All potential applicants are encouraged to read carefully the information provided on this webpage before submitting their proposals, particularly the eligibility and assessment criteria as well as the FAQ. Additional information can be inquired from the Technical Support Program. Details can be found on the Contact page. Any clarification questions or inquiries shall be addressed no later than three days before the application deadline.
Application Process
Application Process
1. Application Stage
Proposal shall be only submitted through the webpage via the Application Form. The Project Proposal Form shall be completed online. The Budget Form Template and Partnership Declaration will be uploaded as annex. Applicants should note that only online application is possible for the SDG Innovation Fund. No other forms are possible this time.
The application deadline is 17:00 (EET) on 15.03.2021. Applications received after this deadline will not be considered.
2. Eligibility Criteria
Proposal must meet the following requirements to be eligible for evaluation:
- Legal entity. Applicant is a public authority, civil society, private sector, academia from the Republic of Moldova.
- Sectoral focus: Proposals shall address challenges in one of the following sectors (i) Public Finances, (ii) Social Affairs, (iii) Environment.
- Multi-actor-partnership. Applications shall be submitted by a consortium of at least two different stakeholder groups (e.g. consortium between an NGO and public authority).
- Timeframe. The objective of the small-scale projects shall be achieved within the maximum duration of up to 12 months. The earliest a project can have a planned start is 01 July 2021 and the latest it can end is 30th June 2022.
- Budget. The required funding amount shall range between minimum EUR 50,000 to maximum EUR 70,000.
- Own contribution. The budget application form shall include an own financial contribution of at least 5% of the overall budget.
- Language. Proposals shall be submitted only in English language.
- Formalities. Applications shall be accurate, complete and timely submitted.
3. Assessment Criteria
Proposals will be rated against the following criteria that are further reflected in the Project Application Form:
- Project experience: Applicants shall provide information on previous experience in implementing projects in the selected sectoral focus, in handling a similar or larger amount and in working with at least one additional project partner.
- Project rationale. Proposals shall outline the current situation/ main challenge to explain the project need.
- Project objective. Proposals shall explain the main objective of the project.
- Target group. Proposal shall clearly indicate the target group of the project.
- Cross-sectoral approach. Proposals shall explain to which SDG(s) the project is directly and indirectly contributing.
- Impact. Proposals shall explain the impact that the project will have on the target group(s) and how it will contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
- Methodology. Proposals shall outline the main steps to achieve the objective.
- Outputs. Proposals shall describe up to three outputs for the project.
- Indicators. Proposals shall formulate one indicator per output to measure the outputs.
- Innovation component. Proposals shall describe why the approach of the project is innovative and how the project will ensure innovation.
- LNOB and Gender. Proposals shall describe how the LNOB-Principle will be described and how gender equality will be ensured.
- COVID-19. Proposals shall address the challenges and consequences imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Communication and visibility. Proposals shall explain and describe how information on its activities and results will be disseminated and how visibility will be ensured.
- Risk analysis. Proposals shall describe risks that could affect/ hinder the success of the project.
- Relevance to the country´s priorities. Proposals shall contribute to the achievement of the nationalized SDG indicators.
- Follow-up and Sustainability. Proposals shall outline how they envisage a transfer of project results into national frameworks and ensure sustainability/project continuation.
4. Selection Process
The selection of the small-scale projects will be realized in the following steps:
- Pre-selection by the external evaluators: a group of external evaluators will be in charge to conduct the eligibility check. Only proposals that comply with all eligibility criteria will be rated and pre-selected against the assessment criteria.
- Selection by the Advisory Board: the members of the Advisory Board will assess the pre-selected project proposals. The six small-scale projects with the highest score will be awarded funding.
- Award decision: The results of the selection process will be announced on the webpage under Project Overview, indicatively as of July 2021. Please note that no explanations on the award decision or feedback on the project proposals will be offered.
