INVITATION TO TENDER (ITT) for a Site Visits Partner for the Afri-Plastics Challenge – Challenge Works Deadline for submissions: 9AM BST on Monday 15 August 2022
WHAT ARE WE COMMISSIONING? Challenge Works are looking to commission an organisation a site visits Partner (an organisation or a consortium of individual contractors) to conduct site visits as a vital part of the due diligence process in the Afri-Plastics Challenge (details below). The successful Partner should demonstrate passion about innovation, experience in accelerator/incubator environments and offer a creative approach to deliver social impact through harnessing the power of entrepreneurship. They will bring experience of collaborating with a diverse range of innovators who are delivering solutions to real-world problems, demonstrating deep connections within local innovator networks. They should have an understanding of current opportunities for innovation in development, related particularly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They will have a footprint across Central, Western, Southern, and Eastern Africa. This opportunity is for work over a 5 month period from August 2022 to December 2022.
OVERVIEW The Afri-Plastics Challenge (the “Challenge”) is a prize funded by the Canadian government; it is an element of the $100-million Marine Litter Mitigation Fund announced by Prime Minister Trudeau at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Charlevoix in June 2018. It is delivered by Challenge Works. The Challenge aims to reduce marine plastics in Sub-Saharan African countries by developing and scaling innovative solutions to plastic mismanagement. It will involve a public competition that will reward the best solutions to addressing marine plastic litter in developing countries in a way that promotes gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. The Challenge will help communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to prevent plastic waste from entering the marine environment by finding ways to minimize reliance on plastic, new ways of managing plastic waste, and/or new uses for plastic that has been discarded. In the short-term, the Challenge will directly distribute $14,500,000 in financial support and $1,000,000+ in non-financial (capacity-building) support to innovators (those participating in the challenge) in the target communities. In the long-term, the development and scaling of the innovators’ solutions will encourage the creation of new, sustainable local enterprises, bringing economic opportunity to these communities and contributing to poverty reduction.
BACKGROUND TO THE CHALLENGE PRIZE The Government of Canada is at the forefront of critical international efforts to protect the marine environment. As the country with the longest coastline in the world, Canada spearheaded the Ocean Plastics Charter under its G7 presidency in 2018. This Project is an element of the $100-million Marine Litter Mitigation Fund announced by Prime Minister Trudeau at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Charlevoix in June 2018. Funding for the initiative comes from the International Assistance Priorities Fund.
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