EU-Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme: Transforming Zimbabwe’s Agriculture Research, Education and Extension Services for the future

Deadline: 14 November 2017

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme: Transforming Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Services for the future”. The objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the development of a diversified and efficient agriculture sector that promotes inclusive green economic growth.

Objectives

• Agricultural Research: Promote demand-driven, efficient, effective and sustainable research that provides relevant solutions and has rapid and widespread impact on agriculture and rural development.
• Agricultural Education: Ensure an inclusive and quality education to develop a skilled and entrepreneurial workforce that contributes to wealth creation and rural development
• Agricultural Extension: Enable farmers and rural people to improve their lives and contribute to agricultural growth and rural development

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between EUR 5,000,000 and EUR 6,000,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person
    • be non-profit-making
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, private body with public service mission, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the Rules of application of the EU Financial Regulation
    • be established in Zimbabwe, in countries eligible under the EDF or in a Member State of the European Union or a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Areas
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
    • have demonstrated capacity and experience of at least two years in managing activities of a scale corresponding to at least half of the size and in the sector of the grant requested.
  • Political parties or entities affiliated to political parties are not eligible under this Call.
  • Potential applicants may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations
  • The lead applicant must declare that the lead applicant himself, the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies)are not in any of these situations.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant.
• Affiliated entity(ies): The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies)
  • Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s): Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
  • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
    • Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      • Entities affiliated to applicant may hence be:
      • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by an applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by an applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
      • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
    • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
  • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.

How to Apply

• The application procedure consists of two phases:
  • Concept notes
  • Full applications
• In the first instance, only concept notes must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, lead applicants who have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a full application.

For more information, please visit Europeaid and download the guidelines.