Deadline: 28 May 2020
The Power Africa Off-grid Project (PAOP) is a four-year contract between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and RTI International. PAOP intends to accelerate off-grid electrification across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to support Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid initiative, which contributes to the goal of facilitating 60 million new electricity connections by 2030. Power Africa defines access as the direct or actual number of new households and businesses connected to electricity via an on-grid or off-grid solution.
PAOP focuses on accelerating off-grid energy access through solar home systems (SHS) and microgrids, with the goal of facilitating six million new electricity connections by 2022.
Through this RFA, PAOP seeks to support accelerated provision of off-grid solar energy access to health clinics in rural, peri-urban or urban communities in sub-Saharan Africa. PAOP’s anticipated collaboration with SHS and micro-grid companies is aimed at improving healthcare facilities’ infrastructure through provision of solar off-grid electrical energy production equipment and related electrical installations to guarantee the constant supply of essential energy services. The collaboration will contribute to the more efficient functioning of healthcare facilities. The solar infrastructure will create an added readiness in cases of crisis, such as, Ebola and COVID-19 pandemic where systems, including the electricity grid, may be significantly overwhelmed. This grant funding call is geographically focused in sub-Saharan Africa only.
Applicants are encouraged, but not required, to contribute matching funds. They should at a minimum, be operational in their target country(ies) and prove ability to meet milestones related to the deployment of the grant
This grant funding will support the scale up of existing business models or technologies for the electrification of health facilities. Proposals that include at least one of the following activities are preferred:
- Electrification of health facilities facing increased energy demands as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Introduction of new products or revenue streams, such as: o Lending to customers for health-related needs/expenses including insurance schemes.
- New lines of revenue for OGS companies related to e-health/social messaging content on radios, tablets or solar-powered TVs.
- Leveraging last-mile distribution networks to deliver medical supplies.
- Solutions to mitigate risk of maternal and child health, especially during night-time deliveries within or outside of a health clinic.
- Solutions that enable the electronic collection of health-related information and record keeping.
Note: Preference will be given to applicants who have already developed solar system solutions and would like to customize and/or scale up the solution. No funding shall be provided for research and development of new, unproven solutions. All the applications need to provide a roadmap for technology validation (through pilot study) and demonstration of scalability.
The overall purpose of the PAOP’s COIN Fund is to issue grants to project developers, projects, and private sector companies/actors that directly contribute to PAOP’s goals through their own activities. The COIN Fund is structured to encourage leveraged funding as parallel funding of similar activities that help achieve common goals and accelerate results. Successful applicants are encouraged to demonstrate this specific aspect of generating other funding from non-PAOP sources to be applied to the program.
Funding Information
Individual grants awarded as a result of this RFA and submission of a final application are intended to be within the range of USD100,000 to USD500,000.
Duration
The duration of programs funded under this RFA will be for a maximum period of 12 months from the date of award. PAOP reserves the right to incrementally fund activities over the duration of the program, if necessary, depending on program length, performance against approved program indicators and availability of funds.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be a registered company/enterprise (including micro-enterprises or groups of micro-enterprises), associations, cooperatives, and cooperative unions in the country/ies they are proposing to work and be in operation for at least one year at the time of application.
- All Applicants should:
- Be legal persons;
- Be formally constituted at the time of grant award;
- Be compliant to government of Host Country regulations (submit tax compliance certificate or equivalent);
- Have their principal place of business in host country/countries;
- Organizations that already have a presence or are currently working in some of the mentioned geographical areas will be considered.
For more information, visit https://www.rti.org/current-opportunities
