Blended Finance Approaches to Promote Sustainable Landscapes and Reduce Deforestation in Mexico | BAA MEX PCM 2020

Opportunity Information: Apply for BAA MEX PCM 2020

The USAID/Mexico grant opportunity titled "Blended Finance Approaches to Promote Sustainable Landscapes and Reduce Deforestation in Mexico" is a discretionary research and development solicitation issued as an Addendum under the Broad Agency Announcement BAA MEX PCM 2020. It is framed as a Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI), meaning USAID is first seeking potential partners and ideas to shape, pilot, and evaluate solutions rather than announcing a single, pre-defined implementation grant. The central goal is to identify and test innovative blended finance approaches that make it easier to access capital and that can attract additional private investment toward activities that measurably reduce deforestation and forest degradation in Mexico.

At its core, the opportunity is about using public or philanthropic funding strategically to reduce risk and unlock larger flows of private money for environmental outcomes. USAID describes blended finance as combining development funds (for example, government aid or philanthropic resources) with private capital to achieve both financial returns and positive social and environmental impacts. In this context, the desired impact is improved land management and reduced land-use change drivers, with the expectation that better-designed financial structures, incentives, and partnerships can shift land-use decisions away from practices that lead to forest loss and toward sustainable production and conservation outcomes.

USAID/Mexico is specifically interested in approaches that can be researched, developed, tested, and evaluated, which points to an emphasis on evidence and learning. Applicants are expected to propose models that can be piloted and assessed for effectiveness in mobilizing investment and producing real-world reductions in deforestation and degradation. While the notice does not prescribe a single method, the language suggests interest in finance mechanisms that lower barriers to investment in sustainable landscapes, such as risk-sharing arrangements, guarantees, catalytic grants, performance-based payments, innovative credit or insurance products, or investment vehicles that align incentives across producers, supply-chain companies, investors, and local communities.

Geographically, the opportunity highlights a focus on five Mexican states: Campeche, Chiapas, Jalisco, Oaxaca, and Quintana Roo. These locations are explicitly named as priority areas where land-use pressures and deforestation dynamics are significant, and where USAID is likely seeking finance solutions that respond to local drivers of forest conversion. Proposed concepts would therefore be stronger if they are grounded in the specific agricultural, forestry, and supply-chain realities of these states and if they can show how financing will support improved land management practices while also addressing the economic forces that motivate land conversion.

From an eligibility and partnership standpoint, the posting indicates that applicants are "unrestricted," meaning it is open to any type of entity, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full text. That openness typically allows participation from a wide range of actors such as NGOs, universities, research institutions, private firms, financial institutions, investor groups, and consortia combining technical land-use expertise with structuring and capital-market experience. The opportunity is issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID/Mexico City, under CFDA 98.001, and it is categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, reinforcing that the intention is innovation, piloting, and learning rather than only routine program delivery.

The notice provides limited award administration detail in the summary fields. The funding instrument type is listed as "Other," and the award ceiling and expected awards are shown as 0, which commonly indicates that the announcement is an EOI stage or a mechanism under a broader announcement where final funding levels and the number of awards are not set in this summary record. The opportunity was created February 26, 2020, with an original closing date of March 27, 2020, signaling a defined window for submitting expressions of interest under that specific call.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as USAID/Mexico inviting partners to bring forward financially credible, testable blended finance concepts that can mobilize private investment into sustainable land-use and forest-positive economic activity. The emphasis is on reducing deforestation and degradation by making sustainable practices more financeable and more attractive, while generating practical evidence on what financial designs work in Mexico and under what conditions, particularly in the identified priority states.

• The Agency for International Development, Mexico USAID-Mexico City in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Blended Finance Approaches to Promote Sustainable Landscapes and Reduce Deforestation in Mexico" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 26, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 27, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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