UNCDF in The Gambia is bringing its expertise in promoting green and climate resilient local communities in support of job creation, through implementation of the “Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Women and Youth in The Gambia Programme,” funded by the European Union.

The JSF Programme aims to contribute to stabilizing the economic, social and security situation of the country during the democratic transition by facilitating social inclusion and employment of the youth and women, with a specific emphasis on promoting gender equality and addressing climate change.

Call for Investment Proposals:

With this Call for Proposals, UNCDF invites Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) – particularly women and youth entrepreneurs, Companies, CSOs, and any private or public/private ventures and organizations operating in The Gambia, to submit proposals for pro-youth and gender-responsive investment projects that yield socioeconomic opportunities for women and youth, particularly in the green economy, to be funded under the JSF Programme in The Gambia.

The application will be to receive technical assistance (e.g., project development support) and financial support (in the form of seed capital grants). Also, selected SMEs will be supported to access additional funding such as concessional loans and or partial loan guarantee through local commercial banks. Emphasis will be put on SMEs selected according to sectors where most employment opportunities can be found for youth and women.

Eligible Sectors:

• Climate-smart agriculture

• Agroforestry

• Manufacturing and agro-processing

• Water, sanitation and health

• Renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE)

• Climate proofing infrastructure and bio-climatic constructions

Services offered by UNCDF to project developers

• • Targeted technical assistance in the project development stages, specifically to help the SME to be investment ready;
• • Financial assistance in the form of grants to projects that meet our financial sustainability and or bankability criteria;
• • Learn by doing - capacity development during the project development stages;
• • Support SME projects to access additional funding from commercial and development finance institutions (e.g. identifying the right investor based on sector, size and type of finance required) and negotiate lending terms;
• • Support putting together a set of documentations required by financial institutions including presentation;
• • Support the negotiation or any terms that are provided by banks and to help finding risk mitigation options that will be acceptable to banks.

Eligibility criteria

Proposals must meet all the following eligibility criteria:

Geographical Coverage: Investment projects targeting and benefiting majority of women and youth in the following wards:

• • - In Lower River Region: Gikoko, Julafarr, Kaif, Bureng, Jaduma, Kiang Banta, Masemba and Pakaliba;
  • - In North Bank Region: Saaba, Dasilameh, Kachang, Kerewan, Kerr Jarga, No-Kunda, Pakau and Prince;
  • - Central River Region (south): wards located in the following Districts: Fullada West, Janjanbureh, Niamina Dankunku and Niamina West;
  • - Central River Region (north): wards located in the following Districts: Lower Saloum, Niani, Upper Saloum, and Sami.

Focus areas: Investment projects must fall within one or more focus areas and sectors described above and must consider climate change adaptation and resilience as crosscutting issues.

Financial sustainability and commercial viability: The investment proposal must show how the project will generate revenue and make a profit. Applications should therefore be supported by a detailed description of the cost and revenue streams associated with the project.

Development impact: Proposal must show how the project will generate positive economic benefits for the communities affected, particularly to women and youth, e.g. job creation (direct and indirect), income generation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups (including women, youth and rural communities), trade and market access in the eligible sectors.

Project status: Priority will be given to existing projects that are looking to scale up. Project development activities must have passed a pre-feasibility stage beyond a concept note, i.e. proposals should include as a minimum a completed business plan and all initial compliance steps (e.g. licenses, permits, titles, etc).

Ownership: The investment project must be promoted by either a public, private or public-private entity operating in The Gambia.

Project size: Total project costs must be between USD 50 thousand and USD 10 million. The total project cost is defined as all costs to a specific project to be incurred by the SME, i.e. the value of the entire project capital structure, when all is added up including, if applicable, existing and to be acquired assets such as land, machinery, own equity contribution, and the fund gap etc.

Qualified management: The proposal must show evidence that the proposed management team has the necessary technical and managerial skills to run the project.

Pre-submission workshop for prospective applicants

UNCDF will offer a half-day session to guide applicants on submission requirements. The purpose of this session is to allow applicants an opportunity to raise questions and for UNCDF to provide guidance on how to prepare proposals to increase the probability of meeting the eligibility and selection criteria.

If you wish to participate, please send an email to jsf.local@uncdf.org indicating “JSF-LoCAL CfP Pre-submission workshop” in the subject line of your email. You will only be allowed to participate in the workshop after you receive the confirmation email regarding registration. The workshop will be held in Banjul and the specific time and venue will be communicated in due time to those who will request participation via email.

Please note that you are not required to participate in the session to submit a proposal. This is merely a courtesy provided by UNCDF.

Instructions for submitting proposal

Only completed submissions as per the given instructions will be reviewed. A complete submission consists of the following separate submission forms where the applicant must fill out all sections:

• • 1. The Call for Proposal Submission Form (Word) and the Summary Form (Excel) which can be downloaded above.
  • 2. The LoCAL climate investment scorecard (Excel) which can be downloaded at above. (for long-listed proposals only)

The Call for Proposal Submission Form and climate investment scorecard (Excel) must be submitted in their original formats (Word and Excel) along with any supporting documentation to the following recipient: jsf.local@uncdf.org

Size of the email should be limited to 10 MB. Any supporting documentation must be submitted in separate emails. Only one application per proposal will be accepted.

Language of proposal: Proposals must be submitted in English.

Deadline for submission: The application window is open from 28^th May 2019 to 5^th July 2019.

Please note: Applicants who do not submit the submission templates in their original formats within the deadline will not be considered, and only successful applicants will be contacted within 3 weeks after the deadline. Those applicants who will not be contacted should consider their applications unsuccessful.

For further information, please contact:

UNCDF in Gambia

jsf.local@uncdf.org