Business Development Fund

Transcription

1 Business Development Fund Swiss-Ukrainian project Organic Market Development in Ukraine ( ) Business Development Fund Guidelines April 23, 2014 (revised version) Approved by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO on April 23, 2014 Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau (FiBL), Ackerstrasse, CH-5070 Frick, Schweiz, Tel. +41 (0) , Fax +41 (0) ,

2 1. Objectives of this funding The Business Development Fund (BDF) of the Project Organic Market Development Project ( ) is funded by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and managed by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL). The BDF is an internal project funding tool to co-finance relevant, outcome enhancing activities of applicants that contribute interestingly to the project s objectives. It refers to support in regard to all five project components: Arable crops value chain, Dairy value chain, Carpathian Trademark Initiative, Commercial organic service providers, Conducive environment for organic sector. The available budget is allocated flexibly to business development ideas that promise interesting economic, social, and environmental outcomes in the context of organic market and sector development within Ukraine and/or the development of the Carpathian Trademark initiative 1. It is expected that the activities supported will generate different types of innovations to stimulate market and sector development that fall in one or more of the following categories. Commercial innovations: product and label development, the establishment of new sales points, the development of PR materials, websites and market information systems etc. Technical innovations: improvements to products, packaging, specific processing equipment, the definition of new production standards, or specialised services to ensure and enhance product quality etc. Institutional innovations: the development of new business partnerships, stakeholder and networking events, the institutionalisation of stakeholder training, the development of stakeholder platforms, markets and fairs, conferences etc. The following types of activity/proposal are not eligible: Contributions to the construction and/or renovation of buildings, leasing and renting of land, 1 The Carpathian Trademark initiative is a regional labelling scheme, supported by this project, established to promote quality food products from the four Carpathian oblasts in Ukraine (L viv, Ivano- Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattya) in order to boost competitiveness and increase incomes in the Carpathian region. BDF_ Guidelines_140515_EN.docx 2 / 7

3 Contributions to the running costs of the core business such as general salary and office costs. Salary costs may, however, be counted as the applicant s own contribution for cofinancing, Costs which cannot be proven with with financial documents (invoices, agreement, statements, etc.), e.g. overhead costs. BDF contributions are in the range of 2,000 15,000 CHF per application and open to the following type of beneficiaries: Small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in the organic arable crops and dairy value chains plus service providers in these sectors, including research and extension organizations (project components 1 and 2). Farm enterprises, processors and traders have to be either certified organic or in conversion to organic or provide a valid certification contract with an internationally accredited control body operating in Ukraine. Active farmers, processors, traders, retailers, exporters and service providers engaged in activities relevant to the Carpathian Trademark initiative (project component 3). Legally registered entrepreneurs, companies or organisations offering different type of services to the organic sector (project component 4). Legally registered entrepreneurs, companies or organisations committed to improving the policy and business environment of the organic sector (project component 5). Note: Applicant cannot submit more than one BDF proposal at once. A next proposal can only be submitted when all activities of a the previous BDF proposal were implemented satisfactorily. In principle, all supported activities have to be implemented and completed within one year. 2. Funding criteria The following funding criteria will be used to assess applications; the weight of these criteria varies for the different project components (see Annex): (a) Market development positive potential and anticipated durability of the proposed activity. (b) Knowledge and experience the applicant(s) must be familiar with the targeted sector and have sufficient experience and capacity to successfully implement the proposed activities. (c) Synergies with other activities the proposed activities should create synergies with on-going or planned activities; which can be the applicant s own activities or those of other actors. BDF_ Guidelines_140515_EN.docx 3 / 7

4 (d) Partnership setting the institutional setup to ensure that the required partnerships are in place and responsibilities are defined in such a way that the funder (SECO) can be reasonably confident that the proposed activities will be implemented efficiently and will be effective. (e) Capacity enhancement the potential of the proposed activities to build up and strengthen key capacities of the applicant and other actors involved, all in all enhancing the competitiveness of the actor(s) involved and their activities. (f) Co-financing The applicant contributes a minimum of 50% 2, depending on its financial situation, which will be complemented by the BDF to 100%. 3. Management & calls The responsibility for the overall management of the BDF lies with FiBL, i.e. evaluation of proposals and the monitoring of the approved proposals. All BDF calls are announced on the project website Calls may be general or specific, i.e. applying to all project components or only to specific ones depending on the project s priorities, activity status and budgetary situation. 4. Procedure 4.1 Two-stage evaluation process When a call is opened, as a first step, applicant submit a standardised pre-proposal 3 describing briefly their ideas and activities that they are requesting support for. The pre-proposal is assessed by the FiBL BDF Coordinator, who then discusses it with the relevant FiBL sector expert(s) and the FiBL project manager. These pre-proposals are then evaluated using the relevant funding criteria. The result of this evaluation will be decisive if the applicant will be invited to submit a full-proposal. Applications that do not respect the maximum number of pages, do not contain complete documentation, or lack other requested information will be considered only after proper application. Applicants who submit a pre-proposal that is positively evaluated will then be invited to elaborate on this and submit a full proposal, taking into account the recommendations shared by 2 As co-contribution is understood (a) an own contribution by the applicant in own invested money (funds) and/or time; (b) a contribution from a client (e.g. stall fee from exhibitors at a fair, admission fee for conferences and seminars from participants; (c) a contribution from partners, sponsors and donors other than the Swiss Confederation. 3 See BDF_ Guidelines_140515_EN.docx 4 / 7

