Matching Grant Fund (MGF)

Yes, it can be accepted in Portuguese

It is foreseen to provide 15 grants for the cashew value chain, and more than 20 for the other value chains ; these are only  rough numbers, as the exact number will depend on the amounts of the grants that are requested.

The trainings being presented right now are face-to-face offers. Online trainings will be presented subsequently.
The face-to-face trainings need to be done physically.  

There are post training and support offered  

No! The participants are not required to make any payment. You would have to include the total cost of the whole implementation of the project in the budget.

It is possible to apply for various value chains – different value chains came together in one concept note also during first calls.

Yes, you can apply together with other consortium partners. Please read the guidelines for applications for other eligibility criteria.

The evaluation criteria can be found in the guidelines and include the type of firm, the technical concept and budget that you hand in. Don’t be afraid if budget not yet perfect. Use the guidelines as main source of orientation.

All OACPS member states are eligible to apply for the Matching Grant Fund for the value chains: cashew, cocoa, maize and livestock (cattle, sheep and goat). However, in the interest of regional balance, during this call, priority will be given to projects originating from countries with no or few projects from our previous calls. A list of countries and number of projects is published on the respective

Yes, you can hand in applications for other countries if the countries the activity is taking place in is a OACPS member state. You can then be part of the consortium.

We are not looking for a specific part of value chain, but rather innovative ideas increasing value of value chains and income, including climate resilience and gender empowerment (also aspects that we look for in technical assessment)

No, you, the applicants decide. But the lead applicant shall have a larger contribution. The contribution can be in cash or in kind.

We are happy to have NGOs involved. NGOs might be needed as service provider to support implementation of certain activities. However, this is of course up to the applying partners to integrate in their activities

A public company cannot be a lead applicant but can be part of a consortium with a private partner as lead applicant.

Unfortunately, no.

Farmers and processors are direct actors and are hence eligible to apply. Farmers and processors are direct actors and are hence eligible to apply.

Sadly, you cannot apply with another research institute. But there is a research grant upcoming by the MOVE-ComCashew project of which you will be informed.

You can take up new VC, we will evaluate a bit your experience in the VC. However, it is not an eligibility criteria. And the VC can only apply if the main operation is in the VC of cocoa, maize, livestock(cattle, goat, and sheep) or cashew.

Yes, it is possible to envisage support actions, if your project is selected with a contract, particularly on gender issues.  

It is also possible if there are beneficiaries in the cashew value chain or agri-business training courses that take gender issues into account.

You can take inspiration from the different approaches and activities presented during the capacity development presentation and include them in your contexts for women, young people and others.  

It is also important to note that you need to clearly define the target group and the challenges it faces in the Value Chain, as well as the activities to be put in place for the project to run smoothly.

Development of Concept Note phase

The bank details of the lead consortium partner is what we request for.

Correct, the working aid Excel is not an obligatory document to be submitted, however you can (to serve as reference)

Use your internal rates (accommodation and per diem)

The tenders have to be done at the contracting stage.

To ensure that the assets and equipment provided by consortium members remain their property at the end of the contract, it would be necessary to:

1. Only contribute to depreciation and not the overall acquisition cost.
2. Use the exclusive equipment solely for the co-financed activity. If it is used for other purposes within the company, the proportion of usage attributable to the co-financed project must be estimated. For example, if the machine is used 50% for the co-financed project and 50% for the company's needs, and the company wishes to retain the asset at the end, only 50% of the depreciation will be counted as the consortium's contribution to the project.

GIZ contributes 40% of each budget lines.

The term "audit" here refers to the project audit.

Unfortunately, you are not allowed to alter the GIZ template as you have done. As this agreement is for you and the consortium, you may want to sign a separate document (with these clauses) internally based on consent of all consortium partners but not on the GIZ template.

We are unable to accommodate your request due to the anticipated start date of the evaluation. The evaluation of full proposals would begin on September 15th, and we plan to send all proposals received to the evaluators prior to this date for review.

Realistically, you cannot tell who will win a tender at this stage, so it is advisable to be open. You must put NN or the profile you are looking for but not the name and put the amount involved under budget line ‘other costs.

No.

The deadline for submission of full proposal is 13th September.

Both options (either a new account or sub account) are feasible and could be considered.

All the yellow boxes are those you can modify; the white ones are calculated automatically. We have a risk and cost sharing ratio of 40% (GIZ) and 60% (partner). So, when you set this percentage, cost-sharing is automatic.

Skip those numbers since you can only have them after the contract is prepared.

That is right. Only successful applicants that GIZ enters a contract with after full proposal stage, will receive these trainings.

GIZ financial training on reporting would only be offered once your application is selected after full proposal stage and contract prepared. There is no need to put the cost of that training in your budget. All other training courses you have listed depend on you based on your context or activity and scale. You must determine the cost involved based on the numbers you are considering and other factors.

