The world faces interconnected planetary crises: biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, that are eroding the fragile socio-ecological balance sustaining ecosystems and livelihoods. These challenges disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups of our society that are dependent on the global agrifood systems for food and livelihoods.

The Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Programme provides financial and technical support to local civil society organizations (CSOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs), with a special focus on Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth, to develop and implement innovative local actions that address global environmental issues, while also improving livelihoods and reducing poverty. FAO was selected to be an implementing agency for the GEF's Small Grants Programme (SGP) during the GEF's eighth replenishment cycle (GEF-8). 

FAO, a GEF partner agency for over two decades, is strengthening the capacity of CSOs and CBOs to design and implement investment-ready SGP pipelines in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Cook Islands, Cuba, Guyana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Marshall Islands, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Venezuela. FAO fosters local innovation, partnerships, and business-oriented solutions while ensuring that SGP interventions are gender-responsive, youth-focused, disability-inclusive, and respectful of indigenous knowledge and traditions.