Procurement Notices

Support for the resumption or development of small non-agricultural and agricultural small and micro-enterprises for refugees, hosting and socially vulnerable individuals or families

Grant application

The UN Development Program invites local NGOs of Armenia to participate in a grant competition to support the resumption or development of small and micro-entrepreneurial activities / businesses in Yerevan city (non-agricultural entrepreneurship) and Kotayk/Ararat regions (agricultural and non-agricultural entrepreneurship) by refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, hosting and socially vulnerable individuals or families.

The grant competition is announced under the United Nations Development Program “Investing in Development-Preventing Crisis” project (hereinafter referred to as the Project). The project duration is from May 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024.

Summary:

The project intends to provide a competitive grant to two local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) up to total sum of $ 100,000 (one-hundred thousand) to each to carry out the following activities in Yerevan city, and Kotayk and Ararat marzes, pursuing the following objectives:

• To conduct an open announcement/competition prior to the phase of providing the small grants in Yerevan city and Kotayk and Ararat regions, in order to select potential beneficiaries of grants and provide them with business training, as well as support in developing business plans.
• Based on the results of training phase, together with UNDP:

• In Yerevan city support the resumption or development of non-agricultural small or micro-entrepreneurship or individual / family / entrepreneurship by refugees from NK or hosting socially vulnerable individuals or families, providing each with up to $3,000 non-monetary small grants,
• In Kotayk and Ararat regions support the resumption or development of agricultural and non-agricultural small or micro-entrepreneurship or individual / family / entrepreneurship by refugees from NK or hosting socially vulnerable individuals or families, providing each with up to $5,000 non-monetary small grants.

The grantee NGOs should involve, if necessary, official, and non-formal representatives of local communities, applying innovative approaches if plausible. The grant support should focus on inclusion, in particular involving youth, women, persons with disabilities, in addition to low-income and socially vulnerable refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Participation in grants competition and selection of grantee organizations

• A local non-governmental organization operating in Yerevan city, Kotayk or Ararat marzes or with significant implementation record in these areas can apply for a grant.

• The same applicant cannot apply for two grants in both regions. The applicant can apply for a grant to be implemented in either Yerevan or Kotayk/Ararat regions.

• The grant applicant must have at least 2 year of proven work experience in providing and managing small entrepreneurship grants preferably in Yerevan, Kotayk or Ararat marzes.

• The applicant must have 1 year of work experience working with refugees, displaced persons and socially vulnerable groups preferably in Yerevan, Kotayk or Ararat marzes.

• The applicant must have at least 3 years of work experience in project implementation, management of grants, budget management, monitoring, and public relations reports preferably in Yerevan, Kotayk or Ararat marzes.

• Applicant should have operating office, registered employees.

• Applicant should include activities in the application that provide significant mentoring and learning to the beneficiaries in the field of specific business activities or general entrepreneurship.

• The project application should be prepared in strict accordance with the proposed format, and the provided information should be complete, accurate and clear.

The following documents must be submitted to the Grant committee by the deadline:

1. A project application filled out in the format;
2. A copy of a registration certificate of an applicant organization;
3. A copy of a charter of an applicant organization;
4. A document from a bank on AMD account indicating all the necessary data such as the name of the organization, account, BIC, currency, etc., signed and stamped by the bank;
5. Originals/copies of documents issued by the relevant competent authorities confirming that the organization has no current debts in the social fund and tax authorities of Armenia;
6. CVs of Director and other key personal to be engaged in implementation of the project;
7. 2 references from past partners or donors.
8. Short info on the previously implemented projects- including project donor, purposes, goals, budget, dates, main results.
9. Other information, documents and attachments- optional.

The selection process will be held in one stage:

1. To ensure transparency of consideration and approval of project proposals, a Grant Evaluation Commission for the evaluation of grant projects (GEC) will be formed from representatives of UNDP and specialists/experts, local and regional administrations.
2. The GEC is the authorized body responsible for the consideration, selection and decision-making on the project proposals received.
3. The selection and approval of the project proposal as the winner of the grant will be carried out in one stage during the meeting of the GEC.
4. One bidder be selected as a winner to implement activities in Yerevan city, and one bidder will be selected to implement activities in Kotayk/Ararat regions.
5. The final decision on the award of the grant is made by the UNDP management based on the results of GEC.

The selection of the project proposal as the winner of the grant will be carried out in one stage by a Grant Evaluation Commission (GEC). GEC will be formed from representatives of UNDP and specialists/experts, local and regional administrations, and will ensure the transparency of applications evaluation.

• One bidder will be selected as a winner to implement activities in Yerevan city, and one bidder will be selected to implement activities in Kotayk/Ararat regions.
• The final decision on the award of the grant is made by the UNDP management based on the results of GEC.

The applicants must submit their proposals as one zipped folder (maximum up to 25mb) via e-mail to sc.am@undp.org with topic named “03-2024-Grant-UNDP-Investing Development-Grants Proposal” before 23:59 on 17 March 2023.

All questions/enquiries on the current call should be addressed to sc.am@undp.org

Annexes:

Application form

Grant application guidebook