The SpongeWorks project is pleased to announce its Open Call for Associated Regions, inviting local/regional authorities and river basin organizations to apply for funding up to €100,000 to develop nature-based solutions for improving water retention, soil health, and climate resilience.
The SpongeWorks project aims to demonstrate practical, effective, economically feasible and socially inclusive integrated approaches and sustainable solutions that enhance the sponge functioning of interconnected ground-water, soil, and surface water systems at the regional scale.
This call offers financial support to 8 regions through subgrant agreements, along with supporting services and capacity-building activities lasting up to 33 months. Selected regions will access advanced methodologies and tools, enhancing their ability to develop and implement innovative sponge measures and strategies.
It is expected that each associated region will:
Enable showcasing of the feasibility, replicability, and scalability of the developed approaches, methods, tools, and solutions within SpongeWorks.
Draw up a sponge strategy, consisting of an action plan and a roadmap, during the SpongeWorks project lifetime on how they plan to replicate and scale up sponge measures and strategies in the future to increase landscape and soil water retention capacity in their territory.
Will contribute their potentially existing experiences to the SpongeWorks project learning process and Sponge Knowledge Platform.
Deadline to apply: 31 January 2025.
Learn more about the call and how to apply: https://spongeworks.eu/associated-regions