CFC announces 17th CFPs to Support Commodity Development

Deadline: 15-Oct-2020

The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) has announced the 17th call for proposals for supporting commodity development activities in its member countries.

The CFC provides a range of financial and technical instruments in support of business activities contributing to commodity sector development in Developing Countries. Examples include agriculture, commodity value addition and trade, minerals and metals. Besides generating a viable financial return, eligible activities should also deliver a measurable social and environmental impact.

The support is offered mainly through loans to finance equipment, working capital or trade finance needs. The CFC seeks applications of projects that have reached a state of economic, social and environmental sustainability. These applications should clearly show operational and financial viability, with a proven track record.

Project proposals incorporating innovative solutions for the commodity sector (e.g. new agritech applications, increase availability of renewable and affordable energy, expanding environmental services) are especially expected to be submitted.

Objectives

CFC supports activities which promote the contribution of the commodity sector to achieving the SDGs in CFC member countries including the following aspects:

• Environmental: Enhance production taking into account the environment and its longterm possibilities for the same, or increased use of productive resources while maintaining or reducing the impact on the environment.
• Social: Create employment (particularly for youth and women), provide sustained increase in household incomes, reduce poverty, and enhance food security.
• Economic: Enhance production and productivity, achieve higher local value addition; improve competitiveness of producers, producer organisations and small and medium sized industries, support the financial sector development.

The CFC supports implementation of activities along the value chain that:

• are innovative, scalable and replicable, are financially sustainable;
• have a potential measurable positive socio-economic and environmental impact on the stakeholders in commodity value chains as compared to the prevailing baseline situation;
• develop stronger connections with existing markets or create new markets along the value chain;
• increase financial or other services available for commodity producers and commodity based businesses;
• enhance knowledge generation and information dissemination;
• build effective and cost-efficient collaboration between producers, industry, governments, civil society organisations and other stakeholders for commodity based development, and
• enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural value chains inter alia including climate change and energy related sensitive components as appropriate.

Expected Outputs

• Relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS)
• • The proponents should identify and specify the SDGs to which the project will contribute, explaining how it will help to advance each selected Goal, including the following: –
    • SDG 1: No poverty
    • SDG 2: Zero hunger
    • SDG 5: Gender Equality
    • SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth
    • SDG 10: Reduced inequalities
• Direct Development Impact
  • The proponent should present transparent and verifiable information to demonstrate the “benefits to planet and people” principle . This includes the baseline data and projections for:
    • Economic impact:
      • on the economic situation of the participating producer households;
      • on the commercial /economic position of the applicant organization.
    • Social impact:
      • on the position of the benefitting producer households;
      • on the employment created, the wages paid and the working conditions offered by the applicant organization;
      • on the welfare of special vulnerable groups such as women, youth and the poorest persons below the poverty line.
    • Environment impact:
      • of the processing activities by the applicant organization;
      • of the production practices of the project participants. Please note that projects with adverse net environmental impact will not be considered by the CFC.
  • Indirect Development Impact
    • To the extent relevant to the project, the proponent should describe the wider impact of the project:
      • on the value chain in which the applicant operates;
      • on the larger market system and commodity sector.

Eligibility Criteria

All legal public and private entities are eligible to apply under this Call for Proposals, provided they:

• operate in commodity value chains in CFC member countries or provide financial services to micro, small and medium sized businesses operating in these value chains.
• have a proven relevant track record of sound financial operations in their current and / or proposed activities over a period of at least 3 years, which can be documented by means of (audited) financial statements.
• share CFC’s values, including internationally recognized principles concerning human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption as reflected in the United Nations Global Compact, and
• do not fall under the exclusion criteria.
• The amount of finance requested from CFC should not exceed 50% of the total amount required to execute the project. The balancing amount of co-financing is to be provided by the applicant and/or by other co-financiers. Such co-financing should be relative to the new funding requirement for the (investment) project and should be reflected in financial projections for the project, which will be subject to verification if the project is financed by the CFC. Sunk cost are not eligible to be considered as a financial contribution. A thorough assessment of the co-financing available will form part of CFC’s final due diligence verification.
• Women entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply.

For more information, visit http://www.common-fund.org/call-for-proposals/