The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) has launched a call for proposals for the Regional Emergency Initiative in favor of populations affected by the humanitarian crisis in Mali and neighboring countries.

The initiative aims to intervene in the following sectors priorities for AICS with the aim also of consolidating and giving continuity to the results obtained through the previous Emergency Programs in Mali and neighboring countries.

All funded actions must aim at activating maximum involvement and collaboration right from the planning of the intervention and to seek the construction of synergies and best practices with others organizations (international and local) and / or UN Agencies in the area engaged in similar interventions or complementary.

• Lot 1 - Humanitarian Emergency (Mali / Burkina Faso), the priority sectors are:
  • Agriculture and food security
  • Health, relative to the Nutrition component
  • Disaster risk reduction (DDR)
  • Protection
• Lot 2 - Support to the private sector (Mali / Senegal), the priority sector are:
  • Support for the endogenous, inclusive and sustainable development of the private sector

Funding Information

• Lot 1 - Mali / Burkina Faso:
  • 500,000 EUR (five hundred thousand / 00 euros) for proposals submitted by a single CSO in a country;
  • € 1,150,000 (one million one hundred and fifty thousand / 00 euros) for proposals submitted in ATSin the two countries.
  • The projects presented in ATS will have to consider a budget breakdown by countryaccording to the following parameters:
    • Burkina Faso: min. 500,000 - max 650,000 euros;
    • Mali: min. 500,000 - max 650,000 euros.
• Lot 2 - Mali / Senegal:
  • 450,000.00 EUR (four hundred and fifty thousand / 00 euros) for proposals submitted by a single SCO in one country;
  • 1,050,000.00 EUR (one million fifty thousand / 00 euros) for proposals submitted in ATS in 2 (two) countries.
  • The projects presented in ATS will have to consider a budget breakdown by country according to the following parameters:
    • Senegal: min. 450,000 - max 600,000 euros;
    • Mali: min. 450,000 - max 600,000 euros;

Duration

Minimum / maximum duration of the project activities:

• Lot 1 - Mali / Burkina Faso: min. 9 months / max 18 months;
• Lot 2 - Mali / Senegal: min. 15 months / max 21 months;

Beneficiaries

• As regards Lot 1 (Mali, Burkina Faso) direct beneficiaries of this initiative will be both the resident populations affected by the ongoing crisis in the selected areas and both the IDPs and returnees. In particular, the population of the host villages must be involved (host communities / communautés d'accueil) object of the initiative, i.e. those areas whose inhabitants have spontaneously welcomed the displaced and / or refugee populations, creating with the same relationships as collaboration, solidarity and cohabitation. AICS, through this emergency initiative in Mali and Burkina Faso, therefore, intends to mitigate the effects of the current crisis, but also to ensure a first support for the restoration of the socio-economic fabric of the selected areas and strengthen the resilience of beneficiary populations. In the choice of beneficiaries of the interventions must be particular consideration is given to the protection of vulnerable groups and to gender issues.
• For the initiatives on Lot 2 (Mali, Senegal), vulnerable groups at risk, i transit migrants and returning migrants. The privileged target identified is that of young people, i which are most affected by the lack of employment, the opportunities for a more dignified future. A distinction must be made between young people from a rural context, whose drive to leave comes mainly from the difficulties of ensuring a minimum sustenance for oneself and one's family, to young people in urban and peri-urban areas, who are motivated to leave not only by the high rate of unemployment (or frequently underemployment) but also from the call of the "dream" of doing luck abroad.

Geographical Areas

• Lot 1 - Humanitarian emergency (Mali / Burkina Faso)
  • The intervention areas eligible for Mali are only the regions of Mopti, Koulikoro, Bamako, Segou, Tombouctou (limited to the cercle of Gourma Rharous ) and Gao (limited to the cercles of Gao and Ansongo).
  • For Burkina Faso, interventions in the Northern regions will be considered eligible for funding, Sahel and Center-Nord.
• Lot 2 - Support to the private sector (Mali / Senegal)
  • The areas involved will be those with high migratory potential of Senegal and Mali.
  • For Mali the eligible regions are only: Kayes, Koulikoro, Bamako and Sikasso.

Eligibility Criteria

Registration in the list referred to in art. 26, paragraph 3, of Law 125/2014 and subsequent amendments and ii., or, for non-profit entities without an operational headquarters in Italy (local non-profit entities and / or international), agreement with one of the subjects enrolled in the above list. The agreement can be of various kinds (affiliation, association, partnership) but it must still be, under penalty general exclusion pre-existing to this Call for Proposals (and not limited therefore to a specific action or established only for the purposes of participation in the Call) and must remain valid even after the conclusion of the activities relating to the Call;

Specific and proven experience in humanitarian aid interventions;

• Ability to operate in the country or countries covered by the project proposal;
• For non-profit entities without an operational headquarters in Italy (local non-profit entities and / or international), be established and in compliance with the legislation in force in the country of membership;
• They are not indebted to the MAECI DGCS and / or AICS or other donors, for certain, liquid debts and due, including debt situations resulting from revocation measures grants for projects promoted and / or entrusted;
• They did not behave in a manner characterized by gross negligence or bad faith in the implementation of DGCS / MAECI, AICS projects, of other donors or in the exercise of their activities;
• In case of joint projects in Temporary Purpose Association (ATS): each of the subjects non-profit organizations belonging to the ATS must possess the requisites.

For more information, visit AICS.