Grants to support Self-Employment Business Incubator and Blended Education (Replication Phase 2)

Deadline: 6-Nov-23

The Open Society Foundation for Albania (OSFA), in cooperation with the Social Action and Innovation Centre (Kentro Merimnas Oikogeneias kai Pai Diou (KMOP) and the Municipality of Tirana (MoT) is implementing the three-year project titled: “Inclusive EduJobs – Towards Context Relevant Policies and Services Enhancing Employability and Educational Outcomes of Roma and Egyptians in Albania”.

The aim of the project is to improve the inclusion of women and men, boys and girls from Roma and Egyptian communities in Albania by strengthening the capacities of the municipalities to establish and deliver inclusive services to citizens in the area of employment and inclusive education.

Lots

Lot 1: Sub-Grants to increase Roma and Egyptians self-employment and access to self-employment governmental funding (Business Incubator) in three municipalities: Vlora, Shkodra and Elbasan.
Lot 2: Sub-Grants to CSOs to support compulsory education for Roma and Egyptian students to improve learning environment through ICT infrastructure upgrade and better access to Blended Education, in three municipalities: Vlora, Shkodra, Elbasan.

Objectives

Lot 1:
- The global objective of the call for proposals of this Lot is: Increasing and improving employment opportunities for R/E individuals with the aim of becoming entrepreneurs through the assistance provided by the self-employment “Business Incubator” in three municipalities (Vlora, Shkodra and Elbasan) in line with the self-employment governmental program implemented by NAES/MoFE.
- The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  - Ensure R/E community entrepreneurs’ readiness to prepare applications for the self-employment government program.
  - Increase R/E community entrepreneurs’ technical and soft skills in setting up, managing, and expanding a micro-enterprise.
  - Improve the employability of R/E community graduates from vocational schools, R/E who run informal businesses, and women.
Lot 2:
- The global objective of this call for proposals is: Improving educational inclusion and educational achievements of Roma and Egyptian students by means of new educational approach: blended learning and digital education.
- The specific objective(s) of this call for proposals is/are:
  - Promote online and blended education initiatives in a total of nine local schools, with three schools in each of the municipalities of Vlora, Shkodra, and Elbasan, through various activities.
  - Upgrade ICT infrastructure for the respective school communities, upgrading their digital competencies to be capable to effectively use technology to boost educational outcome of students particularly Roma and Egyptians.

Priorities

Lot 1:
- The priority(ies) of this call for proposals is/are:
  - Provide a Business Incubator model for R/E entrepreneurs in three municipalities (Vlora, Shkodra, or Elbasan) focused on selection and recruitment process, hands on incubation procedures, sustainable exit strategy;
  - Interventions focused in identifying R/E individuals who can undertake entrepreneurship including those currently self-employed in the informal sector; vocational school graduates or students close to graduation and unemployed interested in becoming self-employed.
Lot 2:
- The priorities of this call for proposals are:
  - ICT infrastructure trainings/IT skills training for students and school staff/Blended education trainings for teachers;
  - After-school learning (sessions)/extra-curricular activities with Roma and Egyptian and other disadvantaged children to prepare them for online/digital learning.

Funding Information

Lot 1:
- Total Indicative Budget available for this lot for 3 municipalities (Vlora, Shkodra, Elbasan)
  - Total budget EUR 111,000
- Min/max amount contribution per municipality
  - Minimum amount: EUR 37,000
  - Maximum amount: EUR 37,000
- Indicative Budget per municipality
  - Municipality of Vlora: EUR 37,000
  - Municipality of Shkodra EUR 37,000
  - Municipality of Elbasan EUR 37,000
Lot 2:
Total Indicative Budget available for 3 municipalities (Vlora, Shkodra, Elbasan)
- Total budget EUR 90,000
Min/max amount contribution per municipality
- Minimum amount: EUR 30,000
- Maximum amount: EUR 30,000
Indicative budget per targeted municipality:
- Municipality of Vlora: EUR 30,000
- Municipality of Shkodra EUR 30,000
- Municipality of Elbasan EUR 30,000

