Digital transformation presents unprecedented opportunities as an enabling tool for economic growth and social inclusion. It can help strengthen linkages between sectors in economies with high levels of informality, such as in Southern countries of the Mediterranean, and it provides smaller companies the chance to expand their markets. However, digitalization can also deepen existing gaps by generating more significant exclusion and distributive inequity. Therefore, comprehensive policies and capacity-building programs appear to be essential to improve the population’s digital skills and to increase women’s participation and inclusion in innovation activities and trade process optimization.
UfM Grant Scheme for the Promotion of Inclusive Digital Trade
Through this Grant Scheme, the UfM reaffirms its commitment to promoting inclusive digital trade in the region as a vehicle for economic growth, with a focus on the Southern Mediterranean countries.
With the financial support of GIZ, on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID).
Objective
This Grant Scheme aims to support and increase the participation of relevant entities, such as SMEs, cooperatives, entrepreneurs, social enterprises, and business communities in e-commerce, with a particular focus on business organizations led and operated by women in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. The Grant Scheme intends to identify and address the challenges business organizations face in e-commerce through training and capacity-building measures.
The specific objectives and priorities of this call for proposals are the listed below.
Specific objectives and priorities
- Specific Objective
Supporting SMEs, cooperatives, social enterprises, business communities, and entrepreneurs to enable them to export more through e-commerce.
- Priority 1
Development of digital, technical, and managerial capacities to facilitate greater participation in e-commerce in the Southern Mediterranean.
- Priority 2
Enhancing the participation in e-commerce of women-led enterprises, particularly those operating in rural areas.
The cross-cutting issues to be integrated in the proposals include:
- Gender Equality
Gender equality is a fundamental human right and a central, standalone goal in the 2030 Agenda. The design of the action should give particular attention to gender mainstreaming to ensure a reinforced role of women as actors of change.
Women particularly are affected by time and mobility constraints due to various cultural, social, and even legal patterns that deprive them from participating in the digital economy; projects are encouraged to include a special focus on them and other vulnerable focus groups.
- Environment and climate change
Mainstreaming environment and climate change is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Applicants are encouraged to ensure that environment and climate change considerations are mainstreamed throughout the proposal and/or to include specific results on environment and climate change.
In addition, projects that provide for the following elements of added value, may obtain a higher score:
Regional added value
Proposals demonstrate an actual need for the UfM region and address common regional needs by providing tangible benefits for the identified target groups.
Innovation
Proposals consider state-of-the-art methods, techniques, international best practices and lead to innovative solutions and results for the concerned territories.
Complementarity
Proposals consider international, national and/or regional policies and other projects, as well as other programmes in the cooperation area to exploit potential synergies and complementarities.
Impact
Foreseen impact of proposals in a medium- and long-term perspective (beyond project duration) is based on quantifiable result indicators. Benefits should potentially extend beyond the territories covered by the project proposal.
Sustainability
The sustainability of project outputs and results will ensure territorial impact and long-term benefits. Sustainability must be considered at the point of project design and be integrated into the action plan.
Response to climate change
The project needs to be related to the challenges of climate change and their relation to the Mediterranean economies and labour markets.
Experience
The applicant should have a proven track record of working in the proposed field of action, either through individual expertise and experience, previous projects, or partnerships with experienced stakeholders.
Target group
Projects with a special focus on vulnerable target groups are preferred, such as women, people living in rural areas, young people struggling to enter the labour market, migrants, and people with disabilities.
Local Context
The initiative should clearly account for the local conditions it is to be implemented in.
Grant Benefits
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall under a minimum amount of 150.000€ and a maximum amount of 300.000€.
Furthermore, any grant requested under this call for proposals must represent a minimum of 50% of the total eligible costs of the action and a maximum of 80% of the total eligible costs.
The balance (i.e., the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the contracting authority) must be financed from sources other than the Union for the Mediterranean.
Duration and implementation
The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 6 months nor exceed 15 months.
Actions can only take place in one or multiple of the following UfM Member States: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia.
Priority will be given to regional actions, i.e. involving at least 3 of the aforementioned Member States.
