GSDI Association's Small Grants Program for the year 2006

Source: "GSDI News" <news@gsdi.org> 12/08/06 9:40 pm

The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association is pleased to
announce its Small Grants Program for the year 2006 with expenditures in
2007.

Summary: awards for spatial data infrastructure or EOS-related
activities in economically disadvantaged nations, application deadline
of 15 January 2007, 2000 words maximum, awards of $2500 US in
professional services or $2500 US in cash

Background
The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association is dedicated
to international cooperation and collaboration in support of local,
national, and international spatial data infrastructure developments
that would allow nations to better address social, economic, and
environmental issues of pressing importance. We are committed to
bringing about an infrastructure that will allow users globally to
access spatial data at a variety of scales from multiple sources that
ultimately will appear seamless to all users. The GSDI Association
supports the work of organizations to develop their own SDI initiatives,
nationally and regionally, and collaborates with local, national, and
international organizations to ensure that spatial data, services, and
metadata are accessible through interoperable standards-based services,
systems, software, and products that operate in a web-enabled
environment. The success of the GSDI Association depends on the quality
of its partnerships with
public, private, academic, and non-governmental organizations. Through
adoption of common, international standards, key architecture
principles, and approaches for capacity building in developing
countries, the GSDI initiatives also link national SDI efforts with the
vision and goals of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and its Global
Earth Observations System of Systems (GEOSS).

The GSDI is being advanced through the leadership of many nations and
organizations represented by a GSDI Association Council and Board of
Directors. The multi-national Board includes representatives from all
continents and all sectors: government, academia, and the private sector
as well as regional SDI initiatives referred to as permanent
committees:

* Africa: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Committee on
Development Information: Geo Subcommittee (CODI-GEO)
* Americas: Pan-American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH)
* Asia and Pacific: Permanent Committee for Geographic Information for
Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) (ex-officio)
* Europe: European Umbrella Organization for Geographic Information
(EUROGI)

Please visit the GSDI Association website (http://gsdi.org) to
familiarize yourself with the mission, goals, programs, accomplishments
and priorities of the organization.

Small Grants Program Description

The GSDI Association, along with partners and participants, has
allocated resources from the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee and
the GISCorps of URISA, to fund a small grants program to support
national or sub-national activities that foster partnerships, develop
in-country technical capacity, improve data compatibility and access,
and increase political support for spatial data infrastructure and earth
observations application development. These resources will be used to
offer two types of grants this year:

* Grants in Cash up to 2,500 USD
* Grants in Professional Services up to the value of 2,500 USD

Grants in Professional Services will be coordinated by the GISCorps
(http://www.giscorps.org), an international initiative that offers GIS
services by qualified volunteers to emerging economies.

Activities to receive support may focus on technical or institutional
projects, as long as there are concrete/tangible outputs and several
institutions collaborate on the effort. Sample activities include
(these are not exhaustive):

* Convening of national or sub-national seminars or workshops related
to SDI
* Producing SDI- and EO-related training manuals and modules (these
materials must not duplicate existing materials)
* Establishing metadata and clearinghouse nodes
* Establishing web mapping services and applications
* Accomplishing surveys or inventories
* Producing and disseminating newsletters and awareness-raising
materials about SDI
* Drafting policy and legislation related to SDI

Priority will be given to projects in developing nations and countries
with economies in transition. Grants can be awarded to SDI coordinating
bodies (councils, committees) and GIS user groups, but the GSDI
Association asks that one institution take responsibility for
receiving/depositing the funds. Grants will not cover organization
overhead expenses.

Proposals should include information under the following headings:
1. Title of Project/Activity
2. Focal Point Institution
3. Contact Person (business street address, phone/fax, email, and
website)
4. Introduction and Background (include a description of the national
or local institutional framework and what has been achieved thus far)
5. Project Description
6. Summary of Deliverables
7. Period of Performance (time-line for overall project, deadline dates
for deliverables, date of final project report to be submitted to
grants@gsdi.org)
8. Indicate your preference for an award of cash or professional
services. Budget (itemize how the money is to be spent or the predicated
extent of services needed for specific tasks)
9. Details of additional or in-kind funds to co-finance the activity
10. List of Collaborators (with contact information)
11. Envisioned Follow-up Activities
Appendix: Include the Final Reports from any previous GSDI Small Grant
Awards

Proposals must be submitted in English and should be preferably two
pages in length but no more than five pages or 2000 words (excluding any
appendices). Please submit your proposal as a .pdf file (or
alternatively .doc or .rtf file) using 12-point Times Roman or Arial
font. A fax is also acceptable.

We anticipate funding up to 12 Grants in Cash and up to 6 Grants in
Professional Services. Grant funds will be issued as paper checks in US
dollars or as wire transfers. If the recipient chooses to receive funds
by wire transfer, $50 US will be deducted from the award amount to cover
the processing costs for the wire transfer. The recipient institution
will be required to provide a project report and an expense report upon
completion of the project. The GSDI Association may include excerpts of
the project reports in GSDI newsletters or on its website. Awardees are
encouraged to publish a local press release highlighting the award from
the GSDI Association as well as the proposed activities, and to send
copies of these to the GSDI Association.

Proposals are due on 15 January 2007. Please either e-mail or fax them
to:

Sponsored Projects Committee
GSDI Association
grants@gsdi.org
Fax +1-703-852-7917

For more information about the GSDI or to subscribe to the GSDI News
List, please see http://gsdi.org. For questions about this request for
proposals, please contact grants@gsdi.org

Note: The Small Grants Program is intended as a benefit of "full
membership" in the GSDI Association. Because the GSDI Association is
fairly young, we are making this opportunity available currently to
non-members as well. However, full members may obtain favored treatment
in the instance in which two grant applications have been ranked
similarly in the peer review process. Note that the annual GSDI
Association membership fee may be as little as US$200 for national
organizations in low per capita income nations. See the requirements
for membership at http://gsdi.org/joinGSDI.asp

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Please note, HUNAGI is a full member of the GSDI Association.
HUNAGI member institution MTA ÖBKI won one of the Small Grant Program in the year 2005.