Grants to contribute towards Digital Transformation in Mozambique

Deadline: 5-Apr-24

The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) has announced a call for proposals to contribute to Mozambique’s inclusive growth focused on digital transformation.

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues

• Under the “VaMoz Digital!” action, the two implementing partners (IP’s) AICS and ITU mean to enhance the potential of the local digital economy, the capacity of institutions to govern and stimulate the new dynamics and promote new services of public interest; they committed to build new skills (including reskilling and upskilling people already in employment in businesses lacking competitiveness and future markets), while also encouraging and supporting micro- and small businesses to innovate, consolidate or enter expanding markets.
• Through this Call for Proposals, AICS will provide each target region with an asset designed to be a service provider and a catalyser for training initiatives and for economic activities, by establishing two tech hubs3 and award the grants to consortia that will restructure/refurbish, equip and operate an appropriate physical facility at least for the duration of the programme.
• The programme adopts the public-private partnership (PPP) model for addressing challenges in digital innovation, as governments’ budgetary constraints worldwide have encouraged them to do. Public-private partnerships are an increasingly effective strategy for drawing together the resources and know-how that are needed to expand and improve support and services for ensuring that the country progresses in its digital readiness.
• The winning PPP/consortia (one per lot, i.e., one per region) will engage in building the skills requested by the most active companies (employability) from a human-centric perspective, as well as foster the early development stages of new businesses (of the smallest sizes) which may gain competitiveness and be job creators, with special attention to enhance inclusion in these processes.

Objectives and Expected Results of the VaMoz Digital! Action

• The Specific Objectives (or Outcomes) of this action are:
  • a conducive environment for inclusive digital transformation is enhanced,
  • inclusive opportunities for youth employment, innovation and digital entrepreneurship are enhanced.
• The Priorities, or desired outputs, to be delivered through this programme by AICS and its sub-implementing partners (grantees) contributing to Outcome n. 1 and n. 2 are described below.
  • Contributing to Outcome 1:
    • Priority/Output 1.1 New and innovative e-services available to citizens, and especially accessible to people with disabilities,
    • Priority/Output 1.2 Two “Tech Hubs” operationalised providing appropriate facilities for training and incubation services,
    • Priority/Output 1.3 Access to multimedia services for communities improved.
  • Contributing to Outcome 2:
    • Priority/Output 2.1 Competencies of teachers with a specific focus on the needs of people with disabilities enhanced, in line with the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu),
    • Priority/Output 2.2 Digital competencies of (young) job seekers and students, particularly girls and people with disabilities enhanced,
    • Priority/Output 2.3 Skills of ICT professionals upgraded,
    • Priority/Output 2.4 New digital and sustainable start-ups supported with incubation services,
    • Priority/Output 2.5 Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises expanded with acceleration services

Sectors or Themes to be covered by the Action

• Since for each lot under this Call for Proposals only one grant will be awarded, each project proposal shall devote to all priorities listed above and cover the respective areas of work:
  • Establishment and management of (tech) hubs, incubators, training centres, etc.
  • Start-up promotion, general support and incubation services
  • Support access to financing channels for micro, small and medium-sized businesses (M/SME)
  • Technical and vocational training, digital literacy, soft skills for human-centric professional development towards (youth) employment
  • Social and economic needs assessment, design and digital programming of platforms and services (public or private) to improve the lives of people
  • As a cross-cutting area of intervention: inclusion in development processes of people from vulnerable categories, including people with disabilities, with a clear orientation to gender equality and women’s/girls’ empowerment.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 5,025,200.00 (five million twenty-five thousand two hundred Euros) for two lots. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Allocation of funds by lot/geographical distribution:
  • Lot 1: “Central Region” EUR 2,512,600.00 (1 grant)
  • Lot 2: “Northern Region” EUR 2,512,600.00 (1 grant)
• Size of grants
  • Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
    • minimum amount: EUR 2,512,600.00
    • maximum amount: EUR 2,512,600.00

Duration

• The initial planned duration of the action may not be lower than 28 months nor exceed 32 months. However, according to the dates of the contract signature and of the programme kick-off, an adjustment in the timeline (and possibly in the budget allocations) may be imposed by the end-date of the Contribution Agreement between the EU Delegation of Mozambique and the Contracting Authority (31st January 2027).

Location

• Under Lot 1 (Central Region), actions must take place only in one of the following provinces: Sofala, Manica, Tete, Zambézia.
• Under Lot 2 (Northern Region), actions must take place only in one of the following provinces: Nampula, Niassa, Cabo Delgado.

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 established in one of the Member States of the European Union or in countries eligible under NDICI-funded programmes (this obligation above does not apply to international organisations) and
    • be able to effectively operate in Mozambique and
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
  • The Lead Applicant shall also:
    • demonstrate adequate capacities for planning, monitoring, evaluation, mobilising and networking, advocacy, communication applicable to the activities set of activities to carry out through the grant,
    • demonstrate experience in similar projects, if possible in developing countries, as well as management and technical expertise in the fields relevant to the programme, such as promotion and support of start-ups, business incubation and acceleration, need assessment of youth and private sector within a local or regional or national ecosystem, skill transfer and matching demand and supply of skills and competencies, promotion of business processes’ digitalisation, organisation of training courses in the digital domain (at various levels), call for ideas and hackathons based on government and civil society’s suggestions towards the improvement of the citizens’ experience of digitalised services, work in consortia (especially public-private partnerships), sustainability plans of development centres such as the expected tech hubs, inclusion of vulnerable categories in development processes.
• 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. In order to be eligible for a grant, the co-applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be established in one of the Member States of the European Union or in countries eligible under NDICI-funded programmes.
    • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form
• 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 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.

For more information, visit AICS.