FAQ for IKI Medium Grants 2025

The IKI Medium Grants (IMG) are a funding instrument within the framework of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) that is aimed at civil society organisations that are based in Germany or another EU member state at the time the outline is submitted (eligible to apply). At the time of the first disbursement of approved funding (eligible applicants) the implementing organisation must have a permanent establishment, branch, or other facility in Germany with its own management, freedom of disposition, and accounting. These organisations must implement the project in cooperation with their partner organisations in ODA-eligible developing and transition countries. The main implementing organisation must not be the same as the partner organisation. The funding instrument is part of Germany's contribution to international climate and biodiversity financing with the intention of having an impact in ODA countries.

• Organisations that are independent implementing organisations under German law which can autonomously fulfil the rights and obligations arising on a contractual basis from the grant without being bound by  instructions of a parent organization;
• Organisations that have at least three years of work experience in project implementation in international cooperation, and which are able to plan, implement efficiently, monitor and account for measures in a qualified manner;
• Organisations that belong to the third sector and do not pursue a profit-making intention with the project. (Inter) governmental and private sector organisations are generally not eligible. As the only exception, Think Tanks are admitted, as they can take on different legal forms. Nonetheless this applies only to the extend as they make their analyses and recommendations for action in order to push the public debate (agenda setting) in the context of civil society transparent, comprehensible and publicly accessible, or as they demonstrably advise on different public policy actors and spheres (politics, administration, the public and civil society);
• Non-profit enterprises must be able to prove the recognition of their exclusive and direct, non-profit or tax-privileged purposes vis-a-vis the tax office.

Cooperation with one-person companies is excluded.

The main implementing organisation based in Germany must demonstrate at least three years of project experience in international cooperation, as well as at least three years of technical expertise in the chosen thematic priority on the basis of the attached references.

The partner organisations must be registered and established in the country of implementation. They pursue a non-profit purpose in accordance with their organisational set-up and are independent legal entities operating under local law. Representations that are not legally independent are not included. The implementing partners must provide evidence of at least two years of professional expertise in the selected thematic priority as demonstrated by the attached references.

It should be noted that it is the organisation’s experience and not the experience of individual employees that is assessed.

The cooperation is based on a partnership between an organisation based in Germany (refer to questions 1 for details) and a maximum of two partner organisations. When selecting two target countries, make sure that they are located in the same geographical region.

The formation of alliances consisting of several implementing organisations as a North-North partnership is not envisaged within the framework of the IKI Medium Grants.

If the project is being implemented in one implementing country, at least one of two partner organisations must be located in the selected implementing country. The second partner organisation is either based in the selected implementing country or is located in the same geographical region.

If the project is to be implemented in two implementing countries, both partner organisations must be located each in one of the selected implementing countries.

If individual work packages cannot be taken over by the local implementing partners, other partners can also be involved in individual cases where it makes sense to do so. However, this requires a specific justifiable reason and prior communication with the IKI Office of the project management organisation ZUG gGmbH.

Should contracts have to be awarded, the procurement rules must be complied with in any case.

North-South cooperation should be implemented in partnership and on an equal footing.

The project idea can be generated bottom-up from the needs of the countries or can also be initiated by the lead implementing organisation (two-way thematic impulse). The evaluation of the partnership cooperation is based on the fair distribution of tasks of the work packages between the partners as shown in the outline, as well as an appropriate distribution of the budgets. Knowledge transfer and exchange should take place on both sides from North to South and/or South to North.

The term “innovative” in this context means any technological, methodological or social measure that has not previously been applied in the region where the project is being implemented, or not in the same manner. For example, the project either uses new methods for addressing environmental challenges or utilise proven approaches, technologies or instruments in a new context – for example for new topics, target groups or region/countries.

A high degree of innovation is characterised by a clear distinction from the previous state of knowledge or technology on site or provides new impetus for regional development.

The annually changing funding priorities define the framework for the content-related elaboration of the projects. In each funding announcement, two new thematic funding priorities are to be published. Detailed information about the funding priorities can be found in the respective funding announcement. Each project idea can only be assigned to one thematic priority in the outline form, to which the main implementing organisation then applies. The methodological funding approaches must be distinguished from this. They describe which types of projects are being sought (funding approach I = model projects with demonstration character; funding approach II = capacity development). The funding approaches are consistent across all funding announcements. As a general rule, one funding approach must be selected for each project in addition to the thematic priority. It is possible to combine two funding approaches, provided that this is well-justified, and it is plausibly demonstrated as to how the selection of the respective funding approaches supports the intended impact of the project objective. However, only one thematic priority will be accepted. The chosen thematic priority must be the core of the project concept.

