THE SADC TFCA  FINANCING FACILITY
The SADC TFCA Financing Facility (TFCA FF) is a regional financing mechanism established to provide sustainable funding for conservation and management actions in Transfrontier Conservation Areas in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). 
The Financing Facility was established to become a flexible, responsive, demand and performance driven financing mechanism, with the unique purpose of supporting the establishment and sustainable development of transfrontier conservation areas.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of the German Government, through KfW Development Bank, provided initial funding for establishment of the TFCA Financing Facility. The long-term vision is for the TFCA Financing Facility to be funded by several international cooperating partners and other innovative financing models to reach an initial target of EUR 100 million. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the Project Executing Agency (PEA) for the TFCA Financing Facility through its Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office.

COVID 19 response Grants.

This grant mechanism was specifically created to address the pressing challenges that arose during the pandemic. 
The pandemic’s wide-reaching effects hit these areas particularly hard, causing a sig-nificant decline in tourism, which is a ma-jor source of income for both protected are-as and surrounding communities. The sudden border closures, travel restrictions, and lock-downs caused an immediate halt to tourism, leading to the collapse of local economies that were heavily dependent on international visi-tors. The impact was not only economic but also environmental. The reduction in rang-er patrols and operational funding led to an increase in illegal activities such as poaching and the harvesting of natural resources, further endangering biodiversity in these areas.
With most of governments redirecting their budgets and resources toward addressing health crises, conservation efforts were deprioritized, leaving protected areas and their as-sociated tourism economies at risk. Many parks and conservancies were unable to operate fully, and this led to a loss of jobs, increased poverty, and reduced capacity to manage and protect wildlife. The Covid-19 response grant aimed to counteract these effects by providing immediate financial supportto ensure the continuity of key conservation activities and to alleviate the economic strain on communities.
Fast-track Funding Mechanism – Covid-19 Emergency Response
On April 30th 2021, IUCN invited SADC Member States to submit concept notes to be considered for funding under the fast-track funding mechanism. By the June 7th, ten (10) Member States had submitted a total of 22 concept notes. Each Member State had an al-location of EUR 300,000. Some submitted one concept for the max amount, whereas other countries submitted multiple concepts with-in the allocated budget of EUR 300k. The sub-mitted concepts targeted 13 TFCAs in the re-gion; with the highest number received for the Maloti-Drakensberg TFCA (4 concepts).
A total of 11 concepts were approved, and additional concepts initially submitted in response to the Close Call for Covid-19 received IUCN recommendation to be considered under the First Open Call. This allowed grantees adequate time to further develop proposals and additional 2 project were ap-proved and are currently on-going beyond the scope of the Covid-19 grants.