News, 18.11.2024

Fund for Local Cooperation (FLC) in Pretoria South, Africa 2024 Call for Project Proposals is Open

Background to this call for Proposals

The Embassy of Finland in Pretoria hereby invites South African civil society organizations and innovation support organizations to submit project proposals to apply for funding from the Fund for Local Cooperation (FLC). The objectives of this call are two-fold: 1) to promote circular economy   in the water and mining sector development in South Africa, and 2) A Democratic and accountable society that promotes  human rights.

In its development policy, Finland focuses on the strengths that provide good opportunities to support sustainable development. The objectives of development cooperation are based on the Sustainable Development Goals and widely shared priorities, such as strengthening the rights of women and girls, sexual and reproductive health and rights, education, and climate action.

Finland promotes mutually beneficial trade opportunities with developing countries. Finland aims to increase private sector participation in development cooperation and funding and to strengthen developing countries’ own domestic financing.

Finland continues its long-term human rights policy of promoting and defending the rights of women, girls, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples and gender and sexual minorities, and other people in particularly vulnerable positions. The work to promote and defend human rights also helps the efforts to tackle human trafficking.

The priorities for the FLC funding of the Embassy of Finland in Pretoria include economic development and entrepreneurship, democracy and the functioning of societies. Civil society actors working in this field can apply for funding for projects in the following areas:

1. Circular Economy
    A) Circularity in the water sector, and
    B) Circularity in the mining sector
2. A democratic and accountable society that promotes human rights

Application Process

The Call for project proposal application process:

  1. Applicants send a project proposal to the Embassy of Finland, which will be subsequently evaluated by an evaluation panel.

The document shall be submitted by email using the application template provided by the Embassy, including the compulsory information of the applicant (Annex 1) and the guidance for FLC project proposal documents (Annex 2-6). See Annexes .

FLC Instructions for Private Sector applicants

Private Company Application Form

As mentioned above, this Call for project Proposals has two focal areas. Below is a summary of the objectives and the types of projects sought for funding under each focal area.

    1. Funding for focal area 1: Circular
      Economy
      a)Smart and circular solution in the water sector
      b) Smart and circular solution in the mining sector

Finland's starting point is that globally, a carbon-neutral economy is one of the key solutions to the scarcity of natural resources, the loss of biodiversity and the fight against climate change. The circular economy enables the transition to a new, more sustainable, low-emission and resource-wise economic model, in which value addition is increasingly intangible and products are replaced by various services.

The Embassy aims to support the development of innovative circular economy solutions in South Africa.  During this call for proposals the focus is on increasing circularity in the water and mining sectors. Priority will be given to projects that advance partnerships between South African and Finnish companies and/or institutions.

Two to three projects will be selected for funding. Funding per project will range between 120 000 – 200 000 EUR, and can be granted for a duration of one to two years.

    1.  Funding for focal area 2:  A democratic and accountable society that promotes human rights

This focal area focuses on strengthening the role of civil society in advancing human rights. The projects sought for funding can address human rights issues faced by vulnerable groups in South Africa. A maximum of 2 project partners will be selected and supported in South Africa. Funding per project will be between 80 000 – 100 000 EUR, and can be granted for a duration of one to two years.

Eligibility

The eligibility of all applications is reviewed based on the below mentioned set of criteria.  Applicants should justify the relevance of the proposed activities and demonstrate potential for impact in line with the FLC objectives.  Preference is given to result-oriented, reputable organisations with experience and necessary organizational structures in place. The projects proposed should lead to verifiable development impacts.

Eligibility:

Any organisation/project selected for funding has to meet the following criteria and present the information in the proposal document:

  • be ODA eligible
  • be a South African civil society or private sector organization
  • be registered and legally competent
  • have been operational for a minimum of three years
  • have at least 10% of funding from at least one other source (not including in-kind contributions)
  • have a functional board of directors
  • be a non-partisan organization
  • demonstrate past success in related area of work to this call for proposals
  • have a solid financial management system including regular financial audits, and a reliable monitoring, evaluation and reporting system
  • have a sufficient infrastructure and human resources in South Africa
  • demonstrate experience of working with an international donor or other external financier

Funding cannot be awarded to

  • Government entities or political parties
  • Projects in which the beneficiary is a single person, or a single family
  • Construction, purchases of land or any other one –off and ad- hoc events
  • Charity purposes, humanitarian aid, donations, scholarships
  • Finnish beneficiaries
  • Unregistered associations or organisations
  • Basic research
  • Individual cultural events (no permanent impact)
  • As a grant, scholarship or assistance for the applicant’s personal use or project;
  • Use for the capital of microloan

How to apply

Interested applicants are requested to submit a proposal to the Embassy of Finland, by 10 January, 2025.

Any clarification questions must be submitted by 18 December, 2024 to: [email protected]

The proposal should be no more than 10 pages in length. Please fill in the application electronically, as no hand-written applications will be taken into consideration.

Evaluation of the project proposal

The evaluation of the proposal will be based on the technical merits and financial feasibility of the proposed intervention.

The evaluation of the proposal will be based on the eligibility of the applicant (see section Eligibility) and the evaluation of the proposal notes based on the below criteria:

  • Relevance of the proposed project to Finland’s development policy and the priority areas of this Call for Proposals, as well as to the needs of the beneficiaries identified.
  • Potential impact of the project, which is expressed in clearly defined and feasible project outputs and targeted outcomes. The impact evaluation in the circular economy thematic, also includes also the potential of the project to contribute towards developing partnerships between South African and Finnish entities, especially in the private sector.
  • Feasibility of the implementation arrangements, approach and planned financial and human resources
  • Previous documented experience  and management capabilities of the applicant in the same sector/theme

Approval and awarding of the contract

The proposals will be evaluated by the Embassy and shortlisting decisions made by February 2025.The Embassy reserves the right to cancel the selection process for a justified reason. No compensation will be payable to applicants for preparing a proposal, presenting it or otherwise taking part in the procedure.       

  • Compulsory Information of the applicant
  • Detailed proposal
  • Risks assessment
  • Result chain
  • Detailed budget
  • Latest annual report and audited financial statements
  • Detailed CVs

The timeline for the proposals screening and selection process as a whole is currently envisaged as follows:

STAGE I:

  1. Announcement of Call for proposals: 08.11.2024;
  2. There will be two rounds for questions or clarifications: the first round of questions to be sent by 22nd November to [email protected] and they will be answered by the 29th of November 2024. The second round of questions or clarifications to be sent by 11th December and answered by the 18th of December 2024. No other questions will be answered after the December 18th 2024 deadline.
  3. Deadline for submitting proposal: 10.01.2025.

STAGE II:

  1. Selections of full proposals for funding February 2025;
  2. Contract signing: April 2025 and project  starts

Applications should be submitted by email, by 10.01.2025, 12:00 o’clock (GMT +2) to the email address below. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be taken into consideration.

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 012 343 0275