Medium-Sized Project Guidelines

Given growing support by governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to expedite the implementation of smaller projects, the GEF Council approved procedures to streamline processing and financing of medium-sized project proposals (MSPs).

MSPs are limited to a maximum of $1 million in GEF funds. Approval is delegated by the Council to the CEO, and is subject to Project Review Criteria similar to full-sized projects.

MSPs should also satisfy the requirements of:

• a Strategic Priority
• either (a) an Operational Program OR (b) a short term response measure.

MSPs are submitted to the Secretariat on a rolling basis throughout the year and go through a one-step approval by the CEO of the final project document. Links to preparation guidelines and required formats are provided below.

Operational guidance for Medium-Sized Projects (to be revised)

Preparation Guidelines and Templates

MSPs are processed under expedited, CEO-approved procedures. Preparation guidelines and templates that are provided below have been updated since October 2003 and should be used by proponents when submitting new proposals.

MSPs are circulated to Council for their information prior to CEO approval. View the latest MSPs in circulation with pending approval.

All approved MSPs can be searched and accessed by going to the Project Database and selecting 'Medium-sized Projects' under 'Project Type'.

Implementing Agency Procedures

Project proponents can submit MSP concepts to the appropriate Implementing Agency or Executing Agency (per agreed scope of participation) and based on the GEF review criteria, proposals will be developed following the IA’s or ExA’s internal project cycle and subsequently submitted to the GEF Secretariat for approval. The procedures within the IAs can be found in their respective websites below: