Social Plastics Innovation Challenge Fund
Call guidelines – April 2024
Executive Summary
Engineers without Borders Norway and Somali Response Innovation Lab (hosted by Somali Resilience Program – SomReP, a resilience consortium of eight NGOs where the lead agency is World Vision Somalia) have launched the Social Plastics Innovation Challenge fund with an envelope size of up to USD 150,000. The call is a part of the Social Plastics for Economic Development project which aims to find and test innovative solutions to sustainably reduce plastic consumptions, recycle the plastic waste and create alternative livelihoods for the most vulnerable groups residing in Hargeisa.
The call seeks innovations to address one or several of the following challenge statements:
- Innovation Challenge 1: How might we create alternative products to plastics for household consumers so that economical products are available in Hargeisa addressing the overuse of plastics?
- Innovation Challenge 2: How might we provide knowledge and investment to the startup communities to build viable plastic recycling businesses which do not take recycled products as an inferior value proposition and address the job creation aspects among youths?
- Innovation Challenge 3: How can we encourage local startups to come up with viable economic solutions for waste pickers to address their dignified livelihood needs?
We are looking for innovations that meet the following criteria:
• Offer a new approach to tackling plastic waste consumptions in Hargeisa,
• focused on creating the livelihood opportunities for the most vulnerable communities;
• sustainable business model designed for scale-up;
• locally rooted,
• collaborative with the local ecosystem,
• market-driven and sustainable,
• open to the applicants who are willing to contribute match- funding/resources to the test phase,
• can demonstrate satisfactory proof of concept – untested ideas and
innovation at ideation stage will not
be considered, and
• can be implemented in Hargeisa for the duration of 12 months – from July 2024 – June 2025.
We will support the initial test phase of innovative solutions in Hargeisa in 2024 with funding, technical support and linkages to the humanitarian and innovation ecosystems as well as to the on-the-ground presence and technical support from World Vision Somalia, Somali Resilience Program (SomReP), Engineers without Borders Norway and Response Innovation Lab in the pilot location.
Between one to three will be selected: minimum envelope of USD 50,000 and maximum at USD 150,000 (if one single pilot). Somali Response Innovation Lab will put in place a consultative mechanism for the selection of the projects but reserves the right to make the final decisions on funding allocations.
The call is open to
• all types of legally-registered privately held organizations, social enterprises and companies or individuals,
• single applications or applications in partnership with other organization within East Africa,
• private sector partners and organizations with a strong track-record in East Africa are strongly recommended to apply.
Selection criteria will include:
• Innovation level of the solution – disruptive innovations favored; innovative solutions with an existing proof of concept needed (concepts at the ideation stages will not be considered);
• Environment technical excellence & relevance to the challenge statements;
• Judicious use of project resources;
• Potential for impact, scaling and sustainability;
• Strong track record of the application team with female as a focal point of the project
The Social Plastics for Economic Development project proposes a range of resources (readings and interactive activities) to support you in the preparation of applications. None of those activities are mandatory to be able to submit an expression of interest but they are strongly recommended.
Please check the resources pack in the project Google Drive created for the ecosystem partners: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QW03nS7yR4fYMYRjVd_L_Sob9eLZfomb?usp=drive_link
Design Thinking tools to support your application process: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CuI6Rz84_-Ta2AkO8NUpif78weH20SNs?usp=drive_link
Value chain mapping of the plastic waste ecosystem in Hargeisa (draft report): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WoKi_1KNgUruuo3KlkYKoqMR7bTM5HPu?usp=drive_link
Call Timeline:
The deadline for the submission of your application is by the 30th of June via email to [email protected] and the email subject should read: Social Plastics Innovation Challenge Fund
For more information about the Social Plastics project, procedure to submit the Call for Application details visit:
www.responseinnovationlab.com/somalia
Full Call Guidelines
Table of Contents
Social Plastics for Economic Development ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Background on the plastic waste challenge in Somalia……………………………………………………………………………… 4
Focus of the Social Plastics Innovation Challenge Fund …………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Overall guiding principles…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
What we are looking for ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12
What will not be considered for funding ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
Eligibility…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14
Evaluation and selection criteria and process ………………………………………………………………………………………… 14
Support offered by the fund ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15
Call Timelines & Instructions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Contacts ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
Social Plastics for Economic Development
Social Plastics for Economic Development (SOCIAL PLASTICS) is a project implemented by the Somali Response Innovation Lab (RIL) in partnership with Engineers without Borders Norway, World Vision Somalia and the financial support of Innovation Norway.
