CARE International in the Caucasus

Local Actors join for inclusive economic development and governance in the South Caucasus (JOIN)

Cross-border Small Grant Competition

CARE International in the Caucasus is announcing a competitive cross-border grant scheme to strengthen the identified value chains and increase participation of the poorest groups in market transactions along the chains in Lori, Tavush and Shirak Marzs of Armenia and Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions of Georgia. The grant scheme is announced within the scope of the project Local Actors join for inclusive economic development and governance in the South Caucasus (JOIN).

The grant programme will focus on value chains identified through participatory analysis in the project's communities on both sides of the Georgia-Armenia border. These are:

In Armenia:

1. Horticulture in Noyemberyan community

2. Sheep breeding in Amasia community

3. Potato production in Azatan community

4. Dairy and tourism development in Stepanavan community

5. Livestock in Tashir

6. Horticulture in Berd community.

In Georgia:

1. Meat in Gardabani municipality

2. Tomatoes in Marneuli municipality

3. New potatoes in Bolnisi municipality

4. Dairy in Dmanisi municipality

5. Ware potatoes in Akhalkalaki municipality

6. Dairy in Ninotsminda municipality.

Systemic changes in these value chains have the greatest potential to increase farmers' incomes through increased efficiency of support and core markets. In addition, the grant programme will give specific priority to those initiatives that identify opportunities to build connections across the Georgia-Armenia communities.

Grants will be issued to support projects that:

** Improve small scale economic infrastructure critical for development of value chains (e.g. irrigation system, storage facility, etc.). The infrastructure can be both publicly or privately owned;

** Strengthen know-how and technical capacities in agricultural production and support services;

** Support advocacy, lobbying and awareness raising to improve an enabling business environment.

Eligible applicants must:

** Be legal persons/entities registered in Georgia or Armenia, such as individuals, for-profit institutions, non-governmental, non-profit organizations and governmental bodies;

** Have proven capacity and experience in working in the field of agriculture or rural socio-economic development (3-5 years of relevant experience for businesses; experience in implementing similar projects for NGOs);

** Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the activities with their partners, not solely acting as an intermediary.

Any grant requested under this Call for Proposals must fall into the following minimum and maximum amount categories:

minimum amount: 5 000 USD

maximum amount: 40 000 USD.

Preference will be given to projects that offer higher financial contribution from the applicant. A grant request for non-business related activities (such as infrastructure development/rehabilitation, capacity building, etc; see section 3: Eligible Activities) will receive maximum 70% funding of the total value from CARE International in the Caucasus. Therefore, it is expected that applicant will match no less than 30% of total project costs. The match can be made in kind and/or in cash.

A grant request for business-related projects should not exceed 50 % of the estimated total project costs. The balance must be financed from applicant's own or other sources.

Interested parties can find the analysis of local value chains in Georgian and Armenian attached or at the website of CARE International in the Caucasus, together with this grant manual and the application form: for Georgian http://care-caucasus.org.ge/ge/main.php?id=1375276438; for Armenian http://care-caucasus.org.ge/ru/main.php?id=1375275866

Questions may be sent by e-mail no later than 10 days before the deadline for the submission of the project documents to the below address, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals.

E-mail address: marika_bairamyan@care.org.ge

The deadline for the submission of project proposal is December 27, 2013 at 17:00 hours local time.

Applications with supporting documents can be submitted in Armenian, Georgian, Russian and English (though each application should include a brief summary of the initiative in Russian or English) via email to: marika_bairamyan@care.org.ge or hand delivered or sent by private courier services in a sealed envelope at the following address:

In Armenia:

Azatutyan 1/21, 40

0037 Yerevan

The Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD)

In Georgia:

Tsagareli 37, 0160 Tbilisi

CARE International in the Caucasus

JOIN is funded by Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) (for more information please visit: www.mfa.at/adc | www.ada.gv.at) through Austrian Development Agency and is implemented by CARE Österreich and CARE International in the Caucasus together with the partner organizations - Civil Development Agency (CiDA) in Georgia and Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) in Armenia.

source: jobs.ge