The start of the call for proposal was postponed from 1 April to 3 May 2021.
The Facility « Investing for Employment » aims to support the creation of decent employment opportunities in Africa. It does so by offering co-financing grants for new investment projects with a high job creation impact. The Facility will officially launch its first call for proposals in Rwanda on Monday 3 May 2021 at 5 pm CET.
The Facility « Investing for Employment » is an investment mechanism for employment, providing competitive grants to co-finance public or private projects in its eight partner countries in Africa, including Rwanda.
It is part of the Special Initiative "Decent Work for a Just Transition" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Operating under the brand Invest for Jobs, the Special Initiative aims to create good jobs and apprenticeships and to improve working conditions in its partner countries in Africa: Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt (in preparation), Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia.
The ambition is to promote the Rwandan labour market by providing financial and technical support to project leaders in order to boost the economy, generate long-term jobs and encourage continuous training.
The first call for proposals in Rwanda will be launched on 3 May 2021 at 5 pm CET, seeking applications for four types of projects:
- Public infrastructure for job creation – not-for-profit (covers up to 90 % of the cost)
- Common service for job creation – not-for-profit (covers up to 75 % of the cost)
- For-profit-projects that foster direct job creation, and have broader benefits/impacts that are not limited to the project owners (covers up to 50 % of the cost)
- For-profit-projects that foster direct job creation by the project owners (covers up to 25 % of the cost)
Green economy will be a priority theme of this call for proposals
Rwanda's policy on green economy is set out in its Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS), whose objective it is to transform the mindset of the Rwandan society towards achieving the desired carbon-neutral and climate resilient economy. The Facility complements Rwanda’s GGCRS through a call for proposals that invites private and public applicants to submit proposals for sustainable, job creating investment projects that contribute to reducing carbon emissions and pollution, enhancing energy and resource efficiency or preventing the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The grants provided by « Investing for Employment » range from 1 million euros to 10 million euros per project. The applicant is obliged to contribute own funds to complete the project budget.
The Facility invites companies and other interested organisations, whether public or private, as well as consortia to submit concept notes as soon as the call for proposals opens on 3 May 2021 at 5 pm CET.