Launched in 1992, the year of the Rio Earth Summit, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) is a global corporate programme, funded by GEF, implemented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of the GEF partnership and executed by United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
GEF SGP provides communities and civil society organizations in developing and transition countries with grants to enable them to implement projects in the focal areas of climate change, biodiversity, sustainable forest management, land degradation, international waters, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs)/chemicals. These community-based projects must meet global environmental objectives while at the same time also supporting poverty reduction and local empowerment objectives. Since its creation SGP has provided grants to over 14,500 communities in over 125 developing countries.
From 1994-2011 Barbados has been a part of GEF SGP under the Sub-regional Programme for Barbados and the OECS. Since 2011, these countries now operate under a country modality. The GEF SGP operates in a decentralized, transparent and country-driven manner through country programmes teams composed of a National Coordinator (NC), often a Programme Assistant (PA), and a National Steering Committee (NSC) in each participating country.