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The SOCIAL PLASTICS project aims to find and test viable business models to enable the sustainable business model for an innovative solutions associated with the plastic recycling with a strong focus on the local job creation or livelihood support for the most vulnerable groups. The project aims to leverage the innovative approaches of Engineers without Borders Norway and Response Innovation Lab to co-create a sustainable business model in the domain of plastic waste recycling. The focus is to create alternative livelihood opportunities for the most vulnerable groups in Hargeisa, the largest city in the Somaliland.
The project focuses specifically on addressing plastic waste challenges and creating green jobs for the most vulnerable communities in Hargeisa.
Somalia is a country plagued by prolonged civil conflict and political instability. It is also one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of plastic pollution. It has a long coastline and a growing population further exacerbating the volume of plastic waste generated each year. There’s a lack of centralized waste management, and much of the waste generated in the country ends up in the environment, where it causes severe impacts on wildlife, pollutes waterways, and contributes to climate change. The result is environmental degradation, compromised livelihoods, and heightened vulnerability.
In Hargeisa, approximately 27,300 barrels of waste are generated monthly, with 25% of this waste being plastic. When converted to metric tonnes, this amounts to approximately 325.73 tonnes of plastic waste produced each month.
The Solution
The project aims to engage youths, local communities, and private sector stakeholders in behaviour change and plastic waste management, thus addressing both humanitarian and environmental challenges. By leveraging the Response Innovation Lab approach to humanitarian innovation, the partners will convene, matchmake and engage users and private sector stakeholders to co-create a sustainable business model for green jobs in Somali communities.
Background on the Plastic Waste Situation in Hargeisa
Somaliland faces substantial challenges stemming from plastic pollution, compounded by inadequate centralized waste management systems and limited awareness of the environmental impact of plastic waste. This issue is exacerbated by the prevalent use of informal waste disposal methods like burning or burying waste, which further releases harmful pollutants into the environment, necessitating urgent improvements in waste management practices and awareness campaigns.
The consequences of plastic waste extend beyond environmental degradation, impacting public health and urban livelihoods, particularly in cities like Hargeisa. Clogged drainage systems caused by plastic waste exacerbate flooding during the rainy season, increasing the risk of diseases such as malaria in vulnerable communities. Additionally, coastal ecosystems and fishing communities suffer adverse effects. Although Somaliland introduced laws banning single-use plastics in 2015, effective enforcement remains a challenge, underscoring the need for comprehensive policy implementation, alternative solutions promotion, and Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) initiatives to curb plastic waste and safeguard natural resources.
In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, the plastic waste ecosystem reflects these overarching challenges, driven by substantial local production and plastic product imports. The city’s waste management efforts, comprising a mix of formal and informal practices, struggle to manage this influx of plastic waste, highlighting a critical need for infrastructure improvements and support for recycling initiatives. While innovative entrepreneurs are venturing into plastic recycling, they encounter obstacles such as equipment shortages and technical expertise gaps. Effective progress in recycling efforts and sustainable waste management requires robust government support and stakeholder collaboration to enhance infrastructure, improve end-of-life options, and foster sustainable practices, ultimately working towards a resilient plastic waste management system in Hargeisa and beyond.
Hargeisa has made some improvements in reducing malnutrition, but similar to regional trends across the continent, there are needs to strengthen efforts to achieve food security and nutrition targets of SDG2 to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. In particular, the pace of reduction of chronic malnutrition has been slow.
The Plastic Waste Value Chain in Hargeisa
The plastic waste value chain in Hargeisa involves several stages, although it is currently in an early and evolving state. These stages include:
- Plastic Production:
Plastic production in Hargeisa involves local manufacturing or importation of plastic materials, which are used to produce various consumer goods, packaging, and industrial products. Local factories or importers bring in raw plastic resins, which are processed into plastic products such as bags, bottles, chairs and containers. The availability of plastic products contributes to consumer demand and usage across households, businesses, and industries in Hargeisa. The widespread consumption of plastic in Hargeisa is greatly influenced by its affordability and convenience and the absence of alternative products for plastic products. The primary contribution to plastic generation in Hargeisa is made by private companies such as SBI (Somaliland Beverage Industry), Tayo Plastic Factory and so forth.
