A program that aims to preserve UP Diliman’s (UPD) green environment was recently launched as part of UPD’s celebration of the month of April as Environmental Sustainability Month (ESM).

The Office of the Chancellor, through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, launched the Environmental Sustainability Grants Program (ESGP), calling for project proposals related to UPD’s environmental sustainability.

According to the call for proposals, the ESGP will provide seed funding of not more than P100,000 “to implement proof of concepts or pilot projects on different aspects of sustainability, such as utilities, transport, waste, and biodiversity management, that can be scaled up for university-wide implementation.”

Three winning proposals will be funded for pilot implementation.

The criteria for judging are originality (the proposed project is novel or has innovative strategies, 15%); feasibility (the proposed strategy is appropriate to accomplish the objective/s of the project within the proposed duration, 25%); scalability (the proposed project has significant impact and shows potential for larger scale implementation in UPD, 50%); and community engagement (the proposed project engages the UPD community towards the objective of environmental sustainability, 10%).                                            

Those who can submit proposals for ESGP are UPD officially recognized student organizations, academic and non-academic units, and administrative, academic, and non-teaching associations. The ESGP can only be granted to these groups.

Further, the chosen group’s project proponent must be affiliated with UPD for the entire duration of the project (maximum of one year; May 2022 to May 2023) regardless of status of employment (temporary or permanent). The project proponent will serve as the main communication line for the project. Although the ESGP is open to academic units and associations, lecturers, professors emeriti, and faculty members on sabbatical leave cannot be chosen as project proponents.

The proposed project must also have a designated project fund manager. The project proponent can also be the project fund manager. The funds will be released in the project fund manager’s name. A project fund manager can be the unit head and faculty adviser (exempting lecturers) of student organizations.

The total granted amount shall be released to the fund manager in three tranches: 70 percent upon signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA); 20 percent upon submission of the mid-project progress report; and 10 percent balance upon submission of the final output described in the obligations of grantee, provided that all the obligations are complied with not later than two months after the end date of the grant; otherwise, the final release is forfeited.

Interested parties may submit their proposals to the UPD Task Force on Environmental Sustainability (TFES; tfes.upd@up.edu.ph) on or before April 23 using the prescribed template. The proposal should have been reviewed by an adviser, expert, community leader, or relevant office/unit where the project will take place. The review by a community leader or relevant office/unit is needed to ensure that the target beneficiary is amenable to the project.

Announcement of the winning proposals is on April 29 during ESM’s closing ceremonies. For detailed guidelines, requirements, and application form, please refer to https://bit.ly/ESGP_22.