Applications are now open for the 2nd edition of the UNDP Ghana Waste Recovery Innovation Challenge (WRIC) 2020.
The project is organised by the UNDP, under the auspices of the “Plastic Waste Recovery for a Circular Green Economy in Ghana” project with funding from the Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF) .
The aim is to provide technical and financial support to business solutions that will promote and/or test innovative strategies for plastic waste recovery and management in Ghana.
Guidelines
The project is seeking to provide financial and technical support to businesses that:
- have a good management structure;
- have the possibility of making profit in the short, medium and long term;
- create employment and other income generation opportunities especially for women and youth;
- lead to/contribute to bringing a lasting solution to plastic waste recovery and management challenge in a specific area/community or region in Ghana.
- Special consideration will be given to projects that contribute to COVID-19 response and recovery.
Eligibility Criteria
- The total grant funds requested must not be more than US$ 40,000.
- The applicant (including third parties such as co-investors or banks and other lenders) provides matching funds of at least 30% of the total cost of the business idea.
- The funding request is for a specific, new and innovative business idea/project that addresses the challenge enumerated above.
- The WRIC/UNDP views innovation in its broadest sense including:
- a new approach, product, idea or service that has not been tested anywhere;
- an approach, product, idea or service that is new to Ghana;
- an approach, product, idea or service that has not been applied to plastic waste recovery and management in Ghana but presents the best possible opportunity to provide lasting solutions.
- Applicants must demonstrate that the project could not go ahead without WRIC/UNDP funding or that, if it would go ahead anyway, it would be at a much-reduced pace or scale.
- An organization may partner with other organizations, including NGOs and Community organizations. However, it is a condition that the lead applicant and implementer of the business idea must always be a commercial organization/business.
- The idea must be implemented in Ghana by private sector organisations registered in Ghana.
- A consortium may be formed, but the lead applicant is responsible for the project/idea and must warrant that the permission of the other members has been obtained.
- Applications must be submitted by private sector firms, including: a private for-profit company, joint ventures, partnership, cooperative, etc. New business set-ups or ideas will not be eligible under the 2nd edition of WRIC.
Application Guidelines
CONCEPT NOTES:
At the first part of the competition process, applicants are requested to download the concept note application form from the UNDP website and submit the completed application form by the deadline stated on the form and the guidelines. UNDP will conduct a preliminary review of the concept note using these criteria:
- Applicants must provide at least 30% matching funds.
- Only applications that meet the criteria will be fully assessed by an evaluation panel made of UNDP officers (majority) and other experts.
- The criteria for the full evaluation are defined in the application form. Only concept notes assessed with a minimum score of 70 out of 100 will pass to the next stage.
FULL PROPOSAL:
If your organisation is successful during the concept note stage, you will be invited to participate in the second stage to develop and submit a full proposal. This will be a much more detailed document which, amongst other things, will highlight in much greater detail:
- how the project will be implemented in terms of activities and proposed timelines;
- how the project will address the challenge set (as enumerated above with specific reference to plastic waste recovery value chain);
- how will it impact on the poorer segments of the Ghanaian society; and provide a detailed financing plan to understand how costs will be shared between your company and the WRIC/UNDP.
PITCHING:
If your proposal is successfully selected at this stage, you will be invited to present key highlights of your proposal at a business pitching encounter, where a team of experts from business support services, relevant government agencies and the private financial institution will finally select the winning proposals.
At this stage, unsuccessful proposals will still receive technical support to implement aspects of their proposals which is economically, social and environmentally sustainable. UNDP will conduct a due diligence assessment of enterprises under consideration before any assistance is provided.
CONTRACT:
A contract will be signed between UNDP and the selected business.
Submission
As a first step in the competition process, we are requesting interested entrepreneurs to submit a Concept Note to competition.gh@undp.org by 24 July 2020, 5pm GMT. All concept notes should be developed and submitted using the ‘WRIC CONCEPT NOTE APPLICATION FORM’ template.
As the first stage of the competition is judged solely on the content of application form, it is critical that applications are submitted within the deadline set.
Application Deadline: The deadline for submission of Concept Notes is on the 24 July 2020 at 5.00 pm Ghana time. Applicants that fail to meet the deadline will not be assessed by the panel.
