Deadline: 4-Nov-20
Within its new Global digital strategy and as part of its global efforts on on-going agriculture interventions in Nepal, UNCDF is planning to implement a project as part of COVID-19 response to support smallholders gains access to timely and accurate information on Agri related aspects such as weather, technical inputs, commodity prices, etc.
The project objective is to create learning on adoption and usage behavior of smallholders for such a service. These learning will help develop business case to drive similar interventions at large scale.
UNCDF launched its Digital Finance interventions in Nepal in 2013 and focused on creating an inclusive environment for inception and scale up of digital financial services. UNCDF has been supporting the digital financial service providers, banks and other stakeholders in the country to develop an inclusive digital finance eco-system.
Funding Information
- Contribution will be up to USD 10,000.
Eligible Costs
The criteria for eligible expenditure determine whether a cost qualifies for funding under UNCDF rules and procedures. The general criteria for eligibility of costs under UNCDF funding include the following:
- Eligible costs must be incurred by the applicant during the project (after the signature of the Performance-based Agreement and up to the end of the Grant period).
- Eligible costs should be indicated in the estimated overall budget of the action attached to the Performance-based Agreement.
- Costs must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the applicant and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the lead applicant is established.
- Costs must comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation.
- Costs must be reasonable, justified and comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.
- Consultancy costs – under studies, technical assistance and other advisory services under the programme carried out by international and national consultants – are eligible as follows. Professional and consultancy services are services rendered by people with a special skill, and who are not officers or employees of the organization applying for the grant. Consulting services must be justified, with information provided on their expertise, primary organizational affiliation, normal daily fee, and number of days of expected service.
- Consultants’ travel costs, including for subsistence, are to be shown as travel expenditure. The applicant may be required to justify the daily fee.
- Workshop costs are eligible, for the workshop venue, food and beverages, and publication material. Costs for online workshops or webinars are also eligible.
- Training expenditure (financial education, digital education, soft skills) for the project’s final beneficiaries is eligible. If applicable, this will include all related expenditure, such as the cost of the venue, participant travel, and so on.
- Investment costs directly attributable to the project, relating to research and innovation, are allowable.
Project Activities
The potential partner is expected to have technical functionalities for managing such as services along with an updated information library on agriculture specific to Nepal’s context. The partner will be responsible for the following activities:
- Collate database of potential farmers through different sources
- Identify target area, types of messages (weather, price, tech inputs etc.), type of crop etc. in consultation with UNCDF team
- Create a library of messages, shared and approved by UNCDF
- Broadcast message and manage queries or inputs to ensure two way communication
- Share anonymize transaction data for behavior analysis
- Report to UNCDF on usage, responsiveness and other performance indicators for the pilot
How UNCDF works with partners
UNCDF takes a tailored approach to engagement with partners, working with each throughout to identify business and customer needs, and helping to design, pilot and scale up the solution along the way. Some examples of the ways in which UNCDF works with partners include:
- Product Research: Sharing market research and knowledge to deepen partners’ understanding of customers’ behaviors, needs, constraints and aspirations.
- Product Design: Providing human-centered design expertise to better understand the customer journey – physical and financial – for better product design and use-case development tailored to the needs of low-income customers and their families.
- Partnerships: Facilitating strategic partnerships with stakeholders – including crossborder payment hubs, mobile network operators, financial institutions, and non-bank financial institutions – to enable partners to reach last-mile customers, and to grow sustainably.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant(s) shall be duly incorporated and registered according to the rules of Nepal,
- Applicant(s) should be operating in Nepal for at least 2 year,
- Applicant(s) should have audited financial statements for at least past 1 year,
- Applicant(s) should have a tested and market ready solution,
- Applicants must have documents ready to confirm they meet the eligibility criteria, including audited financial statements, certificate of registration, certificate of compliance with the tax authorities and any other documentary evidence that might be requested by UNCDF.
For more information, visit https://www.uncdf.org/article/6166/rfa-engagement-of-private-sector-partner-to-pilot-an-agri-information-service-for-nepali-smallholders-in-covid-19-context