in euros, taking into account the daily exchange rate on the invoice date. Possible exchange rate fluctuations and transaction fees must be taken into account when calculating costs in the application process.
- Reports are to be submitted in German or English at regular intervals.
The following criteria are central to funding international projects and must be explained if an application is submitted:
- Environmental relief and ecological sustainability
- Exemplariness
- Innovation: An innovation can mean an innovation at the level of a company/organization, at the level of a region/country, at the level of a specific market or industry, or even in a global market. Various types of innovation are eligible. The application must define which ones are targeted in each case (social innovation, technology innovation, product innovation, process innovation, service innovation, business model innovation, organizational innovation, etc.).
- Actor constellation: to what extent is the constellation purposeful for the implementation of the project (German partner, local partner, etc.)?
- Benefit at the point of action
Depending on the project, other important additional criteria may play a role in the evaluation of the projects. Information on these points is requested where possible:
- Sustainable impact of the project beyond the end of the project
- Participatory structure/elements, diversity, eye level in cooperation between partners on site and in Germany
- Local and language knowledge as well as intercultural competence of the applicants
- Aspects of education, training and capacity building
- Relevance to SMEs (participation of German SMEs and/or promotion of local small or medium-sized enterprises)
- Value-added perspective
- Classification of the effects of the project in a sustainability context, e.g. the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), sustainable regional development, etc.