UNDP Call for Concept Notes: Waste Recovery Innovation Challenge (WRIC) for Ghanaians

Deadline: 1 March 2019

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands has announced a call for concept notes from the private sector for the 1st edition of its ‘Waste’ Recovery Innovation Challenge (WRIC).

The Challenge aims to provide technical and financial support (max. $40,000 each) to business ideas that will promote and/or test innovative solutions for the recovery of waste materials and their transformation into other essential products/services. The business should be innovative; have a good management structure; have the possibility of making profit in the short, medium and long term; create employment and other income generation opportunities especially for women and youth; and should lead to/contribute to bringing a lasting solution to a waste management challenge in a specific area/community or region.

Categories

The projects supported during this first edition will fall under three categories:

Private sector/businesses: providing a sustainable solution to an existing waste management challenge in a specific area; demonstrating the potential to be bankable and scalable; having the potential to create employment.
Research: investigating innovative ways and scientific break-throughs in waste recovery, results of which can be turned into bankable and scalable business proposal.
Advocacy/awareness creation: promoting the concept of resource recovery and its opportunities in Ghana in a circular economy context.

This call for concept notes only refers to the first category (PRIVATE SECTOR). The other two categories will follow a separate selection process which will be advertised separately.

Eligibility Criteria

Applications must be submitted by private sector firms, including: a private for-profit company, joint ventures, partnership, cooperative, etc. Only in exceptional cases will WRIC/UNDP consider new businesses (start-ups), where there is strong evidence that the new company has credible and experienced investors and a solid management team.
Applicants must meet all of the following criteria for applications to be considered:
- The total grant funds requested must not be more than US$ 40,000.
- The applicant (including third parties such as co-investors or banks and other lenders) provides matching funds of at least 30% of the total cost of the business idea.
- The funding request is for a specific, new and innovative business idea/project that addresses the challenge enumerated above. The WRIC/UNDP views innovation in its broadest sense including: i) a new approach, product, idea or service that has not been tested anywhere; ii) an approach, product, idea or service that is new to Ghana; or iii) an approach, product, idea or service that has not been applied to the waste management sector in Ghana but presents the best possible opportunity to provide lasting solutions.
- Applicants must demonstrate that the project could not go ahead without WRIC/UNDP funding or that, if it would go ahead anyway, it would be at a much-reduced pace or scale.
- An organization may partner with other organizations, including NGOs and Community organizations. However, it is a condition that the lead applicant and implementer of the business idea must always be a commercial organization/business.
- The idea must be implemented in Ghana by private sector organisations registered in Ghana and wholly owned by Ghanaians.
- A consortium may be formed, but the lead applicant is responsible for the project/idea and must warrant that the permission of the other members has been obtained.