On the website, please scroll down to ‘how to apply’. A link will lead you to where to download the documents required for the application.

The Matching Grant Fund for cashew is open to only Private sector businesses (including farmer groups) within the 79 ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries who apply as a consortium. Kindly visit our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on guidelines for application.

Kindly visit our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on guidelines for application.

Kindly visit our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on guidelines for application.

Note that for the concept note stage, you are only expected to submit a concept note and Letter of intent signed by Consortium (refer to slide 16 on attached), I have attached the templates which are available on the website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund

Submit your concept note and letter of intent to cashew@giz.de. You would find the appropriate templates for both on our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund

For the lead applicant, his company must be legally registered with the right authorities (that is Registrar General) in the country, in this case Ghana.

Yes, a consortium partner can apply with a business name registered at the district level.

Find attached presentations, and also visit our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on guidelines for application and respective templates to use.

The Fund is open only to private sector companies (including farmers' groups) in the 79 ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific).

• Applying as a consortium.

Please visit our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on the application guidelines.

Visit www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on the application guidelines. You are invited to participate in the last webinar today at 9 pm (GMT) in English (see link on the website).

Yes, that is the intention to have farmers involved in every project, except for those targeting innovation. So, we meant that every project should have at least one technical training topic and one entrepreneurial training. The rest are optional, and it does not exclude you from choosing to work with cashew processing.

The application forms are in both languages, and the concept note can be written either in English or French. Refer to www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund. Once you have clicked on download on the left, you will find all the templates.

Read the guidelines on applications on our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information on what the fund covers.

Intervention areas mean that your project to be implemented should mandatorily address/factor one topic from technical and another from Entrepreneurial. The other topics are just optional.

That means any activity or project you are working on must consider any of 2 mandatory topics. Attached is the presentation used for webinars - you will find details on the respective mandatory topics. All the webinar videos are also on our website to guide you.

Lead applicant’s turnover must be 2 times what GIZ is contributing. in your case, you could consider another applicant within the consortium as lead if they meet this requirement.

Any Training that would help you implement the activities and close the contract successfully, especially if you are new with GIZ processes, tailor made trainings that would guide you in implementation is what we offer. E.g., on reporting.

Visit our website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for more information (including appropriate templates) and feel free to email us if you have any questions.

You are expected to apply as a consortium and not as an individual entity.

Yes, if it’s a private company, they can apply with others as a consortium.

Send your questions to cashew@giz.de. Further information on the technical content can also be found on our website.

For the concept note stage, you are required to submit only your concept note and letter of intent (please refer to website www.comcashew.org/matching-grant-fund for appropriate templates).

There is no limitation about the number of consortium partners.

The MGF is not allowed for NGO’s.

Yes, you can do so if the beneficiary countries are within the 79 ACP countries. You could also merge the two proposals and make it one. Please refer to examples 2 and 3 under consortium (in attached)

Once the lead applicant’s turnover is at least 2 times GIZ’s contribution to the project, it can apply (considering all other eligibility criteria)

Yes 2 private businesses can apply as a consortium if they meet all other criteria.

The 4 trainings will only be offered to those who are successful after the full proposal stage. Those ones come at no cost.

• GIZ Financial reporting
• Gender Transformative approaches
• Key performance indicators
• Other topics based on demand.

What is necessary for you at this current stage (concept note stage), is to focus on the intervention areas where you have some mandatory topics (technical and entrepreneurial) to cover.

Refer to slide 17 and 18 in attached. Mandatory topics/ areas have been clearly listed and you need 1 each from both categories. If after selecting these mandatory topics you still want to choose from the other topics, you are allowed to do so.

We do not know your context, activity, and scale, so we cannot give you the cost. You must determine the cost involved based on what you intend to do, numbers you are considering and other factors. Also please remember that GIZ contribution to your entire project is up to a maximum of 40% of total budget.

The service provider is not officially a member of the consortium. The service provider only performs a task and is paid. An external expert can be considered a service provider.

2 years maximum

Use your rates with supporting evidence.

Yes, the budget in the full proposal template is only a summary of the total project budget, while the price schedule is a detailed project budget that includes each cost along with the quantity, unit price and frequency.

For 2 years, we will get 4 disbursements.

You are to identify a challenge in the frame of your project and propose a solution you intend to accomplish through the project.

You can plan the ToT on GTA in your proposal without budget and GIZ MOVE will organize it for your staff separately. Kindly find attached information on the GTA training approach used by GIZ, Gender makes Business Sense plus (GmBS+).

Audit costs are added as "Other costs”. (Budget line 3.4.6) and you may not need to put the audit company as service provider.

The version attached can now be opened by Microsoft 365 (which is the version currently used at GIZ and the latest version of Microsoft Office). Try again with the attached file. If it still doesn't work, please share the error message with us so that we can ask our IT department to help.

No, it depends on the activity and budget you are working with.