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SpatialNews.com Press Release
GSDI Association announces Small Grants Program
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July 15, 2005 – The Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association is pleased to announce the GSDI Small Grants Program for the year 2005.
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 geospatial 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.
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 (CODI-GEO)- Americas: Pan-American Institue for Geography and History (PAIGH)
Asia and Pacific: Permanent Committee for Geographic Information for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP)- 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.
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, improve data compatibility and access, and increase political support for spatial data infrastructure development. The grants are limited to US$2,500 and up to an equivalent amount in SDI/GIS consulting and development services. The SDI/GIS consulting services will be coordinated by the GISCorps (http://www.giscorps.org), an international initiative that offers GIS consulting and development services by qualified volunteers to emerging economies. If consulting expertise is requested as part of a grant submission, proposal writers should be explicit about the external expertise desired or required, language requirements, and whether the tasks contemplated by the external experts may be accomplished off site or must be in country. Also indicate those tasks or results that may still be achieved if the request for GISCorps consulting resources is unable to be met.
Activities to receive support may focus on technical or institutional projects, as long as there are concrete/tangible outputs and several institutions collaborate. Sample activities include (these are not
exhaustive):
Convening of national or sub-national SDI seminars or workshops
Producing SDI training manuals and modules (these materials must not duplicate existing SDI materials)- Establishing metadata and clearinghouse nodes
Establishing web mapping services and applications
Accomplishing SDI-relevant surveys or inventories
Producing and disseminating SDI-relevant newsletters and awareness-raising materials- Drafting policy and legislation enabling SDI development
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)
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. Budget (itemize how the money is to be spent)
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: Final Reports from Past 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 Word or rtf file) using 12-point Times or Arial font. A fax is also acceptable.
We anticipate funding a total of 10 to 12 proposals. 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, $100 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 web site. Awardees are encouraged to publish a local press release highlighting the award from the GSDI Association as well as the proposed activities.
Proposals are due on 15 August 2005. 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 NewsList, see http://:www.gsdi.org. For questions about this request for proposals, contact grants@gsdi.org
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