IFAD Call for Proposals: Closing the Data Gap towards an Efficient Remittances Market in Africa

March 13, 2019 BusinessTrumpet

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financial institution, through its Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) and in co-financing partnership with the European Union (EU), is pleased to announce the launch of a Call for Proposals: Closing the data gap towards an efficient remittance market in Africa.

In line with the PRIME Africa´s objectives of improving access and use of remittances in Africa, this Call for Proposals (CfP) focuses on enhancing remittances data and market intelligence through methodologies that can foster remittance-related effective policies and private sector investment. This entails collection, analysis and application of data from the African remittance market, with particular emphasis on both intraregional and European-related corridors.

In particular, the CfP aims at reducing the remittances market data deficit in Africa by promoting collection and processing of transparent data that both enables the design of industry-related benchmarks and impact assessment of on-going and future undertakings in this sector. Any proposed methodologies under this CfP should also enable the identification of [seven] specific countries in Africa for which a more in-depth data collection and analysis could lead to the creation of roadmaps of opportunities for market enhancement. To guarantee consistency in market development and expansion, the proposed methodologies should ensure the creation of a database/document repository, to be updated on a regular basis throughout the duration of the initiative.

Funding Information

This Call for Proposals will finance projects up to €700,000 for the 4-year project

Principles applying to this Call for Proposals

Each applicant should ensure and demonstrate its experience as research institution, as well as its establishment as legally-registered institution
Required partnerships must be confirmed by letters of engagement and a description of each partner’s specific role and contribution to the research
All proponent entities should have a proven research expertise as required by the Call
Proposals should present clear outcomes in line with the objectives of this Call. The related activities must also show how results will be shared.
IFAD’s FFR encourages fostering of partnerships between non-profit institutions and public and private organizations. Private-sector entities interested in responding to this Call must accept the following condition:

Any activity or product financed by IFAD’s grant shall be owned jointly by the Contracting Parties; as such, IFAD, as a Contracting Party, may disseminate/replicate any of the project outputs, as agreed with the implementing partner.

General Conditions

Implementation period
- The overall implementation period should not exceed 48 months. However, the comprehensive assessment of the remittance markets in Africa and the proposal to prioritize criteria for the 7 country selection will have to be undertaken and finalized by the third month of implementation.
Financial allocation
- This Call for Proposals will finance projects up to €700,000 for the 4-year project. Disbursements of funds will be done through a phased and result-based approach.
Partnerships
- To carry out this research, IFAD’s FFR welcomes strategic partnerships linking for-profit entities with nonprofit organizations, formal financial intermediaries, money transfer operators, microfinance institutions, financial cooperatives, postal networks, philanthropic organizations, investment funds, local and national governments. among others in order to secure further information beneficial to the overall market ecosystem.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible institutions
- The applicant must be a registered legal organization in an IFAD member state. Alternatively, at least one of the parties involved in the proposal must be based in an IFAD member state.
- The applicant may be a:
  - non-profit institution such as a non-governmental organization;
  - public, governmental institution;
  - for-profit entity or consultancy firm; or
  - academic institution.
Applicants must
- belong to an IFAD member state (alternatively, at least one of the parties involved in the proposal must be based in a member state)
- have legal status and be registered in the country in which they operate
- have the capacity to enter into financial and legal agreements with IFAD, and comply with the procurement guidelines of IFAD (see IFAD procurement guidelines)
- not act as an intermediary, but be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the proposal
- present audited financial statements and signed external audit reports, in accordance with international standards on audit, for at least two previous years (three years in the case of forprofit entities)
- have a minimum of two years of relevant experience for non-profit institutions and three for forprofit entities
- have proven experience in the field of remittances and be directly relevant to the project, unless the proposal is jointly presented, in which case at least one of the partnering organizations should have the required experience.