Who can apply?
To apply for a grant, the lead applicant must:
- be a legal person (non-governmental organization)
- be non-profitmaking.
- be established in the UfM Region
- be established in one of the following countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia or have at least one co-applicant established in one of the above-mentioned countries.
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
Government agencies, local authorities, and public sector operators are not eligible under this call. – except for state dependent or publicly funded research centres and universities.
Enterprises cannot apply directly for funding under the Grant Scheme, nor can funds be forwarded to for-profit entities. However, the activities or measures to be implemented may provide capacity building for enterprises with social benefit purposes.
How to apply?
The deadline for the submission of applications is the 18th of November 2024 at 15:00 (Barcelona, GMT+1), as evidenced by the date and time of email reception, or the date and time of delivery receipt. Any application submitted after the deadline will automatically be rejected.
Updated timeline
Date
Information meeting (if any)
Not applicable
Deadline for requesting any clarifications from the contracting authority
07/10/2024
Last date on which clarifications are issued by the contracting authority
17/10/2024, 11h
Deadline for submission of applications
18/11/2024, 15h
Information to lead applicants on opening, administrative checks and concept note evaluation (Step 1)
28/02/2025
Information to lead applicants on the evaluation of the full applications (Step 2)
21/04/2025
Notification of award (after the eligibility check) (Step 3)
17/05/2025
Contract signature
30/05/2025
Guidelines, annexes to fill in and general information annexes
Before submitting the documents, please read our guidelines.
Documents to be submitted
(there is no Annex F)
Annex D:
Annex E:
Documents for information
(there is no Annex K)
How do we evaluate?
In a first step, the applications will be evaluated according to their relevance and design. After this pre-selection, the proposals will be selected according to these criteria:
1. Financial and operational capacity
- 1.1 Does the applicants have sufficient in-house experience of project management?
- 1.2 Do the applicants have sufficient in-house technical expertise? (especially knowledge of theissues to be addressed)
- 1.3 Do the applicants have sufficient in-house management capacity? (Including staff, equipment and ability to handle the budget for the action)?
- 1.4 Does the lead applicant have stable and sufficient sources of finance?
2. Relevance
- 2.1 How relevant is the proposal to the objectives and priorities of the call for proposals?
- 2.2 How relevant is the proposal to the particular needs and constraints of the target country(ies), region(s) and/or relevant sectors (including synergy with other development initiatives and avoidance of duplication)?
- 2.3 How clearly defined and strategically chosen are the target groups?
- 2.4 Does the proposal contain particular added-value elements listed above (Innovation, Complementarity, Impact, Sustainability, Response to Crisis, Experience, Target Group, Local Context, Regional added value)?
3. Design of the action
- 3.1 How coherent is the overall design of the action?
- 3.2 Does the design reflect a robust analysis of the problems involved, and the capacities of the relevant stakeholders?
- 3.3 Does the design take into account external factors (risks and assumptions)?
4. Implementation approach
- 4.1 Is the action plan for implementing the action clear and feasible? Is the timeline realistic?
- 4.2 Does the proposal include an effective and efficient monitoring system? Is there an evaluation planned?
- 4.3 Is the co-applicant(s)’s and affiliated entity(ies)’s level of involvement and participation in the action satisfactory?
5. Sustainability of the action
- 5.1 Is the action likely to have a tangible impact on its target groups?
- 5.2 Is the action likely to have multiplier effects, including scope for replication, extension, capitalisation on experience and knowledge sharing?
- 5.3 Are the expected results of the proposed action sustainable?:
- Financially
- Institutionally
- At policy level
- Environmentally
6. Budget and cost-effectiveness of the action
- 6.1 Are the activities appropriately reflected in the budget?
- 6.2 Is the ratio between the estimated costs and the results satisfactory?
If you have questions regarding this call, please contact: callforproposals@ufmsecretariat.org
This webpage and brochure have been prepared for information and dissemination purposes. Further requirements and conditions are specified in the guidelines and corresponding annexes. For more detailed information, please consult these documents.
