By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
The Facility Investing for Employment (IFE) has launched a new competition in the country, calling all public and private companies as well as non-profit organisations to submit proposals in return for a co-financing grant to embark on their projects.
IFE awards grants ranging from €650,000 to €10million per project for investment projects with a high job creation impact. However, preference will be given to projects that combine job creation with social protection measures.
Also, projects that contribute to promoting women’s employment or social transition to a climate-friendly economy have a better chance of receiving the grant.
According to the IFE Country Manager, Karim Gad, the initiative is interested particularly in projects that have the sustainability aspect but lack funding – adding that they envision leveraging this opportunity to create jobs in the private sector space.
He explained that there are two components to the proposal – including the job creation component, which is compulsory, and the social protection aspect whereby companies can apply for temporary co-financing by IFE of additional social protection schemes.
IFE is an investment mechanism created by the KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as an integral part of the Special Initiative ‘Decent Work for a Just Transition’.
The Special Initiative operates under the brand ‘Invest for Jobs’ with the objective of working with companies to create up to 100,000 good jobs in the private sector and improve working conditions and social protection in Ghana and other seven African partner countries.
Mr. Gad emphasised that they don’t have a limitation on the number of projects they intend to co-finance.However, “as a competitive call for proposals, the focus is on supporting good projects that create sustainable jobs”.
The call closes on April 15, 2025, but applications submitted by February 28 will participate in an early evaluation round and successful applicants will be offered a grant contract.
The selection process is based on a competitive two-stage application process: a pre-selection from the submitted concept notes and a final stage when selected applicants will be invited to submit fully elaborated project proposals.
All companies eligible for grants are encouraged to visit the IFE website; invest-for-jobs.com/en/ife-download-center – and applicants who want answers to questions related to the application process and financing of social protection schemes must visit the IFE Helpdesk; [email protected]
Touching on the aftermath of granting a contract to a successful applicant, the IFE Country Focal Point, Adwoa Kwarteng Larbi, indicated that they monitor the project and stay with a guarantee for a minimum of four years to complete the investment and operational phases of the entire project.
“We do not leave guarantees alone but monitor them consistently to ensure that the right thing is being done,” she said.
