Call for Applications: Agri-Business Facility for Africa Matching Grant Fund (Up to 100,000 €)

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Agri-Business Facility for Africa is now accepting applications for Matching Grant Fund. Are you working in the cashew, cocoa, maize, or livestock (cattle, sheep, goats) sectors in a member state of the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific states? Are you from the private sector, with a high interest in resilience, competitiveness, or direct supply linkages with off-takers for sustainability? Do you have an innovative idea that makes the above-mentioned value chains less fragmented, more inclusive, particularly for women and youth, sustainable, and profitable? This also includes innovations for by-products of the sectors. Then this is a unique opportunity for you to realize your goal!

The overall objective of the Matching Grant Fund is to leverage contributions from partners for the implementation of specific interventions towards the development of the cashew, cocoa, maize, and livestock (cattle, sheep, and goats) value chains and build ownership to drive sustainable growth in the respective sectors, strengthen private sector development, and improve the productivity and profitability of stakeholders in all 79 OACPS member states for cashew, cocoa, maize, cattle, sheep, and goats value chains.

Matching Grant Fund Details

The financial contribution from EU INTPA, OACPS and BMZ (further referred to as contribution through GIZ / GIZ-part) for each Matching Grant Fund project will be up to a maximum of 100,000 € for all VC’s. For exceptional projects, where the implementation goes beyond one country, the amount requested via GIZ can be up to max of 200,000 EUR. For all Matching Grant Projects, the contribution through GIZ would be a maximum of 40% (for cashew) and 50% (for other value chains such as cocoa, maize, livestock- cattle, goat, sheep) of the total budget. The minimum amount requested via GIZ must be 40,000 EUR.
Each Matching Grant Fund project can have a duration up to 18 months.

Activities

Strengthening linkages between value chain actors. Capacity building of value chain actors (including primary producers) through:

Technical trainings (such as Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), Adaptation to and/or Mitigation of Climate Change (CC), Conservative Agriculture (CA), Agroforestry and Improved Planting Material)
Entrepreneurial trainings (Farmers Business School (FBS), also possible with a focus on climate change (FBSClimate), Cooperative Business School (CBS), Processor Business School (PBS), Gender Makes Business Sense Plus (GmBSplus), mitigation of climate change
Other innovative and inclusive approaches
Approaches strategies leading to CO2 and equivalents reduction and removal

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Output level KPIs (individual MGF project level)
- Additional resources are mobilized by the lead applicant and consortium partners 50% of the activities promoted should be led by women
- 50% of activities should be led by youth
Outcome Level KPIs for the MGF projects as a whole
- 75% of the promoted business entities in agriculture, processing, or service provision apply resilient practices
- 60% of supported projects that are labelled as “innovative” successfully reduce CO2 and/or CO2 equivalents or store CO2 and/or CO2 equivalents on the ground in line with internationally recognized standards

Eligibility Criteria for Matching Grant Fund

Multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSP), that consist of a lead applicant (private entity) and its consortium partners, can apply for the MGF. The general idea of MGF is to create a public good that is supporting the existing network the applicant operates in. This can be achieved through knowledge and innovative technologies of production based on open access rules or through capacity strengthening of actors on proven agribusiness approaches along the value chain.
Please note:
- All OACPS member states are eligible to apply for the Matching Grant Fund for the value chains: cashew, cocoa, maize and livestock (cattle, sheep and goat). However, in the interest of regional balance, during this call, priority will be given to projects originating from countries with no or few projects from the previous calls.
- Proposals on the cocoa VC from Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon are not eligible for this call since these countries are already being supported through the EU Sustainable Cocoa Initiative.

Eligible lead applicants (as part of a consortium):

These are legally registered private sector entities such as
- Processing companies
- Agricultural producer organisations
- Off-takers of the main final product of the value chain and/or its by-products
Please note that lead applicants must come from the private sector, whether they are agricultural producers’ organisations, processors, or off-takers. Evidence of legal form and registration in accordance with the legal provisions that apply in the country in which the private entity is based must be provided.

Consortium partners (that are not lead applicants):

Consortium partners are legally registered entities entering a binding agreement to implement the proposed project. Consortium partners cannot be service providers for the proposed project or private persons.
Examples for the private sector companies and public sector institutions that can be consortium partners can be found below:
- Processing company
- Agricultural producer organisations
- Off-takers (e.g. traders) of the main product of the value chain and/or its by-products
- Trading/buying companies.
- Business development services
- Agricultural technical and vocational education and training institutions (ATVET)
- National extension organisations (public and private)
- Civil society actors
- Private Sector Foundation
In terms of the requirements for a consortium, all partners must be legally recognized and empowered to enter into binding agreements. It is fundamental that each consortium consists of at least one national/local partner (e.g., an MSME, Producer Organisation or similar).
Partners who already received grant from either the 1st or 2nd call of the GIZ MGF are not eligible for this call neither as lead applicant, nor as consortium partner.

How To Apply for Matching Grant Fund

Mandatory documents to fill and send back to [email protected] between 08th July 2024 and 18th August 2024, 12:00 pm (noon) GMT:
Concept note template (Annex 1)
Letter of intent template (Annex 2)
Proof of legal registration of the lead applicant

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Application Deadline: 18th August 2024, 12:00 pm (noon) GMT