Call for Proposals: Enhancing Access to Markets for Smallholder Farmers in Malawi

Deadline: 05-Apr-21

The Government of Flanders has announced a call for proposals for Enhancing Access to Markets for Smallholder Farmers to support organisations that support farmer cooperatives and SMEs in farming (agribusiness), in the districts of Kasungu and Mzimba, to get better access to markets.

The overall objective of the call is to support farmers to get access to inclusive and well-functioning markets to sell their produce, with the aim of achieving better income status and a more resilient livelihood. Support can be provided to organisations that organise activities to support farmer’s organisations and/or farmer SMEs.

The Government of Flanders looks for opportunities to support the promotion of bulking, grading, value addition, and the development of promising farmers’ organisations. Women and especially young people could be more engaged in agro-processing, particularly in rural areas. Improved market linkages and access to information is essential for farmers and farmer organisations to participate fairly in markets.

The dialogue between producers, buyers, input dealers, service providers, and policy makers could be stimulated further to spark mutual benefits. New technologies can close the information gaps and attract youth into agriculture or move farmers upwards on the value chain. These opportunities can assist in the expansion of production, agro-processing and commercialisation.

Focus Areas

The project to be funded will have to have at least one of the following focus areas:
- Supporting agricultural cooperatives and/or farming SMEs with improving the production process for transformation of primary commodities to secondary products (agrobusiness) as to increase the local food transforming industry (and create more access for local farmers);
- Supporting farmers cooperatives and/or farming SMEs with the post-harvest handling practices of primary agricultural commodities as to ensure higher quality of these commodities when they reach the market;
- Supporting farmers cooperatives and/or farming SMEs with improving their business processes especially in marketing and financial management as to enhance access to markets;
- Supporting farmers cooperatives and/or farming SMEs with financial products or creating new or enhancing existing initiatives to link farmers to buyers to support them to get access to more markets.

Funding Information

The minimum value of the project should be 500,000 euro and the maximum value 1,500,000 euro.
The duration of the project should be of minimum 3 years and maximum of 5 years.

Geographical Focus

The proposed project should at least be implemented in the District of Kasungu or in the District of Mzimba.

Eligibility Criteria

The Government of Flanders funds a variety of actors to achieve the above objectives which are multidonor trust funds, government departments/agencies, community-based organisations (CBOs), not-forprofit organisations (NGOs), multi-lateral institutions, private sector actors and others where relevant. The primary target group for this call for proposals are non-state actors like NGOs, CBOs, research/knowledge institutions, social enterprises, private companies and organised farmer and private sector organisations. Private companies (profit sector) can submit a project proposal on condition that they contribute at least 50% of the intended project capital.
Organisations can form multi-actor partnerships, in which case one actor should act as the lead organisation and the contracting party with the Government of Flanders.
The following organisations are eligible:
- The lead applicant should be a non-state actor: NGO, CBO, research/knowledge institution, social enterprise, private company, organised farmer organisation, organised private sector organisation;
- The lead applicant should have experience in the agricultural sector in East/Southern Africa, preferably also in Malawi. If the lead applicant does not have experience in Malawi, they need to have a partnership with an Malawian organization or a Malawian based organization at the time of the submission of the concept note;
- The lead applicant to have at least 5 years’ experience with supporting farmers and/or farmers cooperatives to get better access to markets;
- The lead applicant should have experience in managing projects of at least 500,000 EUR.