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be:
- Lot 1 – lower than 12 months nor exceed 12 months
- Lot 2 – lower than 12 months nor exceed 12 months

Expected results per municipality (Vlora, Shkodra Elbasan)

Lot 1:
- At minimum 10 of the Roma and Egyptians that succeed to receive government funding to establish businesses are provided with matching funds/seed funding.
- At minimum 5 Roma and Egyptians trained to access only government funding.
- Increased capacities of Roma and Egyptians entrepreneurs to manage a business.
Lot 2:
- Three public schools per municipality (Vlora, Shkodra and Elbasan) with upgraded ICT infrastructure;
- At least 200 Roma and Egyptian students involved in blended learning programs, by:
- Improving attendance rates.

Performance indicators per municipality (Vlora, Shkodra Elbasan)

Lot 1:
- Number of R/E community individuals identified with marketable business ideas;
- Number of R/E entrepreneurs applying for the national self-employment incentive program;
- Number of R/E entrepreneurs receiving grants from the national self-employment incentive program.
Lot 2:
- Upgraded ICT infrastructure for public schools through the procurement of ICT devices for nine schools (3 schools per municipality);
- Increased attendance rates and engagement of Roma and Egyptian students in the learning process including curricular and extra-curricular activities;
- Increased adaptability of the R/E students and other disadvantaged children to achieve higher educational attainments.

Activities

Lot 1:
- Type of activities suggested – non exhaustive:
  - Prepare a Business Incubator model for Roma and Egyptians entrepreneurs following the key entrepreneurial phases: (i) selection and recruitment (ii) incubation; (iii) validation on the initial business idea and (iv) assistance for the implementation of the business idea;
  - Develop criteria for targeting potential Roma and Egyptian entrepreneurs;
  - Assess, select and prepare list of beneficiaries based on their profiles and initial business idea, for the selected microenterprise;
  - Facilitate micro-entrepreneurs’ access to grants from the self-employment incentives program, managed and regulated by the National Agency for Employment and Skills (NAES), as capital support for starting their businesses (including administrative assistance, funding support and raising capacity building in business plan development).
Lot 2:
- Type of activities suggested – non exhaustive:
  - Identify three public schools of compulsory (elementary) education per municipality (Vlora, Shkodra, Elbasan), with presence of Roma and Egyptian students;
  - Conduct a needs assessment for the identified schools regarding a) ICT infrastructure of schools; b) teachers’ skills on ICT; and c) Roma and Egyptian student drop-outs statistics;
  - Build partnership between the schools and the Local Office of Pre-university Education in Vlora, Shkodra, and Elbasan Municipality;
  - Develop and provide trainings for teachers on how to support R/E in online/digital learning.

Location

Actions proposed by the applicant must be implemented exclusively in one of the following municipalities: Vlora, Shkodra, Elbasan. Actions that aim to be implemented in more than one of the municipalities will not be accepted.
The contracting authority shall award one sub-grant per municipality for each Lot.
- Lot 1 Business Incubator: 1 grant for Vlora Municipality, 1 grant for Shkodra Municipality, and 1 grant for Elbasan Municipality
- Lot 2 Blended Education: 1 grant for Vlora Municipality, 1 grant for Shkodra Municipality, and 1 grant for Elbasan Municipality

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)
- In order to be eligible for a sub-grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a non-governmental organization, civil society organization legally registered and operating in the territory of Albania;
  - be non-profit making;
  - be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) (if any), not acting as an intermediary;
  - have previous experience (during the last three years) in implementing grants (at least one) targeting Roma and Egyptians.
Co-applicant(s)
- Co-applicants must 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-applicant(s) must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself;
- 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-applicant(s) are not required to have direct experience with R/E community.
- Co-applicants must sign the Mandate Form.

For more information, visit OSFA.