| Overview : Dear Madam / Sir, WE KINDLY REQUEST YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL FOR REFERENCE Call for Proposal for grants:To Support recovery of Youth and Women affected by COVID-19 ATTACHED TO THIS ADVERTISEMENT. WHEN PREPARING YOUR BID, PLEASE BE GUIDED BY THE GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Call for Proposals for Grants To Support recovery of Youth and Women affected by COVID-19 Deadline: 25 August 2021 The economy in Sierra Leone is still on its path to recovery following the shocks of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and the civil war. About two thirds of the country’s population (64.8%) are identified as multidimensional poor (Multidimensional Poverty Index 2019). In 2019, the Government launched its Medium-term National Development Plan with an overarching goal to reduce poverty in all its forms. There had been notable progress before COVID-19 struck in March 2020. The Government efforts to stop or limit the spread of the virus is commendable and was necessary. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, economic activities have been disrupted in the country. The most affected groups are the poor and other vulnerable groups primarily youth and women. The small businesses and petty trade in the informal sector are the hardest hit. The informal sector constitutes the main source of income for most of the vulnerable population majority of which are young women and youth. The pandemic has left businesses in urban areas significantly affected in view of limited customer base because of the low economic activities during the pandemic. To mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 on businesses and households and to maintain macro-economic and financial stability, the Government developed a COVID-19 Response Plan and Quick Action Economic Recovery Programme (QAERP). Among others, the objectives of the Response Plan and QAERP are to provide support to hardest-hit businesses to enable them to continue operations, avert layoffs of employees and provide vulnerable groups with safety nets. Through grants to Nonprofit organization (CSO/NGO/Academia/Foundation), UNDP seeks to provide support in economy recovery of youth and women led businesses most affected by COVID-19. Youth and women led businesses affected by COVID-19 from Western Area both Urban and Rural will be supported. The UNDP support aims to contribute to the implementation of the Government Response Plan and QAERP that focuses on assisting vulnerable youth and women’s recovery from the effects of COVID19. Call for proposals for grants: The main objective of this grant selection process is to identify a suitable Nonprofit organization (CSO/NGO/Academia/Foundation) with operational presence and expertise to support COVID-19 affected youth and women businesses in Western Area Urban and Western Area Rural. These will be provided with a COVID-19 stimulus package that will serve as an immediate financial assistance to enable them restart operations and contribute to longer term financial support. There are two grants’ proposals required each with a fixed budget allocation as below: Grant 1: Provision of COVID-19 Stimulus package to 60 youth and women affected businesses from Western Area Urban that closed or significantly scaled down to enable them restart operations. The package will also include entrepreneurship capacity enhancement, business mentorship, coaching, and continuous support for sustainability of businesses [The total grant amount is US $60,000 which includes direct support to the project targeted youth and women affected businesses and administrative overheads of not more than 10%. Grant 2: Provision of COVID-19 Stimulus package to 140 youth and women affected businesses from Western Area Rural that closed or significantly scaled down to enable them restart operations. The package will also include entrepreneurship capacity enhancement, business mentorship, coaching, and continuous support for sustainability of businesses. The total grant amount is US $140,000 which includes direct support to the project targeted youth and women affected businesses and administrative overheads of not more than 10%. Each proposal should indicate the grant being applied for and should demonstrate the specific added value the organization can deliver within the scope of the proposal. The grants are not able to fund provision of direct services or operating/running costs unrelated to proposed activities as outlined in this call. The grants must be executed within a period of not more than three months (September – November 2021). Who Can Apply? - Non-profit organizations (CSO/NGO/Academia/Foundation)
- Eligible Organizations should have proven experience in the proposed area of programming for the grant. Experience of managing of projects with similar scope is required.
- Organizations should have operational presence in the targeted area for a specific grant being applied for. For Grant 1 – target area is Western Area Urban, Grant 2 – target area is Western Area Rural.
- Organizations should be registered in accordance with the legal requirements of the Government of Sierra Leone
- Organizations may submit joint proposals as coalitions. In this case, main applicants must provide support letters from relevant co-applicants specifying their respective role. In case of joint proposals, the main applicant shall have proven experience in the proposed area of programming for the grant.
Procedures of Grant Proposal Submission Those wishing to apply to Grants, must submit: - Signed Grants Proposal populated template (See annex A)
- Organization Synopsis
- CVs of all project staff who will be dedicated to the proposed grant activity.
- Workplan, performance targets.
- Audited financial statements for past two years, including management report and footnotes that accompany the financial statements.
Only one submission per organization is allowed. Once the application is complete and submitted, revised versions of proposal documents will not be accepted. LOCATION: Freetown – SIERRA LEONE INTERESTED ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD REQUEST FOR THE PROPOSAL FORMAT AND ADDITIONAL DETAILS THROUGH THE EMAIL procure.sle@undp.org Bids may be submitted on or before 4:00 p.m., Sierra Leone local time on Wednesday August 25, 2021, via e-mail or courier mail to the address below: United Nations Development Programme UNDP, Fourah Close, Off Main Motor Road, Wilberforce, Freetown, Sierra Leone
P. O. Box 1011, Freetown, Sierra Leone Attn: Procurement Unit E-mail: procure.sle@undp.org Proposals submitted by email must be limited to a maximum of 10 MB, virus-free and no more than two (2) email transmissions. They must be free from any form of virus or corrupted contents, or the proposals shall be rejected. | 