2. Consumption:
The utilization of plastic products is constituted by individuals, businesses, and institutions in Hargeisa. Residents use plastic bags for shopping, businesses rely on plastic packaging for products, and industries use plastic materials for manufacturing. The widespread use of plastics in daily life contributes to high levels of consumption and subsequent waste generation in the city. In addition, given Hargeisa’s growing population and lack of alternative non-plastic products, the extensive consumption of plastic products is expected to exponentially grow to meet the market demand. The lack a robust awareness of consumers as to the adverse effects of plastic consumption leads to more harmful effects on environmental wellbeing in Hargeisa.
3. Waste Collection:
Waste collection services in Hargeisa involve the gathering of plastic waste from various sources such as households, businesses and public offices. Waste collection in Hargeisa is characterized by a partnership between private waste collectors and Hargeisa municipality. Under a public-private agreement signed in 2014, private collectors have the official mandate to undertake waste collection services in Hargeisa. They charge $5 monthly for household waste collection and $30 monthly for businesses. This arrangement is owing to their logistical advantage, better equipment, and manpower compared to the municipal agency in the context of waste collection. Waste collection services in Hargeisa are often inadequate, leading to the emergence of an informal waste sector. Informal waste pickers play a crucial role in collecting plastic waste from streets, homes, businesses, and other sources. They engage in manual collecting and sorting, often operating without proper equipment or safety measures. These informal waste pickers primarily consist of low-income individuals, immigrants from Ethiopia, single mothers supporting their children, and unemployed youth. The plastic waste makes up huge portion of the overall waste that is collected from the city
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5. Sorting & Segregation:
After collection, plastic waste undergoes sorting and segregation to separate different types of plastics and remove contaminants. Oftentimes, informal recyclers manually categorize plastics by type and remove non-plastic materials. In Hargeisa, informal waste sorters often visit open dumpsites or other sources to collect demanded plastic products made of PET and HDPE, which are the most consumed plastic types in the city. They sell these plastics to recyclers, but this work exposes them to health risks due to the lack of proper equipment for sorting. Unfortunately, the necessary infrastructure undertaking a proper segregation is lacking, reducing the potential and capacity for effective and safe sorting practices.
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6. Recycling and Manufacturing:
Plastic recycling in Hargeisa is in its early stages and faces significant challenges, including a lack of proper recycling equipment, difficulty in obtaining suitable plastics for recycling, and limited technical expertise. Despite these obstacles, there is a growing recycling ecosystem driven by young entrepreneurs and innovators who recognize the entrepreneurial potential of plastic recycling. These individuals are transforming recycled plastics into various products such as interlocking bricks, chairs, and home decoration materials. Despite this promising progress, the sustainability of the recycling sector remains uncertain due to ongoing challenges. However, the government is actively supporting and promoting these entrepreneurs, recognizing the positive environmental impact and entrepreneurial opportunities associated with recycling practices. Leveraging government support can empower and enhance recycling initiatives in Hargeisa, contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to plastic waste management.
8. Distribution:
Both locally manufactured recycled products and imported virgin plastics are distributed across the Hargeisa market for consumption. These distributed products include a wide range of items such as bottled drinks, cooking oil in plastic containers, chairs, home decoration materials, and various types of plastic containers. The distribution of these plastic products is extensive and prevalent throughout Hargeisa due to their affordability, convenience, and ease of use. Consumers in Hargeisa have access to a diverse array of plastic products that serve everyday needs and purposes. The availability of these products contributes to their widespread use and adoption across different sectors of society, including households, businesses, and public institutions. However, it also underscores the importance of promoting sustainable consumption practices and raising awareness about the environmental impact of plastic usage to encourage more responsible consumption and waste management behaviors in the community.