5 BDF Coordinator. The full proposal relates to a template that requires more detailed information, including a detailed activity plan and budget. These full proposals are evaluated by the FiBL project leader, the project manager, the BDF Coordinator and the relevant sector expert(s). The evaluation is based on defined funding criteria which are part of an evaluation template (see below). For requests for contributions higher than 10,000 CHF, also a SECO/ SCO representative will be involved. 4.2 Detailed procedure and timelines of the BDF application process BDF Pre-proposal Step Procedure 1 Applicant submit by a BDF pre-proposal together with scanned registration certificate of entrepreneur/ organization/ company to BDF Coordinator, in English and Ukrainian) 2 The BDF Coordinator checks the completeness of the preproposal. If information is missing, applicant is requested to add missing data and resubmit the pre-proposal. 3 The BDF pre-proposal is assessed by the BDF Coordinator, project manager and the relevant sector expert(s) using the defined evaluation/funding criteria. The BDF Coordinator compiles all assessment results and based on results, evaluators take a decision to approve or not the elaboration of a full proposal. 4 The BDF coordinator informs the decision by to applicant with either the request to develop a BDF full proposal or that the application has been rejected. Time Any time when the BDF call is open Within 10 working days after deadline of submission of BDF preproposals Within 15 working days after deadline of submission of BDF preproposals and receiving the complete BDF preproposal Within 5 working days of knowing the decision by evaluators BDF Full-proposal Step Procedure 5 Applicant submit by a BDF full-proposal in English and Ukrainian to BDF Coordinator. The BDF Coordinator confirms the receipt immediately by . 6 The BDF Coordinator checks the completeness of the BDF full-proposal. Only complete BDF full-proposals will be considered. Time Within 20 calendar days of having received positive notice to develop a BDF full proposal. Within 5 working days proposals. The deadline BDF_ Guidelines_140515_EN.docx 5 / 7

6 will be announced on the project website. 7 The BDF full-proposal is assessed by the FiBL project leader, project manager, BDF Coordinator and relevant sector expert(s). 8 The BDF Coordinator summarizes assessment results in template of Excel file. On this basis involved evaluators take a decision to support or not the proposal, and under what conditions. In case, the proposal is beyond CHF, SECO will be approached to agree on the support of such proposal. 9 The applicant is informed by about decision and contacted by the BDF Coordinator. If the assessment is positive, the BDF Coordinator discusses with the applicant next steps relating to the development of the contractual agreement and ToR. 10 The BDF Coordinator drafts an agreement with corresponding BDF Terms of Reference (ToRs) with defining indicators and deliverables which then are signed by FiBL and the applicant. It also clarifies the responsibilities of FIBL and the applicant to monitor and document the implemented activities. Within 15 working days proposals Within 20 working days proposal Within 25 working days proposal Within 15 working days 5. Monitoring and disbursement of funds Each recipient of BDF funding will be responsible for reporting on the activities carried out with BDF support. The deliverables and reporting dates are specified in the signed ToRs as part of the contractual agreement. In each case, the relevant FiBL sector expert(s), with the support of the BDF Coordinator, will be responsible to do the monitoring of the supported activities. This includes verifying the quality of implementation and achieved results, and checking that the agreed deliverables are handed in time. The advance payment, payment modalities are specific for each proposal, depending on the nature of the proposed activities and the time frame for their implementation will be defined in ToR. Based on the approval from the side of Sector Expert(s) and confirmation of the BDF Coordinator according to the signed BDF agreement and ToRs (i.e. relating to deliverables), the BDF_ Guidelines_140515_EN.docx 6 / 7

7 FiBL project office in Kyiv is responsible for timely disbursement of these funds and for financial reporting on the BDF. Annex: Weight of assessment criteria according to targeted project component Evaluation criteria Arable Crops Value Chain Developme nt Dairy Value Chain Developme nt Carpathian TM Commercial Organic Service Providers Conducive Environmen t for Organic Sector 1. Market development impact 2. Knowledge and experience 3. Synergies with other activities 4. Partnership setting 5. Capacity enhancement 40% 40% 30% 30% 20% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 20% 10% 10% 20% 20% 20% 6. Co-financing 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% BDF_ Guidelines_140515_EN.docx 7 / 7