The UK Foreign Secretary has announced the launch of the FCO’s COVID-19 Enabling Fund as one of the elements of the UK’s global response to COVID-19 challenges. The British Embassy Nouakchott invites proposals from civil society and the private sector, within Mauritania for projects in support of Mauritania’s response to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.
Budget and timeframe
The British Embassy Nouakchott has allocated up to £50,000 from this Fund, which can be awarded to one or multiple projects. The term of the grant agreement is expected to be up to seven (7) months. Projects should commence in September 2020 and must end no later than 31 March 2021. There may be a possibility of an extension but this should not be assumed and will depend on the execution of the project this financial year and on the availability of funding for the next financial year. The deadline for submitting proposals is 17h30 GMT on 30 August 2020.
To complement the Government of Mauritania’s multi-sectoral response plan, project proposals should focus on the following areas:
1. Local economic impact of COVID-19
Intended outcomes include:
- helping local businesses, particularly SMEs, in surviving the effects of COVID-19 and recovering after the crisis
- assisting the private sector in adapting to the post COVID-19 world and being better prepared for future crises
2. Food security
Intended outcomes include:
- increased diversification of local food production through enabling new sustainable projects and businesses
- improved access to food through helping producers conserve for longer periods or expand the geographical range of their supply chain
- increased access to food through helping producers improve their production processes and permanently reduce their prices
3. Public health infrastructure
Intended outcomes inlcude:
- increased local Mauritanian capacity to produce, supply or obtain necessary health products and equipment
- enhanced quality, safety, performance and monitoring & evaluation of the local health system
- assisting the Ministry of Health’s response to the COVID-19 crisis
The FCO welcomes proposals for work in all regions of Mauritania, and regional pilots, which could be scaled up later to become nationwide. Successful projects should have sustainable outcomes and should clearly identify the change that will result. They may also build on projects by other organisations, complementing their efforts. However, in this case bids should make clear how they complement existing activities supported by other donors.
The maximum indicative funding for a single project is £50,000 but proposals for lower levels of support are also welcome. Funding may be sought to complement co-funding from other partners or self-funding contributions. Our funding is for the UK financial year 2020-21 only (projects must be implemented and all payments made by 15 March 2021). Where appropriate, bidders are encouraged to describe how their project could be further scaled-up if additional funding becomes available in future.
Administrative costs (office rent, bookkeeper rates, utilities, communications, stationery, bank charges etc) must not exceed 10% of the total project budget.
The British Embassy Nouakchott reserves the right to carry out due diligence of potential grantees, including seeking references, as part of the selection process.
Bidding is competitive and only selected projects will receive funding. The Embassy reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids without incurring any obligation to inform the affected applicant(s) of the grounds of such acceptance or rejection. The Embassy will however endeavour to provide feedback on all unsuccessful bids to assist bidding organisations with future proposals.
Bidding process
Bidders should fill in the standard Project Proposal Form above £10k (ODT, 34.7KB) if the project requires more than £10,000 in funding; if not they should fill in the standard Project Proposal Form up to £10k (ODT, 29.7KB). Both should include a breakdown of project costs in the Activity Based Budget Template (ODS, 10.2KB) where all costs should be indicative, in GBP (not Mauritanian Ouguiya). We will not consider proposals submitted in other formats.
Successful implementers must be able to receive project funding in a national MRU bank account. We aim to evaluate proposals by early September and expect approved projects to commence by the end of September.
Evaluation criteria
Successful bids must demonstrate strong strategic relevance to the programme’s priority areas and have a clear focus on delivering change and sustainable impacts.
Proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Fit to programme objectives – the extent to which the project can contribute to the outcomes identified above.
- Quality of project – how well defined and relevant the outcome is and how outputs will deliver this change.
- Value for money – the value of the expected project outcomes and clear justification for the level of funding requested.
- Previous experience – evidence of the bidding team’s understanding of the project’s area and ability to manage and deliver a successful project.
- Gender-sensitive approach – partners should identify the gender implications of the theme they are addressing.
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