British Embassy Guatemala City: call for proposals 2021/2022

Call for Bids

The British Embassy in Guatemala City is now accepting project and activity proposals for the 2021/2022 financial year.

Thematic areas

This year, the British Embassy is seeking to support short- term projects in Guatemala and Honduras that focus on the following thematic areas:

1. Open societies (democracy, human rights, media freedom) – for example: strengthened democratic governance and rule of law; increased equality and non-discrimination for women and vulnerable groups and strengthened media freedom.

2. Climate change and biodiversity- for example: strengthened efforts to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss and strengthening resilience to the effects of climate change.

We are particularly interested in short- term interventions aimed at the following outcomes:

Climate change and biodiversity

• Capacity building and preparation ahead of COP26, including in climate negotiations and implementation of NDCs.
• Contributing where possible to update countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and adaptation plans in preparation to COP26.
• Tackling biodiversity loss/deforestation, with a particular interest on tackling this issue in vulnerable communities and contribute to poverty reduction.

Open societies (democracy, human rights, media freedom)

• Building the conditions for a peaceful, transparent and inclusive election processes in Honduras (2021).
• Reduced gender-based violence, discrimination and harassment towards women, LGBT+ community and other vulnerable groups.
• Promoting and supporting the empowerment of girls through education.
• Reduction in reported harassment of and violence against journalists; improved enabling environment in which media freedom is protected and respected.
• Supporting Business and Human Rights in Guatemala or Honduras. Focusing on the development of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.
• Supporting the private security company environment in Guatemala through the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
• Increased accountability and transparency, demonstrated, for example, through improved Transparency or Integrity Index scores or stronger mechanisms for checks and balances in institutional frameworks, leading to greater alignment of policies and practices with international standards.
• Strengthening civic organisations and leaderships in Guatemala or Honduras for the construction and consolidation of rule of law.

Funding Terms

Guatemala

• For Guatemala, proposals must be submitted in Guatemalan Quetzal (GTQ) currency. Implementers will be asked to provide a GTQ bank account.
• Project budget is from GTQ 35,000 to GTQ 65,000.

Honduras

• For Honduras, proposals must be submitted in United States Dollars (USD) currency. Implementers will be asked to provide a USD bank account.
• Project budget is from $4,000 to $8,000.

Guatemala & Honduras:

• Full project spend should ideally be completed by early to mid-December 2021. Proposals with a completion date of 28 February 2022 will be considered as long as 90% of the project spend is completed by 1 December 2021.
• Projects are funded under a quarterly reimbursement scheme (against completed activities) with no expectations of continued funding beyond the agreed period.
• All expenditures must qualify as ODA eligible. ODA is a term created by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This term serves as a measurement of international aid. ODA projects have, as a primary objective, the promotion of economic development and welfare.

Project assessment

Project bids will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Alignment with the above mentioned priorities and outcomes.
• Evidence of urgent or priority need.
• Activities are value for money (VfM) and cost-efficient.
• Clear and achievable deliverables within the funding period.
• Sustainability – project benefits continue after the funding ends.
• Good project design, which includes established monitoring and evaluation procedures.
• Project feasibility, including capacity of implementing organisation and ability to deliver under current circumstances.
• Identification of risks and established mitigation strategies.
• The organisation’s safeguarding policies which ensure gender equality and the protection of beneficiaries.
• Administration costs for delivering a project do not exceed 10% of the total project budget.

Important milestones

Date	Activity
01 June 2021	Call for proposals opens.
18 June 2021 (23:55 PM Guatemala Time)	Call for proposals closes.
5-9 July 2021	Confirmation to participants.
July 2021	Grant agreements are signed.
August 2021	Projects initiate.
1-15 December 2021	Projects should ideally reach a 100% spend or a minimum of 90% spend if activities will be completed by 28 February 2022. For completed projects, a Project Completion Report (PCR) must be submitted.
28 February 2022	Projects must reach 100% spend, activities must have been completed and Project Completion Report (PCR) submitted.

Process to apply:

• Proposals must be received by 23:55 PM (Guatemala time) on 18 June 2021. Proposals submitted after the set date and time will not be considered.
• All documents must be submitted in English. Ensure that the project proposal form (PPF) and the activity based budget (ABB) have the organisation’s name at the beginning of the file name. Example: OrganisationName_Project Proposal or Organisation Name_Activity Based Budget.
• Proposals must be submitted to: Projects.GTHN@fcdo.gov.uk with the subject line “FCDO Programme Funds 2021-2022 – [Name of Organisation] – [Country].
• Due to the high number of bids we receive, we are unable to provide detailed feedback to unsuccessful bids.

• Please direct any queries to: Projects.GTHN@fcdo.gov.uk

What to expect after?

Both successful and rejected bids will receive notice in due course. Selected proposals will go through a Due Diligence Assessment (DDA). The Embassy will save the right to decide whether it should maintain or reject a proposal depending on DDA outcomes. Implementing partners will be expected to sign a standard FCDO grant agreement with the Embassy. The terms of agreement are not negotiable. All implementers must also commit to a consistent financial management, regular monitoring and reporting back when requested; including discussing and updating any changes to the Activity Based Budget with the assigned Projects Officer.

Additional information and documentation