Deadline: 8 July 2019

Nuffic is inviting a call for proposals to strengthen agricultural vocational skills with a focus on rural development and Agriculture Mechanisation stimulating youthemployment.

The proposed project must contribute to the following objective(s):

• End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (SDG 2);
• Ensuring availability and sustainable management of water for all (SGD 6).

The proposed project must contribute to the following long-term impact:

• Promote agricultural growth;
• Reduce malnutrition;
• Create ecologically sustainable food systems.

The following medium-term impact will contribute to this: Education system (TVET/HE) is of good quality, relevant and accessible (SDG 4);

• Partnerships between persons and organisations are inclusive and sustainable (SDG 17);
• Organisations key to (sectoral) inclusive development of partner countries are strengthened by inflow of enhanced workforce.

This will be achieved by the following outcome:

• TVET/HE organisations (in the selected partner countries and in NL) perform better their core tasks, firmly embedded in their environment (in line with country / regional specific labour market needs & aiming at inclusiveness).

The proposed project has to include the following elements and a clear strategy on how this will be achieved:

• Update and certify curricula to integrate agricultural mechanisation, technologydriven agribusiness and food supply system development models, and include certification of teachers;
• Upgrade the technical environment of TVET institutions and demonstration fields;
• Change business practices from traditional subsistence low-productive agriculture to a more demand driven commercial and mechanised agriculture, considering the complete agricultural value chain;
• Address the rural challenges of food insecurity and poverty by strengthening and disseminating technologies of agricultural mechanisation;
• Address the outmigration of rural labour to urban areas;
• Enhance capacity of rural development experts, practitioners, and change agents, and integrate Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) in the transformation processes;
• Address the chronic and growing shortage of skilled agricultural labour in Bangladesh, by focussing on job creation in the whole agricultural value chain in both rural and urban areas;
• Train youth in entrepreneurship and agro-mechanisation by establishing PrivatePublic Partnerships and offering workplace experience learning and/or practical training places;
• Integrate gender transformative actions in all interventions. Gender is a cross-cutting theme for integrated Food and Nutrition Security and Water & Climate.
• Seek alignment with already existing FNS projects supported by Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and/or Nuffic.

Funding Information

• Maximum available funding for this call, excluding co-funding: EUR 1,000,000
• Maximum funding per collaboration project, excluding co-funding: EUR 1,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Grant applications and applicants have to meet the minimum criteria to be eligible for a grant.
• The grant application must be submitted by a Dutch institution for secondary vocational or higher vocational or academic education, or a knowledge institution or organisation in a Country, potentially on behalf of their consortia. The project must be a collaboration between a Dutch and a country partner, potentially on behalf of their consortia. All country A partners have to be based in the country/countries specified in the call. Only the Dutch lead partner has to be based in the Netherlands.
• The grant applicant is in a position to provide adequate financial management and, due to its experience and expertise in relation to activities similar to those for which the grant is being requested, can guarantee the targeted and effective performance of the activities to achieve the impact and outcomes as defined in the application; the applicant must submit data in the form of a COCA to enable its capacities to be assessed. The grant applicant can function and operate appropriately within the legislation passed by the government in the country or countries in question.
• The project proposal has a minimum duration of one year and a maximum duration of four years, and must be implemented and established by no later than 31 December 2021.
• The grant applied for does not exceed the maximum amount specified in the call for grant applications.
• Any required co-funding is guaranteed.
• The grant application meets any specific financial requirements set out in the call.
• The grant application must be in the compulsory format and meet all criteria and requirements stated in this document.
• The grant application is in line with the CPI of the country concerned.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted via email at the address given on the website.

For more information, please visit this link.