The Job Skills and Finance (JSF)
The “Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Women and Youth in The Gambia” Programme is funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC). The scope of ITC’s technical assistance focuses on improving the relevance, effectiveness, and accessibility of vocational and technical training to improve employability and job creation. The target beneficiaries are youth and women in the rural Gambia (North Bank Region, Lower River Region, and Central River Region). The project has an overarching focus on promoting a green economy which will guide the identification and selection of economic sectors of opportunities such as renewable energy, sustainable construction, and eco-tourism, soil and water management, climate-smart agriculture, agroforestry, agro-processing, and agro-marketing, in line with the menu of investments of the local investments (Local) mechanism.
To this end ITC embarked on the use of the Farmer Field School (FFS) and Farmer Business School (FBS) approach to advance the objectives of the project. The Farmer business school after running a successful induction have since graduated and are now functional and operating as officially registered and recognised business with bank accounts and constitutions which help them to govern their operations.
The FBSs have been supported in some instances with processing equipment to train them on post harvest management. The schools who have received this equipment in most cases have made great use of the machinery and have started earning incomes which are used for growth & maintenance of the business operations and creating incomes for the group members. As such the businesses are keen to keep up their upward growth trajectory and ITC is keen to support these farmers in their desire for growth.
Thus ITC is seeking for consultant firms which can support the FBSs to tap into on going financial supports in the country in the form of grants or low interest loans.
Download the terms of reference in the downloadables for more information.
Interested training providers are requested to submit proposal (technical and financial) and all required documents by 30th July 2022 – 11pm GMT to Rohey Fofana (rfofana@intracen.org). Contact person Nkosana Mtetwa (nkosana.mtetwa@intracen.org).