The EU Confidence Building Measures Programme (EU-CBM V), funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP Moldova, announces the launch of a new grants competition for business support organisations, industry associations or non-governmental organisations with experience in development of entrepreneurial capacities, which will contribute to the creation of synergies for competitive business communities on both banks of the Nistru river.

The selected organisations will help businesses on both banks to jointly address the existing challenges that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. The proposed projects have to come up with an innovative solution to an existing problem, common to the business environment on both banks of the Nistru.

Priority will be given to proposals that address the key elements, in particular: the development/refining of a business solution, a training module for target beneficiaries and a communication and visibility campaign to ensure community approval and sustainability.

Participants at the competition need to ensure that their solution is consulted, validated and integrated by the target beneficiaries and communities, where appropriate (i.e. Local Public Authorities, vocational schools, youth centers, producer associations, SME groups, academic environment, etc.) and will continue to function effectively after the project’s completion, presenting a detailed roadmap showing how the set objectives will be achieved. Proposals which consider participation of girls and women will get additional scoring at evaluation.

Participants at the competition may apply for grants of up to €40,000. Own and partner contributions are encouraged. All activities are to take place between March 2022 and May 2023. Additional information about the contest is available here.

The deadline for submitting the applications is 4 February 2022, local time 16:30, at the e-mail addresses elena.cabac@undp.org and vladimir.paraschiv@undp.org. The emails will include in subject UNDP Moldova/Procurement Office “EoI22 / 02415: creating synergies for competitive business communities”.

The implementing team of the EU Confidence Building Measures Programme will conduct an online session to inform the participants on 14 January 2022, at 14:00. The interested persons are required to register by accessing this form: https://cutt.ly/TU69xz5

The EU Confidence Building Measures Programme, implemented by UNDP, contributes to building trust between residents on both banks of the Nistru river by involving them in joint development projects.