Fund for Local Cooperation (FLC) in Pretoria, South Africa 2024 Call for Proposals from Lesotho is Open
Background to this call for Proposals
The Embassy of Finland in Pretoria hereby invites civil society organizations and innovation support organizations based in Lesotho to submit project proposals to apply for funding from the Fund for Local Cooperation (FLC). The objective of this call is as follows: to promote circular economy development in Lesotho, focusing in particular on jobs and private sector development in waste management or water sector, raising awareness and promoting youth economic empowerment, especially among women.
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 based in Lesotho and working in the field of waste management or water sector can apply for funding for projects in the following area:
- Jobs and private sector development in waste management or water sector
Application Process
The Call for Proposal application process:
- Applicants send a project proposal via email 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 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 Proposals has one focal area. Below is a summary of the objectives and the types of projects sought for funding under this focal area.
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- Funding for focal area: Job and private sector development in water management or water 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 new waste management and water solutions in Lesotho. It does this by channelling funding to organisations that work in the field of waste management or water sector. More specifically, the Embassy is seeking to fund proposals, which will improve waste management, e.g. through recycling, renewability, resource efficiency, extending product life cycle, and sharing platforms.
1 project will be selected for funding. Funding per project will range between 70 000 – 80 000 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 Lesotho-based 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 Lesotho
- demonstrate experience of working with an international donor or other external financier
Funding cannot support:
- 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 project proposal to the Embassy of Finland, by 10.01 2025.
Any clarification questions must be submitted by 18 December 2024 to [email protected]
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.
- 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 project 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:
- Announcement of Call for proposals: 08.11.2024;
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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.
- Deadline for submitting proposal: 10.01.2025.
STAGE II:
- Selections of full proposals for funding February 2025;
- 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