Call for Proposals: Rural youth employment opportunities: Support to Integrated Agribusiness Hubs

This call for proposals is to select a recipient or consortium of recipients to receive a four-year IFAD grant financing to implement the project: Rural youth employment opportunities: Support to integrated agribusiness hubs initiative, for a total amount of up to US$3.5 million.

The recipient can be an inter-governmental and governmental organizations, TVET and business development institutions, a civil society organization (including NGOs), an academic/research institution or a private sector entity. In the case of a consortium, an organization can join more than one consortium but can be leading only in one of them. The recipient must demonstrate a strong focus, experience and expertise in working on youth employment in rural settings.

• This grant programme will be implemented in around eight countries in Africa. However, as part of a phased approach, this current call for proposals is focused on three countries (Mozambique, Kenya and Cameroon) of the entire programme with a set limit on funding (US$3.5 million) for all three hubs. The grant resources are considered divided for all three countries, however, the precise grant allocation will only be determined based on the nature of proposals.
• It is not necessary that an applicant should apply for all three countries. IFAD is open to receiving proposals for one or two or all three countries.
• The intended duration of the grant is around 4 years ending on 31 December 2024
• The applicant(s) may: (a) apply independently or as a consortium. Although, it is highly encouraged to apply through a consortia given the nature of the grant and (b) apply to deliver on one hubs OR more of the hubs to deliver the work.

The selected organization or consortium must have:

• Ability to provide shared facilities and equipment alongside business development, market access, technology transfer and linkage to services (such as financial services) that are backstopped through mentorship and networking
• readiness to facilitate a holistic and proactive process focussed upon early-stage development of agribusiness growth and train on key technical/business skills along entire value chains, leading to enterprise start-up/or entry into food chain labour markets
• Willingness to interact and constructively engage with the larger farming community;
• Flexibility in developing mentorship modules of the main ingredients of integrated agribusiness hubs and above all, post-mentorship support services, e.g. setting up support services for mentored agri-preneurs, as well as incentives, prizes and recognition systems; be inclusive and able to create relevant strategic partnerships to create service/market deals and/or financing linkages for youth entrepreneurs with relevant stakeholders (e.g. the private sector and the government).
• Business continuity to implement the project in light of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Financial management of the grant, including the capacity to receive, record, monitor and report on multiple sources of grant funding in line with IFAD requirements.

While no upper limit is set, the applicant must ensure a minimum counterpart contribution of US$150,000 in cash or in-kind.

How to submit a proposal

1. Prepare a project proposal that should be submitted using the IFAD Grant Design Document template with a detailed budget using the activity based budget table. The proposal must be aligned with the Grant Concept Note and Project Description provided. Please read the Letter of Invitation, Grant Concept Note and Project Description for further explanation.
2. Submit a completed Bidders' self-certification of eligibility for IFAD grant financing
3. Submit a brief institutional profile, detailing experience in the priority area and specific theme outlined in the Grant Concept Note, and in the region/country(ies) where the grant would be implemented.

Deadline to receive proposals is Monday 24 August 2020, 23:59 CEST.

Proposals submitted after this deadline will be considered ineligible.

All proposals and communications should be submitted via email to:

• IFAD agribusiness Grant Team: [email protected]