Deadline: 7-Oct-20
The Great Lakes (GL) Program of the Netherlands, managed by the Dutch Embassy in Rwanda in collaboration with the embassies in DRC, Burundi, and Uganda, intends to set up a program on food security and integrated water resources management for eastern DRC (called ‘the program’ henceforth).
The embassy invites organizations interested in implementing such a program, to submit a concept note for this program. The embassy will evaluate and compare the concept notes, based on which it will select and invite at most three organizations to prepare a full proposal.
The overall objective of the new program will be to contribute to the mitigation of insecurity and instability by fostering economic development and access to markets and land in eastern Congo. It will aim at increasing economic activity by improving the profitability and resilience of the farming system in the rural hinterlands of Goma and Bukavu. In this way, it will address the needs of rural households and contribute to job creation as well as to more stable and affordable food supply in the cities.
The program will grosso modo consist of the following interrelated components: value chain development, improving agricultural productivity and its capacity for resilience, and integrated water resources management. The interventions in the program will be based on the experiences, lessons learned, and challenges of the existing projects in the same geographic areas. The proposed program will therefore target Rutshuru and Masisi Territories both in North Kivu Province and the Rusizi Plain and the foothills of the adjoining mountains in South Kivu Province.
Expected Outcomes
- Improved access of farmers to land, processing facilities, and markets
- Value chains developed in an inclusive manner, contributing to cooperation between communities
- Watershed areas protected, contributing to increased production and cooperation between upstream and downstream communities
Expected Outputs
- Key bottlenecks in relevant agricultural value chains are addressed.
- The value chains to be developed will include those that are already being promoted and those that have the potential to serve, in a balanced way, the respective economic interests of different ethnic groups.
- Land degradation in the hillsides is addressed at a large scale, thus reducing the vulnerability of the region to flash floods, dry spells, and through this, adapt to climate change.
- Security aspects related to production and marketing will be tackled as an integrated part of the interventions.
Type of Activities
- Agricultural production
- Market linkages
- Post-harvest treatment and handling
- Control of soil erosion and watershed management
- Addressing security-related issues that hamper development and/or supporting measures that contribute to improved security for producers, traders, and customers.
Selection criteria
Based on an assessment of the quality of submitted concept notes, at most three applicants will be asked to submit a full proposal. The following criteria will be applied for assessing the concept notes:
- Quality of the concept note:
- Understanding of the call.
- Description of the components of the program
- Description of the outcomes and related outputs and activities
- Analysis of the local conflict context and how the project will engage with it
- Realistic estimation of the number of beneficiaries that the project will reach.
- Indicative budget, showing the major budget categories
- Adequate description of the proposed way of working with regard to:
- reality checks
- conflict sensitivity
- (local) political economy analysis,
- building on previous results,
- collaboration with government structures projects in the Great Lakes program and other relevant programs,
- sustainability,
- risks
- Convincing argumentation on how the project will achieve a sufficiently large scale.
- Organization:
- Relevant experience of the organization with the key components of the project, preferably in eastern Congo. There is no a priori preference for contracting either one organization or a consortium.
- Evidence of the organization’s capacity to implement sensitive projects, in a politically complex environment.
- Evidence of the organization’s capacity and flexibility to field a well-performing team and to adapt the team when necessary.
- Adequate quality of the program team with regard to:
- Composition of the team: the proposed functions in the team cover the different subject matters of the program
- Assurance that leading staff will have at least 7 years of proven experience in the thematic area, and that the team leader will have at least 10 years of relevant experience.
- Network in DRC
- CVs of the candidates for two lead positions (team leader and a thematic expert). The proposed candidates need to be available for the implementation of the project. If due to delays at the embassy, no contract or agreement has been concluded within 4 months of submitting the concept note, a replacement can be proposed if needed.
- Evidence of capacity of the organization to field a well-performing team and to adapt the team when required.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2Dpe3wU
