Request for Proposals: Low Value Grant (Macedonia)

Deadline: 24-Nov-23

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced Low Value Grant (LVG) for engagement of CSO’s to support the effective socio-economic integration of returnees in the local community.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with EU support has developed the project strengthen national and local systems to support the effective socio-economic integration of returnees in the Western Balkans that initially was developed to respond to the challenges of implementation of the strategies for migration and reintegration of returnees especially at local level.

The project is part of the IPA II Multi-Country Action Programme of the EU support to fundamental rights of Roma community, and reintegration of returnees, which has been entrusted to the WB, UNDP and the CoE.

The Project aims to enhance the ability of Western Balkan authorities at central and local level to implement comprehensive models for reintegration of returnees. The project addresses the broader social inclusion agenda promoting the socio-economic well-being and tackling the root causes and negative drivers of migration of Roma and vulnerable populations.

Objective and Goals

• The objective of this Request for Proposal is to engage up to two local CSOs/NGOs per municipality (Prilep, Shtip, Shuto Orizari), which will implement effective programmes for supporting returnees in partnership with UNDP to achieve the following goals:
  • Increase capacities of NGO’s representatives through training with a previous established methodology for activation of returnees on labor market, that will enable NGOs to establish effective partnerships with public service providers and local businesses.
  • Provide support in activating unemployed returnees in the labor market through engaged two individuals who will be trained to promote socio-economic inclusion of Roma returnees.
  • Implement activation and employment methodology in the three pilot municipalities, methodology that will be transferred by an NGO engaged to build their capacities.
  • In addition to socio-economic inclusion of the target groups, provide psychosocial support, social cohesion, access to education, and documentation provision for returnees.
  • Increase the outreach and support the delivery of social services to vulnerable returnees; and
  • Increase the outreach and participation of Roma returnees in the employment support activities and/or services leading to employability enhancement and labour market activation.
• The above-mentioned project goals will be achieved by:
  • Involvement of the engaged individuals in various types of training sessions that will be organized within the project framework;
  • Execution of an action plan for implementing activities at a local level aimed at activating unemployed returnees in the labor market and facilitating their socio-economic inclusion;
  • Provision of services that returnees usually need as administrative procedure in obtaining certain documentation from the countries they return or other type of administrative procedure (effective programmes for supporting returnees on issues pertaining personal IDs, school certificates, recognition of informal education, access to health care and social services, information dissemination etc.);
  • Provision of services for outreach of employability services to returnees, coaching and mentoring of unemployed returnees and improve collaboration with public service providers;
  • Sharing information to the business sector regarding their needs for employment of returnees and enhancing collaboration with the private sector;
  • Provision of services for outreach and delivery of social services to returnees and their representation and mediation.
• Furthermore, NGOs will be involved in provision of insights/mapping of administrative bottlenecks for accessing services by the returnees as well as for outsourcing service provision to NGOs; and conducting field surveys among the target group about social needs at local level.
• Interested local NGOs will work jointly with UNDP in strengthening their capacities to become an effective partners of public service providers and local businesses. In addition, models for engagement of NGOs in the service delivery will be developed and proposed for its institutionalization to the policy and decision makers.

Duration

• Contract start date: 25th of November 2023
• Contract end date: 24th of June 2024

Result

• The Project is expected to deliver tangible results in the following three areas.
  • Output 1: Local returnee integration strategies are developed with selected municipalities.
  • Output 2: Elements of local returnee integration strategies are implemented in selected municipalities, including innovative activities on livelihoods, skills building, etc.
    • Regarding Output 2 that aim to demonstrate new approaches to economic empowerment programmes and social cohesion, which will form the main pillars of the local reintegration strategies, is the expected to deliver results by implementing the following activities:
      • Activity 2.1: Integrated support to improve employability of returnees;
      • Activity 2.2: Implement innovative programmes in supporting business start-ups and productive partnerships with local businesses;
      • Activity 2.3: Promoting social cohesion by organizing community-based programmes will support implementation of the community cohesion component of local reintegration strategies;
  • Output 3: Significant number of urgent administrative issues faced by returnees are addressed.
    • Regarding output 3 seek to identify and develop approaches for improved governance in public service provision, which can be institutionalized at the end of the Action implementation.
      • Activity 3.1: Improve access to social and administrative services by returnees including by use of digital tools.

Activities

• The selected CSOs/NGOs are expected to include in their proposal the following activities:
  • Selection and engagement of individuals with appropriate qualifications who will be employed within the organization;
  • Collaboration with the service provider for transferring the methodology to provide support in activating unemployed returnees in the labor market and facilitating their socio-economic inclusion;
  • Development of a strategy and tools for the identification and mapping of returnees
  • Field research and identification returnees at local level and develop data and providing reports for identified returnees from each field worker and submitting reports to the UNDP.
  • Field research and identification of companies that require new employment;
  • Formation of a coordination team comprising an individual for working within the community and a mediator for the employment of returnees in the private sector;
  • Implementation of trainings for engaged persons for improving their skills for identification and mapping of returnees; and
  • Representation of the returnee and mediation for access to local institutions and different services.

Criteria

• Interested local CSOs/NGOs must meet the following mandatory criteria:
  • To be registered (legal entity registration) minimum 3 years.
  • To prove that the applicant has the organizational capacity to implement projects or activities with a team of at least 3 members.
  • At least 2 years of experience in providing any administrative or similar advisory/mentoring services to persons at risk of social exclusion (preferably Roma returnees), with the aim to facilitate their socio-economic inclusion in the community. Applicants that have experience in provision of services for Roma returnees’ access to administrative procedure for obtaining personal and other documentation from the home country would be considered as an asset.
  • The applicant should include in the project proposal a management structure that includes a team of two members: a) Employment advisor and b) Employment mediator. The qualification requirements and experience of the proposed team members are presented below.
  • To prove that the applicant has experience in financial management with at least 1,000,000 MKD turnover over the period of 3 years.
• In addition to the mandatory criteria the interesting local CSOs/NGOs will be evaluated against the following criteria for which they will have to provide evidence of required experience. The experiences of the interested applicants beyond above-mentioned mandatory experience will be considered as an asset:
  • At least 2 years of experience in provision of support activities and/or services that have to do with labour market activation and integration of unemployed persons, preferably hard-to-employ persons. Priority will be given to CSOs/NGOs that have operated in any of the following cities and their surroundings: Prilep, Shtip and Shuto Orizari.
  • Experience in establishing effective partnerships with the local (municipal) authorities and the private sector, preferably on issues related to Roma inclusion or more specifically Roma returnees’ inclusion will be considered as a strong asset.

For more information, visit UNDP.