The target group includes all relevant actors who either benefit from the activities of the project or whose involvement is necessary to achieve the set project goals. In this respect, representatives of the private sector can also be a target group. For each sub-target group, the concept note should describe the expected benefits of the project activities and the extent to which they need to be involved in order to achieve the project objectives.

Projects that directly or indirectly involve the private sector as a target group will be considered positively during the assessment. Such involvement can increase the sustainability, scalability, and impact of project results.

Examples include improving framework conditions for private sector engagement, developing and promoting green business models, integrating private sector actors into the project’s exit strategy, as well as providing consulting or training for companies and including business representatives in project workshops and events.

For the second stage of the ideas competition the applicant will need to address the risks that can result from the project and introduce proper risk management indicators as safeguards for the project measures. The project applicant is obliged to comply with the IKI Safeguards Policy and to apply the environmental and social safeguards standards of the Green Climate Fund (which uses the IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability). This requires the analysis of environmental and social risks resulting from project activities and the development of appropriate safeguards measures to avoid, minimize or mitigate negative environmental and social impacts. Compliance with safeguards standards and the implementation of safeguards measures is tracked using interim reports, final reports and interim evaluations.

Furthermore, the IKI has established exclusion criteria. These are criteria used to determine what type of project activities are in principle not eligible for funding. Activities may be excluded either for ethical reasons (e.g. collaboration with racist media) or because they pose risks to people and the environment that are so high that safeguards measures may be unable to contain them (e.g. support for nuclear power).

For further questions regarding safeguards please contact the IKI safeguards team: safeguards(at)z-u-g.org.

1. IKI projects should be specifically designed to reduce gender-based disadvantages and discrimination. The IKI supports projects with at least gender-responsive project planning and implementation and also particularly projects with a gender-transformative approach and/or projects with the promotion of gender justice as a main objective.

   Gender-responsive projects take into account existing gender norms, roles, and relationships in their planning as well as inequalities that arise from them. They plan their activities in such a way that they do not promote these inequalities in the project context and ensure that all people – regardless of their gender – can effectively participate in and benefit from the respective measures. Potentials are actively promoted.

   Projects with gender-transformative approaches aim to address the causes of unequal treatment (e.g. social norms and unequal gender roles) as well as unequal power structures. Their activities thus go beyond gender-responsive approaches, because they do more than “just” ensure that people can effectively participate in and benefit from the measures of the project regardless of their gender.

   For more information and examples of gender-responsive and gender-transformative approaches in the context of the IKI funding areas, see Annex 1 of the IKI gender guidelines.

   For further questions about the IKI Gender Strategy and its implementation, please contact the Gender Helpdesk at iki-gender(at)z-u-g.org.

Funding is available for projects with a financing volume of between EUR 300,000 and EUR 800,000, and a term of two to three years.

The average funding volume per fiscal year may not exceed 50% of the average annual turnover of the last two years of the applicant organization; amounts foreseen for onward transfer to the project partners are to be included hereby.

The annual turnover of the partner organisations shall not be applied / may not serve as a basis in the calculation. However, the applicant organisation is obliged to check the creditworthiness of its partner organisations in an appropriate manner.

For the implementation of the projects, grants are awarded on the basis of Sections 23 and 44 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO) in analogous application of the ANBest-P by ZUG gGmbH. An appropriate own contribution or mobilisation of additional third-party funds must be indicated in the budget section of the outline form. The own contribution must always be justified and is assessed case-by-case depending on the financial strength of the applicant organisation. As a rule, the funds are provided as partial financing. The applicant organisation must credibly contribute all funds at its disposal to the project. Follow-up financing from IKI funds cannot be granted, as a matter of principle.

As a rule, grant recipients are legal entities based in the Federal Republic of Germany at the time of the grant approval (e.g. universities, NGOs, non-profit organisations). For the respective project, the first recipient (Zuwendungsempfänger) is the sole recipient of the administrative act governing the funding decision.

Before submitting your application, please check whether your project calculation is made on an expenditure basis or on a cost basis, as this entails certain consequences, especially with regard to eligible expenditure or costs and the participation of subgrantees. Please also note that funding is generally only granted on an expenditure basis. Funding on a cost basis is possible only in exceptional cases; in this case, concluding a subgrant agreement is not possible.

If the grant is partly to be transferred to the partner organisation(s), the first recipient remains responsible for ensuring that the respective transfer partners also comply with the obligations specified in the grant approval letter (Zuwendungsbescheid). Therefore, the first recipient and its partner must sign a subgrant-agreement.

The funding is not released before the project begins. There is no preparation phase for the IKI Medium Grants. Requests for funds can be submitted after receipt of the grant agreement (Zuwendungsbescheid), which is issued at the end of the approval phase and which regulates, among other things, the start of the project.

