Business Partnership Facility (BPF) – Call for Projects “Enterprises for SDGs”

Deadline: 9 September 2019

Applicants are invited to apply for the Business Partnership Facility (BPF) that provides grants to support and develop private sector involvement in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries.

The BPF is funded by the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) of the Belgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The operational management of the BPF is entrusted to the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF).

Type of Projects

The projects targeted by this call must contribute to the achievement of at least one clearly identified SDG. The starting point of the project must be an entrepreneurial initiative, carried by one or more companies, pursuing a development objective. The project must be part of the ‘core business’ of at least one of the partners involved, ideally the project leader. Support can be obtained for up to a maximum of three years, the project should demonstrate to what extent it is on its way to self-sustainability after the period of support. Both start-up as scale-up projects can be submitted.

Grant Information

• The BPF provides non-refundable grants between €50,000 and €200,000. Partners must also contribute for an equal or higher amount.
• This financial contribution by the partners must be a cash contribution (no valuation of pre-existing assets, no donations in kind). Co-financing can be provided by various private sector companies that submit a joint application for the project. Loans from financial institutions can be considered part of cofinancing. Loans from within EU Member States can have the effect of partially or totally limiting the potential BPF funding to support the project. Other donations (grants) will not be regarded as part of the co-financing by the partnership.

Sectors

As long as they are linked to the achievement of an SDG, the projects can cover a wide range of sectors, but preference will be given to the priority themes of the Belgian Development Cooperation.

Countries

• The projects will have to take place in one of the developing countries included in the list of BIO, the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Cameroon, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, South Africa, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines, Mongolia, Palestine).
• Projects on the African continent and more specific in one of the 14 African partner countries of the Belgian Development Cooperation (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DR Congo, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Palestinian Territories) will be evaluated positively.

Criteria

• Each application must be part of a partnership that brings together different actors from the private sector, civil society, academia and / or the public sector in the North and South, and always with a development goal in the country in the South.
• The partnership should include at least one for-profit organization. The partners can be Belgian, European or international legal entities, public law or private law. The partnership must be represented by a project leader responsible for implementation, to whom the grant will be contractually awarded. A partner from the private sector as well as any other partner can be the project leader.
• The Belgian members of the partnership will be asked to sign the Belgian SDG Charter, if this has not already been done.

Selection Criteria

Each eligible project will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

• Development effects,
• Sustainability (economic, environmental, social and good governance),
• Innovation, reproducibility and scalability, Additionality,
• Impact on the sector or the market,
• Experience and capacity of the beneficiary to implement the project,
• Degree of co-financing,
• Efficiency,
• Inclusiveness,
• Synergy and complementarity with others actors.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply online via given website.

For more information, please visit https://www.kbs-frb.be/en/Activities/Calls/2019/20181211_MG_001