The Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity – BIOFUND carried out, on 17 and 18 July, a technical exchange with the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund – FUNBIO, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main objective of the exchange was to strengthen BIOFUND’s institutional practices, focusing on institutional and project monitoring, communication of results, and coordination between strategic areas such as finance and internal audit.

The participating team was composed of Jéssica Julaia, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manager, and Ernesto Chaúque, M&E Officer. Over two days, the teams from the two funds shared experiences, approaches, and good practices in the areas of project management, impact monitoring, financial control, communication, and internal audit.

The working sessions highlighted key topics such as the importance of fluid information exchange between technical areas, transparency in communicating results, efficiency in monitoring systems, and the fundamental role of internal audit in the continuous improvement of processes.

With nearly 30 years of experience, FUNBIO has disbursed more than 280 million dollars (only in the last 15 years) to around 500 Conservation Areas in Brazil. The formal partnership between FUNBIO and BIOFUND began in 2016, through a technical assistance programme financed by German Cooperation via KfW. At that stage, FUNBIO supported BIOFUND in developing strategic institutional instruments, such as the Operational Manuals and the 2018–2022 Strategic Plan, and also designed and advised the start of regular annual training sessions for financial managers of conservation areas in Mozambique.

This was the third exchange mission between the two institutions in Brazil, following the first visits carried out by BIOFUND’s Board in 2017. At that time, BIOFUND had only two projects in its portfolio. Currently, BIOFUND manages an active portfolio of approximately 150 million dollars, is a founding member of the Consortium of African Environmental Funds (CAFÉ), and has played an active role in mentoring and capacitating other African environmental funds.

This exchange precedes BIOFUND’s participation in the 8th Environmental Education Congress in Manaus, where the Foundation will share its experience accumulated over more than 10 years of work in Environmental Education in Mozambique.