IFAD Call for Proposals: Disability Inclusive Rural Transformation Project

Deadline: 2 March 2020

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is financing the grant project titled “Disability inclusive rural transformation Project”.

The project aims for PwD, particularly women and youth with disabilities, to become active participants in and benefit from rural development projects tailored to fit the specific profiles of their disabilities, priority needs, constraints and opportunities in selected countries.

The purpose of these Terms of Reference (TORs) is to establish the scope, details and conditions for the implementation and evaluation of the project. This call for proposals is to select a recipient or consortium of recipients to receive a three-year IFAD grant financing to implement the project: Disability inclusive rural transformation for a total amount of up to US$3 million.

Goals and Objectives

The goal is for PwD, particularly women and youth with disabilities, to become active participants in rural development projects that are tailored to fit the specific profiles of their disabilities.

• This goal will be achieved through the following two objectives:
  • Promote disability-inclusive income generation for PwD through skilled and unskilled labour, self employment, entrepreneurship, and competitive employment along the targeted agro-pastoral value chains;
  • Raise awareness of PwD and overcome stigma among rural development professionals and communities.

Funding Information

Applicants must ensure a minimum counterpart contribution between US$500,000 and US$2,000,000.

Key Activities by Component

• Innovative support to promote decent and viable rural job opportunities for PwD
  • The objective is to develop tools, setup up support mechanisms and accompany the targeted beneficiaries to carry out economic activities, such as:
    • Conduct a rapid survey within the intervention areas to identify and characterize PwD and assess their specific needs based on opportunities available within the agricultural and pastoral value chains and related jobs;
    • Develop tailored and innovative support packages and methodologies to support selected income generating activities and rural microenterprises for PwD. Per job type, this will include, adapted technological packages, specific technical training, adult literacy and sign language to enable communication, Identification of partners and development of partnership (with local/national enterprises to ensure technology transfer for the manufacturing of farm equipment for example or the processing of agricultural products) ;
    • Support to the beneficiaries. The support can concern a group or individuals and will be based on demand and the specific need of the beneficiaries. It will include a combination of training, technical support, financing, advisory services, supply of farming tools and agricultural inputs, exchange visits and knowledge sharing etc. The Grant recipient will mobilise dedicated business advisors to accompany each need.
• Create an enabling environment for the social and economic inclusion of PwD
  • Awareness raising activities. The project will support awareness raising activities for the public and organize discussions with communities aimed at changing mentalities and removing cultural barriers that prevent the social and economic inclusion of PwD;
  • Institutional capacity building of PwD’s organisations. To ensure that PwD participate in decision processes and in policy dialogue. The project will support bringing rural PwD together into organizations or including them in existing rural producers’ organizations, build the capacity of their leaders and provide necessary institutional support to their apex structure in each country. The project will also promote regional networks of PwD;
  • Policy engagement activities. The project will support advocacy activities for decision-makers to carry out disability inclusive policy reforms, develop disability-inclusive rural development and strengthen the technical, organizational and institutional structures (government and non-government) involved in policy dialogue.
• Coordination, monitoring and evaluation, communication and knowledge management
  • The project fiduciary and administrative management will follow IFAD’s standards. Partnership and synergies with partner’s intervention will be key for effective results-based implementation and delivery.

Risks

• Socio-cultural barriers do not permit PwD to seize project opportunities (discriminatory social attitudes, marginalization) and significant barriers to their inclusion and participation in society and in development. The project will carry out sensitization campaign and group discussion with opinion leaders in the society to reduce these barriers. Furthermore, the association of PwD will be empowered to defend their interests/rights.
• Low capacity in the field to implement the project activities. The Grant recipient will apply competitive selection in order to recruit the most competent staffs/service providers.

Expected Outcomes

The following results are expected:

• At least 7 000 PwD received tailored support (including technical, technological and financial) and are fully engaged in economic activities upstream and downstream the selected agricultural and pastoral value chains;
• Income of the direct beneficiaries increased by at least 30%;
• Disability-inclusive approaches that can be integrated in rural development programmes tested, documented and ready to be scaled up;
• Interests of rural PwD reflected in government policies, strategies or programmes.

Eligibility Criteria

• The recipient can be an inter-governmental organization (including UN agencies and CGIAR centres), a civil society organization (including NGOs), an academic/research institution or a private sector entity;
• In case of a consortium, an organization can join more than one consortium but can be leading only in one of them. The recipient must demonstrate a strong focus, experience and expertise in disability-inclusive approaches;
• The selected organization or consortium must have:
  • Capacity and experience in working on projects that integrate disability-inclusive approaches;
  • Capacity and experience in policy dialogue on disability inclusion;
  • Capacity and experience in knowledge management and sharing;
  • Physical presence or close network to ensure wide geographical coverage.

Selection Criteria

The recipient will be selected through competitive bidding. The following criteria will be used:

• Technical content of proposal;
• Capacity and experience in: (i) working on projects that integrate disability-inclusive approaches; (ii) policy dialogue on disability inclusion; (iii) knowledge management and sharing;
• Physical presence or close network to ensure wide geographical coverage;
• Amount of co-financing (cash and in-kind);
• Value for money.

How to Apply

• Prepare a project proposal that should be submitted using the IFAD Grant Design Document template with a detailed budget using the activity based budget table;
• The proposal must be aligned with the Grant Concept Note and Project Description provided;
• Submit a completed Bidders’ self-certification of eligibility for IFAD grant financing;
• Submit a brief institutional profile, detailing experience in the priority area and specific theme outlined in the Grant Concept Note, and in the region/country(ies) where the grant would be implemented;
• Proposals submitted after the deadline will be considered ineligible.

All proposals and communications should be submitted electronically via email.

For more information, visit https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/news-detail/asset/41728614