Grant Call for Developing Financial Competencies (FinCom) in Jordan

Deadline: 22-Dec-22

The European Commission is pleased to announce a call for proposals to develop financial competencies (FinCom) in Jordan.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is: expand access to financial services especially for rural and low-income women, men, youth and micro-entrepreneurs in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
• The specific objectives of this call for proposals are: improve digital finance and sustainable finance competences as well as competences relevant for financial resilience. Support for financial inclusion, including access, use and quality of services. This also includes digital payments, personal financial management, digital financial literacy tools, digital savings products and services, digital banking, alternative digital finance and credit.

Priorities

• The priorities of this call for proposals is/are:
  • Improved access to information to citizens on the different types of financial products available at different financial institutions;
  • Increased financial competencies and business plan development skills of targeted groups, including women entrepreneurs in rural areas and women-owned and -led businesses to be “bankable”;
  • Awareness raising and advocacy at Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs) to expand their lending schemes; and
  • Enhanced role of civil society, including organisations addressing gender equality, the rights of marginalised groups promoting financial inclusion.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1 600 000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
  • Minimum amount: EUR 1 500 000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 1 600 000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 20 months nor exceed 24 months.

Types of Action

• Actions should be self-contained projects comprised of a coherent set of activities with clearly defined operational objectives, target groups and planned, tangible outcomes, within a limited timeframe. They should be designed in response to the current context in Jordan and to the specific needs of the target groups identified by the project.
• Proposals must be based on concrete, recent, and verifiable information (to be included in the Full Application Form) that can clearly identify specific problems and the related constraints (social, economic and political). It is thus necessary to set clear objectives based on specifically tailored strategies and intervention methodologies that incorporate complementary, consistent activities suitable for tackling the identified problems directly. The means to be deployed should stem logically from this approach.
• Actions must be structured to ensure complementarity, to develop synergies and avoid duplication with other interventions already in place (government or donor-funded).
• As a general rule, workshops/seminars/trainings and similar activities shall be organised in the place where the majority of participants reside and work.

The following types of action are ineligible:

• Actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences and congresses;
• Actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
• Actions concerned only or mainly with capital expenditures (e.g. purchase of equipment and vehicles);
• Actions which provide the capital for microfinance/revolving funds for microcredit initiatives.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • Be a legal person and
    • Be non-profit-making and
    • Be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority and
    • be established in  either i) Jordan, or ii) a Member State of the European Union or iii) a Member State and contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area
    • 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.
• 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 himself.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate.
  • If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator)
  • In addition, please note that contracts cannot be awarded to or signed with applicants included in the lists of EU restrictive measures.
• Affiliated Entities
  • 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 an applicant may hence be:
    • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the 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.

Ineligible

• The following are not considered entities affiliated to an applicant:
  • Entities that have entered into a (procurement) contract or subcontract with an applicant, act as concessionaires or delegatees for public services for an applicant,
  • Entities that receive financial support from the applicant,
  • Entities that cooperate on a regular basis with an applicant on the basis of a memorandum of understanding or share some assets,
  • Entities that have signed a consortium agreement under the grant contract.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3DMkLIA