Call for Proposals from NGOs for Livelihood support in Ghana

Deadline: 31-Jul-24

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) seeks to improve the economic capabilities of communities and individuals and empower women and youth to be resilient and actively engage in peace building and conflict prevention from spillover of violent extremism and promote social cohesion in northern Ghana.

This Call for Proposals is specifically related to the UNDP project dubbed Enhancing social cohesion and social contract, through empowerment of women and youth in three northern regions of Ghana.

The objective of this Call for Proposals is to identify NGOs operating in these locations to support the implementation of activities for enhancing socio-economic livelihood of target communities for women and youth in an effort to enhance social cohesion and social contract in the Upper East (Bongo, Bawku West, Garu districts), Upper West (Wa West, Sissala West districts), and North-East (Yunyoo-Nasuan, Chereponi, Bunkpurugu-Nankpanduri districts).

Scope of Work

• The project focuses on the 3 listed regions of the North, this call is specifically targeting the following locations:
  • Bongo
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Food vending and processing (local drink and confectioneries)
      • Weaving; smock and basket, Dressmaking and fashion accessory designs, Hairdressing and beautification
      • Livestock rearing; pig, goats, poultry and sheep
      • Construction related work eg. Masonry, carpentry, metal fabrication
      • Pastries making eg. bread making
      • Agro processing (shea, sesame, neem, baobab processing)
  • Bawku West
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Agro-processing (sheabutter, rice, dawadawa)
      • Guinea fowl and livestock trading
      • Agribusiness; supported by mechanized water systems for farming and gardening all year round.
      • Phone repair and ICT training by young graduates
      • Short maturing dry season vegetable farming
      • Entrepreneurial accounting for small businesses and booking
  • Garu
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Rain-fed and dry season cropping (maize, rice, sorghum; garden eggs, tomatoes, watermelon for dry season)
      • Livelihood options: trading, aggregation of sorghum, soya, maize, shea butter and rice
      • Food processing eg porridge, flour, bread,
      • Soap making, shampoos, liquid soap,
      • Farming management activities (sowing, planting, bullock services, spraying)
      • Livestock rearing and community livestock volunteers (provides deworming and wound treatments)
      • Artisanal and technical work (tailoring and dressmaking, weaving, masonry)
      • Poultry and livestock rearing, and sale (fowls, cattle, goats and sheep, butchery)
  • Wa West
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Crop production (rice, beans, maize, yam)
      • Seasonal fish farming and dry fish trading
      • Artisanal work in construction (masonry, carpentry)
      • Food processing (pastries, local juice processing)
      • Dressmaking, hair dressing etc. and Petty trading
  • Sissala West
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Crop production (soyabeans, groundnuts, maize, and vegetable farming)
      • Food processing (local juice processing and confectioneries)
      • Sale and processing of shea nuts
      • Trading of consumables and food produce including cross border trade in Burkina Faso
      • Livestock and ruminants rearing and Local rice production
      • construction based artisanal work (welding, glazing, metal fabrication)
  • Yunyuoo-Nasuan
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Agro processing (shea butter, oil, cream, dawadawa, groundnut, local drink “pito”)
      • Crop production (groundnut farming)
      • small ruminants and poultry farming, butchery
      • Agric commodities aggregation and trade
  • Chereponi
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Soya processing, rice processing, guinea fowl rearing, small ruminants, grains farming (maize etc.)
      • Pottery production of pots and bowls
      • Beekeeping and honey production
      • Trained others in plumbing, electrical etc.
      • TVET (Technical and Vocational Educational Training) vocational (masonry, carpentry, mechanic), Farming and Trading, IT (Data Analytics, graphic design).
  • Bunkpurugu-Nankpanduri
    • Programming advice based on assessment report
      • Agro-processing (groundnut oil and paste, shea butter)
      • Weaving (smock), Dressmaking, Motor mechanic, Vulcanizing, Welding, Carpentry, and Glazing

Expected Outcome, Outputs and Activities

• To select CSOs/NGOs to help conduct activities to enhance socio-economic livelihood in the target communities to enable access to livelihood skills, employment, and entrepreneurial opportunities to enhance social cohesion in Ghana.
  • Output # 1. Design & Implementation of livelihood capacity-building support interventions 
    • Activities:
      • Support youth and women to gain livelihood skills in the above-mentioned fields
      • Enhance capacity building, including life skills and business development, imparting basic business concepts to the youth and women such as basic book-keeping and financial management skills, followed by business development support and mentorship.
      • Mentorship support, including self-awareness, social bonding, and diversification of social networks among youth and women, inter alia through the provision of individual and peer- to-peer-based group mentorship and dialogue sessions encouraging sharing of information and identification of common interests and challenges among at-risk target groups;
      • Partnership, capacity building and financial support targeting localised value chains enabling local businesses to establish schemes to train and employ young people and women
      • Technical and financial support to identified localised value chains and small businesses development initiatives as well as support to micro-saving initiatives (such as village savings and loan associations) in target areas in collaboration with identified local institutions and initiatives.
  • Output #2. Completed targeting and selection process. 
    • Activities:
      • Launch the call for proposals in the community for projects;
      • Organize meetings, or use other methods of engagement to ensure enrollment and interest of the potential beneficiaries in the communities;
      • Select the beneficiaries using prepared selection criteria and through the evaluation of the applications using the evaluation criteria submitted and cleared by UNDP;
      • Acquire assets to be distributed throughout the project;
      • Design training curriculum for business training;
      • Sign contracts with beneficiaries incorporating risks mitigation strategy and standard practices for asset maintenance, troubleshooting, theft.
  • Output #3: Implementation of livelihood support mechanism for selected beneficiary households to improve their income generating activities 
    • Activities:
      • Design and implement livelihoods support programs as per needs of the district (guided by the assessment)
      • Procure and distribute livelihoods support packages: assets selected for each economic activity;
      • Provide relevant business training for beneficiaries in groups of assets and lines of economic activity;
      • Monitor the compliance to the signed agreements.
  • Output #4. Evaluation of the project completed. 
    • Activities: 
      • Undertake a final evaluation including measuring the immediate impact of the project;
      • Final Report Document including sharing the lessons learned. Progress should include the following:
        • Output Indicator
          • Number of private sector organizations engaged and providing financing options and business development support to youth and women led businesses.
          • Number of women and youth accessing job and livelihood opportunities as a result of this project’s intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• To qualify for the grant award, the applicant must:
  • Be an organization (not-for-profit) with a legal mandate to operate in Ghana
  • Be a non-government organization, community-based organization, or social enterprise organization recognized by the relevant district/municipal authorities.
  • Have relevant experience and proven records in working with groups in environmental, and/or agricultural-related, vocational skills activities and should be based or already have a working presence in Ghana.
  • Have relevant experience working with youth and/or women focused projects.
  • Be the lead organization that should propose a plan of engaging the private sector, and relevant governments, research institutes, communities, media, and other key stakeholders on behalf of the trainees/participants.
  • Explain how the proposed training objectives, outputs, and activities would have a concrete impact and contribute towards the achievements of the program component.
  • Show that projects are innovative, impactful, and sustainable.
  • Promote social inclusion, including gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Qualifications 
  • Experience in providing courses on value-chain development.
  • Proven ability to facilitate effective and balanced consultations which includes diverse actors and perspectives to ensure that voices are heard, and exchanges are constructive.
  • Proven ability to evaluate the participants’ performance and provide the necessary course of action where relevant.
  • Proven ability to produce high-quality written reports according to deadlines.
  • Familiarity with UNDP or any other UN agency is an advantage.

For more information, visit UNDP.