Request for Proposals - Agricultural Sector Partnerships to Support Smallholder Farmers and MSMEs at Mercy Corps

Employment Type: Temporary

About the Project

• Rural Resilience Activity (RRA) is a Feed the Future initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Mercy Corps is the prime implementer and is in partnership with Save the Children International (SCI) and International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC).
• The goal of Rural Resilience Activity is to ‘facilitate and protect economic recovery and growth in vulnerable, conflict-affected areas and sustainably move people out of chronic vulnerability and poverty via expanded opportunities.

Rural Resilience Activity’s Enterprise Innovation Fund is seeking co-investments in the above states and value chains. Investments should focus on the following objectives:

• Objective 1: Increase last-mile access to agricultural inputs, including quality seeds, crop protection, fertilizers, post-harvest storage solutions and mechanization services and cultivable land especially for women and youths
• Objective 2: Increase access to and use of improved technologies including time-saving, productivity enhancing agricultural technologies and digital technologies such as agtech/fintech solutions and small-scale processing equipment
• Objective 3: Increase access to tailored and appropriate formal and informal financing for smallholder farmers and MSMEs
• Objective 4: Strengthen agricultural and business management practices resulting in improved competitiveness, productivity, income, gross margin and yields for smallholder farmers and MSMEs.
• Objective 5: Expansion of market access for smallholder farmer commodities through improved services by off takers, processors, and other institutional markets resulting in high-value prices for smallholder farmers and MSMEs
• Objective 6: Diversification of products and or marketing channels enabling increased access to information, advisory and extension services at the last mile
• Objective 7: Creation of new private sector, rural and urban employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

The opportunity to participate in this program is open to all eligible institutions and private sector businesses.