Call for Proposals: Promoting Regional Knowledge Exchange and Cooperation between Training Institutes in SADC Member States in the fields of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Climate-Sensitive Natural Resource Management and Tourism

Closing Date: 
Saturday, 4 June, 2022 (All day)
Organization: 
SADC/GIZ C-NRM

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

‘Think SADC, Innovate and Train Regional’ Promotion of Regional Knowledge Exchange and Cooperation between Training Institutes in SADC Member States in the fields of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), Climate-Sensitive Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Tourism

                                                             

        

  1. BACKGROUND

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supports the SADC Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Directorate through the SADC/GIZ Project “Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Management” (C-NRM, 01/2021-12/2024) funded by the German Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ).

The objective of the SADC/GIZ C-NRM-Project is that climate change is systematically considered in cross-border Natural Resource Management (NRM), climate-smart agriculture and tourism in the SADC region. The project has 4 components. Under component 2, SADC/GIZ C-NRM seeks to achieve this objective by (i) promoting exchange among training providers as well as between training providers and development projects and organisations, (ii) supporting knowledge management and dissemination of good practices and (iii) strengthening resource mobilisation to reduce funding gaps.  

The call addresses these goals and provides an opportunity to SADC training institutes to apply for funds as follows.

 

  1. OBJECTIVES OF THE CALL

The objective of this call is

  • to promote regional integration in the teaching and learning space;
  • to strengthen collaboration and networking amongst SADC training institutes;
  • to share good practices and support knowledge dissemination through training courses and curricula; and
  • to build regional capacity and training offers in the sectors of climate-smart natural resource management and agriculture and tourism.

 

  1. DETAILS OF THE CALL

The call addresses training institutes from the SADC-region who offer training/education in the area/s of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), Climate-Sensitive Natural Resource Management (NRM) and/or Tourism.

It invites training institutes to partner up with at least one other institute (but preferably more than 1) from a different SADC member state and

  • develop a joint action plan; and
  • develop a regional training programme
  • develop new curricula or
  • adapt existing content/ programmes/ curricula/ courses in the above thematic fields.

GIZ seeks to issue 2 to 3 grants of up to EUR 150.000 per partnership / network for an 18 months’ period.

Already existing activities at a regional scale will be an advantage.

The proposal should include an element of capacity building among partners, whereby existing capacity e.g., in the form of knowledge, skills, learning material or training resources is shared amongst the institutes that are part of the network / partnership.

Further, the project – especially in light of what the world has learned during the last 2 years that were characterized by the COVID19 - pandemic – would like to see that digital learning formats such as distance and e-learning tools and up-to-date, innovative learning methodologies are taken on board as part of the project. This does not only make training independent from the physical presence of trainees which is cost- and time efficient for training institutes and trainees, but it moreover allows for easy harmonisation and adjustment of training contents. It facilitates sharing of contents and approaches, facilitates pooling of lecturers and curricula developers, sharing of development costs and training a higher number of students in line with their personal availabilities. As a result access to training possibilities is improved to learners from various language and cultural backgrounds across SADC and beyond.

 

  1. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
  • All institutes need to be non-for-profit entities.
  • All institutes need to be registered in accordance with the legal provisions applicable in the country they are based in and be accredited as training providers.
  • At least one of the institutes in the partnership shall be a vocational training institute.
  • The application must be a joint application. However, a lead institute must have been determined that will enter into the grant agreement with GIZ. The lead institute as well as the institutes that will benefit under the grant as sub-grantees will need to undergo commercial eligibility checks. The lead institute will coordinate the joint activities. It will be accountable to GIZ and needs to follow GIZ procurement policies. At the time of the proposal, it is sufficient if the proposal is signed by the proposed lead institute with a letter of agreement of the partner(s) to cooperate under the coordination of the lead institute.
  • The proposed activities must not exceed a time period of 18 months.
  • The project budget per proposal should not exceed 150.000 EUR.
  • There must be an element of co-finance/self-contribution of at least 10% in cash or kind.
  • The application needs to consist of a technical proposal, a budget and will require the annexes as specified.
  • The application needs to be submitted in the English language. The working language of the contractual relationship between GIZ and the grantee will be the English language, incl. the reporting to GIZ.

 

5. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

  • Development or improvement of e-learning/virtual platforms/systems/learning formats and e-learning curricula;
  • Development of new course content and/or improvement of existing course content in the fields of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), climate-sensitive NRM and tourism;
  • Travel, exchange visits and/or joint meetings aimed at improving training curricula and facilitating collaboration between the institutes (if needed, priority should however be given to virtual or hybrid formats);
  • Consultancies e.g. coaching, facilitation, curriculum development;
  • Training-of-trainers and other capacity development measures;
  • Launch/piloting of programme; and
  • To a limited extent: procurement of equipment.

 

  1. NON-ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES
  • Building and major rehabilitation works of infrastructure;
  • Staff costs, office rent, power & electricity and other running/fixed/overhead costs.

 

  1. TIMEFRAME

Q&A session

06 May 2022

Application deadline

04 June 2022

Contacting of successful applicants

24 June 2022

Conduction of commercial eligibility checks

27 June – 15 July 2022

Finalisation / fine-tuning of fundable projects

18 July – 29 July 2022

Signing of grants

August/Sept 2022

Implementation period

Oct 2022 – March 2024 (18 months)

 

  1. APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

 

  1. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Proposals that are not aligned with the templates provided will not be considered. Proposals must be submitted together with the provided Budget templates and must not exceed 5 pages. Project Proposals must be approved with the signature of the representative of the applicant organisation. Successful applications will be developed into full Project Proposals with the support of the SADC/GIZ-C-NRM team.