As a rule, own funds are uncommitted financial resources that the applicant makes available from its own assets to finance the total eligible expenditure of the project. In general, a reasonable contribution in the form of equity and/or mobilising additional financing resources is a prerequisite for funding.  What determines a reasonable amount of equity to be contributed can only be decided on a case-by-case basis. What constitutes a reasonable amount particularly depends on the lead implementing organisation’s financial capacity. There is no fixed minimum contribution amount. Financing the purpose of the grant is primarily the responsibility of the lead implementing organisation, which is required to undertake whatever may be reasonably expected to raise the necessary funds itself. Only in exceptional cases all eligible expenditures will be covered by the grant.

Only uncommitted funds that result in verifiable capital flows during the project term can be considered equity within the budget. So-called InKind contributions are highly welcomed but cannot be counted as own resources.

Third-party funds are amounts from other public or non-public donors (companies, associations, etc.) that have an interest in the project’s implementation and make these available as uncommitted budgetary resources, to finance the total eligible expenditure for the project. Cash contributions from implementing partners are considered third-party funds. Written confirmation from the donor that the third-party funds are to be provided does not have to be submitted for the outline stage, but in the second stage of the selection procedure.

In principle, all income related to the purpose of the grant (in particular, grants and/or services provided by third parties) and the first recipient’s own contribution must be used to cover all expenditure related to the purpose of the grant.

For more information, please see our administrative guidelines.

In order to reflect their role and responsibility for the overall project in budgetary terms too, the budget of the partner organisations should be set at an appropriate level in relation to that of the applicant organisation. Cooperation with partner organisations is characterised as follows:

• A substantial part of the grant is passed on to the partner organisation(s) in the country of implementation, e.g. to discharge their responsibility and carry out their duties;
• The partner organisation has a substantive self-interest in achieving the overall objective of the project;
• It is obviously not a matter of an exchange of services against remuneration;
• The applicant organisation and the partner organisation develop and implement the project jointly and share learning with and from one another.

Generally, all expenditure (personnel costs, material expenses and investment expenditure) that is absolutely necessary and economically appropriate to achieve the funding purpose within the approval period. These expenses must be presented within the financial budget.

The funding amount can be used to cover expenditure for project-related infrastructure in Germany and in the implementing country or countries in the following categories: 

• Project-related personnel
• Material expenditure up to EUR 800 in individual cases
• Rent
• Orders and fees
• Print and literature editions
• Transport/travel costs (also for regional/international exchange of experience)
• Event costs
• Capital expenditure above EUR 800 in individual cases (items above a value of EUR 800 must be inventoried. ZUG and the lead organisation will agree on the use of the funds after the end of the project in due course.)
• General administrative costs; the corresponding amount must be justified on a project-by-project basis (the flat rate is usually 10% of the total eligible expenditure, excluding amounts passed on to sub-grantees)

The following expenses are not eligible for funding and cannot be included in the bugdet:

• in the case of entitlement to input tax deduction under Section 15 of the German Value-added Tax Act (Umsatzsteuergesetz), value-added tax (including on a pro rata basis, where applicable) is not eligible;
• expenditure that cannot be substantiated through original receipts;
• expenditure without proof of payment;
• unused discounts and rebates;
• expenses incurred outside the approval period;
• insurance coverage not required by law;
• expenditure that cannot be clearly allocated to the project;
• expenditure that will be resulting in refunds at a later point in time (e.g. deposit schemes, rental deposits);
• expenditure for first-class flights and train transport.

In the first phase (outline phase), coherent and complete project outlines can only be submitted via the IKI online platform. Printouts and project outlines submitted by e-mail in any other format (e.g. excel, jpeg, word, pdf) cannot be considered. Project outlines must be submitted in English only. All project outlines submitted on time via the online platform will be reviewed. After successful submission of the project outline to the IKI Office of ZUG gGmbH, receipt will be confirmed in writing by e-mail.

There is no limit to the number of outlines an organisation can submit. It is possible to submit several outlines. However, a project outline cannot be submitted for more than one funding call at the same time, or as long as the evaluation procedure for an outline in one funding call has not yet been completed.

All project outlines submitted will be evaluated in a two-stage evaluation procedure.

1. Formal assessment: The outlines are checked for compliance with the formal requirements.

2. Technical assessment: all outlines that have passed the formal assessment are reviewed by the IKI Office of ZUG with the participation of the ministries responsible for the IKI. The outlines that scored best will be subjected to a further in-depth review.

On the basis of the evaluation results, the federal ministry responsible for the IKI select project outlines, within the limits of available budget funds and in accordance with German foreign and development policy, which enter the second phase of the funding decision process.

The described evaluation process will take up to six months. All applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the evaluation.

A preliminary review of project outlines cannot be carried out. In addition, to avoid distortion of competition the responsible federal ministry, the IKI Office at ZUG gGmbH or German diplomatic missions cannot provide any specific advice or assessments on the structure or content of individual outlines.