Seventh Call for Proposals for Country-led projects – May 2023 Update

GAFSP’s Seventh Call for Proposals for Country-led projects closed on December 1, 2022. The Program received complete applications from 28 countries, with about 80% of the requested amount for investment in the Africa region. Demand for GAFSP financing remains high and highlights the need in low-income countries to receive support for their actions to respond to the crisis.

Unlike previous GAFSP Calls, this seventh Call was designed to fill financing gaps in country-led programs and support in-country development partners’ coordination and alignment. For this reason, this Call focuses on offering additional financing and co-financing of existing projects prioritized by the country, leading to a significantly higher leverage/co-financing ratio. GAFSP’s financing aims to provide countries with the flexibility to support actions that will advance their priorities to build food systems resilience and help vulnerable communities secure their livelihoods.

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), appointed by the GAFSP Steering Committee (SC) reviewed the complete project proposals and prepared a recommendation report in January 2023 for the GAFSP Steering Committee. Based on the recommendations from the TAC, the SC made the final grant award allocations with over US$175 million in grant funding to the highest-ranked country-led proposals.

Through the 7^th Call for Proposals for Country-led Projects, the GAFSP Steering Committee has now approved the new country grants – to Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, Republic of Yemen. These will help countries build food systems resilience and help vulnerable communities secure their livelihoods. 

This Call for Proposals is focused on three elements:

1. Financing must be used to support the medium- to long-term elements of national agriculture and food security strategies, and food crisis response action plans and priorities.
2. The Call process leverages strong development partner collaboration, reducing fragmentation and increasing impact. 
3. Projects must be ready to begin implementation within 6-9 months.

In early 2023, the GAFSP Steering Committee expects to allocate approximately US$175 million in grant funding to the highest-ranked proposals. Highly ranked proposals that are unsuccessful in receiving GAFSP financing may be conditionally approved, whereas full approval will be contingent on additional donor contributions to the Program.

Please note this Call will not finance new standalone projects, instead, it will provide additional financing (or co-financing) to existing GAFSP- or Supervising Entity-financed projects or recently approved projects funded by one of the seven GAFSP Supervising Entities.

The Country Guidelines are the principal reference and provide a clear guide for country submissions. Applicants are expected to submit their complete submissions in two parts as outlined below.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1.    Can countries submit multiple applications?
Countries may submit only one final proposal by the Call deadline. The Call will provide additional financing (or co-financing) to existing GAFSP- or Supervising Entity-financed projects or recently approved projects funded by one of the seven GAFSP Supervising Entities.

2.    Can an extension of the deadline be requested? 
a. EOI submissions (documents listed in Annex 3 in the Call Guidelines) must be received any time after the launch of the Call but no later than 11:59 pm on October 31, 2022 (Washington, D.C. time (GMT -5)). 

b. For those countries that have been notified that their Part 1 submissions were complete and invited to submit a Full Proposal, the Full Proposal (Part 2) must be received by 11:59 pm on December 1, 2022 (Washington, D.C. time (GMT -5)). 

3.    Are there any requirements for co-financing, blending in other sources of funding, or working with existing projects?
This Call will not finance new standalone projects financed entirely by GAFSP. Instead, grants will be used to provide additional financing (or co-financing) to the categories of eligible projects noted in Section 5, Table 2 of the Call Guidelines. 
 
4.    Which development agencies are eligible to serve as Supervising Entities?
Country/ national Government must be supported by an eligible GAFSP Supervising Entity (SE). Countries may choose one of the following investment Supervising Entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), or the World Bank. In addition, countries may optionally choose the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) or the World Food Programme (WFP) to serve as an additional SE for technical assistance. 
 
5.    Can a proposal be submitted by an individual, organization, academic institution, or local government? 
No. The Country-led modality is open to national Governments of targeted countries, working in partnership with one of GAFSP's approved Supervising Entities. Proposals must be submitted by representatives of the eligible national government, NOT by selected Supervising Entity representative. Proposal documents should be submitted by email from a government official email account to: gafspinfo@gafspfund.org

6.    Are there any best practices that the GASFP can share in terms of ensuring a smooth and successful proposal submission process?
Where possible, applicants are encouraged to make submissions in advance of the deadline to avoid having to deal with any last-minute unforeseen issues. Submissions should be received from the relevant government authority or Supervising Entity, as applicable. We also suggest submitting all requested parts of the full application package together. For a list of all required documents to be included in a Part 1 submission package, please refer to Annex 3 of the Country Guidelines. The full proposal template is the only required document for the Part 2 submission. Proposals should be submitted electronically to gafsp-info@gafspfund.org.
 
7.    What languages can applicants use to submit their files? 
GAFSP proposals (Part 1 and Part 2 templates) are required to be in English or French. Supporting documents may be submitted in English or French. For supporting documents in other languages, please contact the GAFSP Coordination Unit (CU) at gafsp-info@gafspfund.org prior to submission.

8.    What countries are eligible for funding?
Eligible countries are those members of the International Development Association (IDA) that are classified as active IDA-only countries and that are not in non-accrual status. IDA-blend countries are not eligible. The following 57 countries are eligible:

9.    Will there be any review feedback provided at the EOI process? Will it screen and eliminate any project?
The GAFSP Coordination Unit (CU) will only review submissions to verify that the package is complete. Neither the CU nor the Technical Advisory Committee will conduct any assessment of the quality or merits of the submitted documents. Therefore, no review feedback will be provided. 

GAFSP will not eliminate any project at EOI stage as long as it meets the eligible country and associated projects requirements, and successfully fulfilled the requirements on the documentation submission (See Annex 3: Grant Proposal Part 1-EOI: Required documents to be submitted) 

10.    Would a decision be made at this stage on proceeding to Part 2 of the proposal? or should all proposals (that have the required documentation) prepare Part 2 proposal regardless?
No decision will be made at Part I-EOI stage as long as the submission is complete. Only incomplete submissions will be ineligible for further consideration. Countries that have successfully fulfilled the Part 1-EOI requirements will submit the Full Proposal Template. Indeed, we strongly recommend projects prepare Part 2 in parallel, not to wait until the submission of Part I-EOI package. 

11.    And when are teams expected to hear back from CU after submitting the part 1-EOI package?

On Oct 31, so they can know if they will proceed to the next stage. We recommend projects submit the Part 1-EOI package whenever they are ready, but no later than October 31, 2022. That means, if it is on a rolling basis, the CU should be able to inform the project of the completeness of the package within 48 hours. 

12.    What is the estimated date/month that the GAFSP Steering Committee is expected to approve the proposal and announce the grant award allocation?
The GAFSP Steering Committee is expected to make the final grant award allocations expected around February or March 2023.