EC: Embracing Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs in Somalia

This call also aims to contribute to creating an enabling environment for women’s economic activities and growth of women-owned businesses to micro- to small- and medium-sized enterprises. The call also aims to boost women’s leadership and increase their bargaining power in economic and household-decision making and social dialogue, contributing to strengthening women’s rights in Somalia.

Objectives and Priority 

• The global objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to economically empowering women and girls in Somalia through a gender transformative approach.
• The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:
  • To enhance women’s perspectives in business dialogue;
  • To facilitate equal access to financial products for women entrepreneurs, formalise saving and lending associations and support non-banking financial regulation.
• The priorities of this call for proposals is/are:
  • Enabling women, in all their diversity, gain collective bargaining power in cooperatives and business associations to better negotiate and gain equal access to resources necessary for their work;
  • Increasing capacity of VSLAs/SHGs to reach out to the more remote or risky borrowers, including women living in the most vulnerable situations;
  • Completing groundwork for the adoption of enabling policy and regulations that support non-banking financial institutions to expand access to credit and other support to female entrepreneurs.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 7,500,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts
  • minimum amount: EUR 7,000,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 7,500,000
• Duration: The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 36 months nor exceed 48 months.
• Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
  • Minimum percentage: 75% of the total eligible costs of the action.
  • Maximum percentage: 95 % of the total eligible costs of the action.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person and
    • be established in  a Member State of the European Union Union or eligible non EU Member States as established in Regulation (EU) 2021/947 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe.
  • The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s).
• Co-applicant(s)
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.

For more information, visit European Commission.