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9. End-of-life Options:
At the end of their useful life, plastic products in Hargeisa often face limited end-of-life options, primarily involving marginal recycling or permanent disposal at neglected dumpsites. The lack of proper end-of-life management highlights the city’s challenges in effectively combating environmental pollution and promoting resource recovery from plastic waste. The limited recycling infrastructure and practices result in a significant portion of plastic waste being improperly disposed of or accumulating in open dumpsites, contributing to environmental degradation and health risks. Improving end-of-life options for plastic waste management is crucial for reducing pollution, conserving resources through recycling, and fostering a more sustainable approach to waste management in Hargeisa. This requires investments in waste management infrastructure, awareness campaigns, and policy interventions to promote responsible waste disposal and recycling practices within the community.
Focus of the Social Plastic Innovation Challenge Fund
The Innovation Challenge Fund call hopes to support quality innovations to sustainably reduce, reuse, or recycle the plastics in Hargeisa. The key underlying causes of the overwhelming issue of plastic waste are widely understood to be: i. limited awareness on the impact of plastic waste amongst the consumers, ii. Ineffective implementation of the environmental regulations and polices by the government , iii. Fragmented value chain.
The call will not focus on the broader waste management domain in Hargeisa. A range of those interventions are government led and in many cases informal in nature, reliant on fundings from the multilateral organizations and UN agencies. They include building waste management facilities, waste processing sites and policy support for the government agencies.
The rationale for this Innovation Challenge Fund is to source and test alternative and innovative solutions that will be rooted in communities (small-scale but meaningful), more sustainable and less dependent on aid funding.
On the basis of the desk review and the challenge mapping exercise, the project team held a series of convenors, and open dialogues to determine the priority areas for the Plastic Waste Innovation Challenge Fund. Criteria used for prioritization included: the impact on the consumer behavior if the challenge is solved, the complexity of the challenge at hand, and the potential for this challenge to be addressed through innovation versus need for in- depth structural transformation.
Projects that apply will need to respond to at least one of the following challenge statements:
- Innovation Challenge 1: How might we create alternative products to plastics for household consumers so that economical products are available in Hargeisa addressing the overuse of plastics?
Innovation Challenge 2: How might we provide knowledge and investment to the startup communities to build viable plastic recycling businesses which do not take recycled products as an inferior value proposition and address the job creation aspects among youths?
Innovation Challenge 3: How can we encourage local startups to come up with viable economic solutions for waste pickers to address their dignified livelihood needs?
The following underpinning challenges were identified during the review as critical. Any applying project will need to have them clearly in mind. However, the Plastic Waste Innovation Challenge Fund will not select projects that try to solve any of the challenges below as a primary objective:
1. Land degradation project
2. Limited household incomes and purchasing power
3. Poor access of households to formal or informal financial services
On the other hand, all applying projects need to:
- improve the working conditions of plastic waste pickers in Hargeisa –
- Develop innovative plastic waste recycling solutions
- focus on creating alternative green jobs;
- provide new technical skills to youths; and
- provide a clear pathway for sustainability, using a market driven approach and/or partnership with the private sector.
DETAILS ON THE CHALLENGE STATEMENTS
Innovation Challenge 1: How might we create alternative products to plastics for household consumers so that economical products are available in Hargeisa addressing the overuse of plastics?
External landscape: According to the external landscape mapping exercise conducted by the ecosystem partners during the convenor one, the commercial interest of the established plastic distribution business often outweighs the policy implementation endeavor of the local and the national government. Furthermore, the value chain actors are unaware of the government regulations and policy frameworks related to environment due to limited communication and public outreach from the government. In terms of the economic aspects, the consumers cannot afford alternative products like tote bags as they are relatively expensive alternative unless there is a provision for a subsidy by the government or the NGOs. Furthermore, the recycled products are often considered as an inferior product by the local communities and they often look for these products as the cheapest alternatives whilst making their buying decisions. In regards to the technological landscape, the increased penetration of smartphones and the availability of cheaper internet services has enabled the local Somali communities to easily access key information through the social media platforms, primarily Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp.
Stakeholders: The key stakeholders under this challenge that were identified by the ecosystem partners were the local government, enterprises like hotels, plastics manufactures, UN agencies, and NGOs who have relatively higher influence and interest in the space of plastic waste management. The stakeholder mapping exercise also indicated that the law enforcement agencies at the local level, the highly influential telecommunication companies and banks, the local medias, and religious leaders have a strong influence but currently they have a very limited interest in such initiatives.
Users: The majority of the users are female who can make a significant influence in terms of using the plastic goods whilst purchasing daily grocery items including household products. The typical age-group of the female is 24-40 years who are relatively unaware on the negative impact of plastic waste in the environment and use a significant amount of plastics at the household level. They are married, often do not have formal education and are house wife. Their primary interest is to get involved in the income generation activities to further strengthen household earnings. Some of the key influencer in their decision making is the local grocery sellers who provide more information about the products they are selling, and social media influencers like the traditional folk singers (female) from Hargeisa. However, due to an increased access to the social media platforms, they have gradually started to notice the environmental impact of plastics, the alternatives to plastic bags and packaging but the prevalence of the cheap plastic products has resulted in the increased use of plastic products by these age groups.
Depth and the breadth of the challenge: The ecosystem currently experiences limited capital to address the issues of plastic waste due to the prevalence of low-income consumer segments who has less appetite for the recycled plastic products. The key user groups have limited understanding on the impact of plastic waste and often do not have financial means to opt for alternative products which are often expensive options or switch to alternative consumption practices.
Innovation Challenge 2: How might we provide knowledge and investment to the startup communities to build viable plastic recycling businesses which do not take recycled products as an inferior value proposition and address the job creation aspects among youths?
External landscape: The key political aspects mapped out during the external landscaping exercise was the lack of the transparent system to support the start-ups and youth-led businesses through financial (tax) incentives. Some of the economic determinants in the ecosystem was the requirement of high-tech and high capital equipment for starting the plastic recycling business including difficulty in procuring such equipment considering the financial blacklisting of several Somali banks and the current security situation in the Red Sea. Furthermore, the absence of source segregation practices, and lack of proper types of plastic labelled by the plastic producer creates difficulty in recycling plastics.
Stakeholders: The major actors who are highly influential and interested in supporting the plastic recycling projects in Hargeisa identified by the ecosystem actors from the project Convenor are the local government, innovation hubs, and NGOs. As the local government is a crucial player in terms of providing a conducive regulatory environment including tax breaks, their role is highly significant in addressing the Innovation Challenge 2. Another important stakeholder mapped-out is the local innovation hub for providing the technical support in terms of testing and piloting the minimal viable products designed out of the recycled plastics. In addition, the local NGOs and UN agencies are proactively searching for suppliers and private sectors to compliment their increasing interest to opt for green procurement mandates, the locally recycled products led by the youth entrepreneurs is likely to have a strong traction amongst the NGO sector. It should be noted that the humanitarian agencies are one of the largest buyer of both food and non-food items in the Somali context.
Users: The primary users of the products developed from the recycled plastics are young professional from the supply chain department of both the national and the international NGOs as well as UN agencies. They are not necessarily the end user of the product but make those key decision for the purchase of such materials for the community people or organization they partner with. The users are often highly passionate about the environmental impact of plastic waste and keen to map good value for money products that are good for the environment. In addition, the user are keen on exploring the competitive landscape amongst the supplier to assess multiple options and the capacity of the enterprise (legal, financial, and technical) to complete the supply of goods sought from the vendor.
Depth and the breadth of the challenge: The key challenges are the lack of the investment in the startup sector to address the plastic waste in Hargeisa. As most of the plastics are not recycled locally except HDPE, the appetite for other plastic waste for recycling is limited. Furthermore, the consumer perception for the recycled products is sub-par products and consumers often perceive it as a low cost inferior products. As such, a strong business acumen and a strategic product placement is needed to promote the recycled products.
Innovation Challenge 3: How can we encourage local startups to come up with viable economic solutions for waste pickers to address their dignified livelihood needs?
External landscape: The political domain in Hargeisa is fairly stable albeit the political tension in the region. However, the governance aspect is relatively week, particularly in terms of enacting policies and new regulations due to high-level of influence from the private sectors. In regards to the economic situation, the job opportunity for the local youths has remained highly scarce and the import dependency from the neighboring countries, particularly Ethiopia has further slimmed the job prospects in the manufacturing sectors. In addition, the deliberate approach of some manufacturing facilities to remain low-profile to balance the geo-political aspects and security situation in the Somali region, limited youths have an access to the manufacturing jobs in Hargeisa and nearby cities.
At the consumer level, there is an absence of waste segregation at the household level due to limited awareness on the impact of different waste to the environment. Furthermore, the local government levies approximately five dollars as a monthly fee to each household rendering waste collection service from the municipality. It should be noted that the waste collection is often undertaken by the private companies in Hargeisa and the local government provides financial incentives to the private sector to manage the waste generated in the city, particularly from household and businesses.
Stakeholders: The key actors that have high level of interest and influence in the domain of plastic waste collection and aggregation is the local government and the private sectors. Based on the stakeholder analysis exercise carried out by the ecosystem partners of the project, the local government influences significantly in terms of levying taxes to the waste aggregators, determining the monthly fees for households and businesses. In addition, the waste aggregators are relatively influential due to their strong presence in the value chain and their role in leveraging the informal actors in this space. Furthermore, the stakeholder analysis, clearly indicated that the waste pickers have high degree of interest in the plastic recycling projects but have limited influence due to their socio-economic status as they usually belong to the vulnerable social groups (single mother, immigrants from Ethiopia, illiterate with no technical skills).
Users: The typical profile of waste pickers is 30-45 years old female who do not have formal education. They are interested in picking high proportion of precious materials inundated in the household waste, particularly metal scraps, e-waste, and HDPE plastics (Jerry Cans) that provides them with good daily incomes after selling their collection to the local waste aggregators. They typically transport the waste collected from the households and local dumping sites (which are often open spaces in nearby location) using wheel barrow or carry the big shacks at their back. It should be noted that they are not provided with safety gears as they are not formally employed by the local waste aggregators and make their daily wage on the basis of earn as you collect basis. The average pay per kilo is 6-7 cents and in an average they collect up to 30-40 kilos of waste that can be suitable for sale.
The waste pickers encounter the challenges in segregating the waste as the waste collected at the household, business, or dumping sites are often mixed. They are also perceived as dirty and someone who is engaged in the lowly occupation by the local communities.
Depth and breadth of the challenge: During the convenors, the ecosystem partners mapped out the lack of financial support to the informal waste management sectors as the key challenge which was then further drilled down to the lack of The lack of source segregation due to the limited awareness amongst household and enterprises has resulted in difficulty to sort the waste. Furthermore, the taxation levied by the local government on the waste aggregators has slimmed their pay per kilos impacting their daily earnings.
Overall guiding principles
The following guiding principles need to be kept in mind for both the preparation of applications and later implementation of the pilots. They are derived from the Core Humanitarian Standards, the Digital Development Principles, the RIL Ethical Standards and Principles, and Innovation Norway’s principle for the Humanitarian Inno vation Program
DO NO HARM & other Humanitarian principles: The projects shall be conducted in accordance with the humanitarian principles; humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independency. The respect of the Do No Harm principle specifically means that implementers need to be mindful or risks in the context of the intervention and design and deliver their project to both avoid creating additional risks for the communities and mitigate existing ones.
Innovation: The projects shall aim for transformational impact bettering the lives of people affected by humanitarian crises, develop more sustainable solutions and/or contribute to more cost-efficient utilization of humanitarian funds. Projects with a high degree of innovation will be prioritised.
Humanitarian-private partnerships and collaboration: The projects shall define how private sector is contributing (or will contribute) to the innovation project. The call encourages collaborations between different types of actors in Hargeisa including those in the private sector. The SOCIAL PLASTICS will continuously engage diverse expertise across disciplines and industries at all stages and support the partners to work across sector silos to create coordinated and more holistic approaches.
Scalable solutions: The projects shall aim for scaling, which refers to the process of replicating and/or adapting an innovation across large populations and geographies for transformational impact.
Sustainability: Plan for sustainability from the start, including planning for long-term financial health i.e., assessing total cost of ownership. Utilize and invest in local communities and developers by default and help catalyze their growth. Engage with local governments to ensure integration into national strategy and identify high-level government advocates. The projects will be considered across the three dimensions of sustainability; social, environmental and economic effect, as well as handling of risks related to cross cutting issues; including human rights, gender equality, anti-corruption, climate and environment.
Knowledge transfer: The projects must include activities for the sharing of knowledge with other organisations that engage in humanitarian response to ensure broader learning outcomes for the sector. The project may include skills and data sharing between individually funded projects. Partners will be expected to document work, results, processes and best practices and share them widely. Publish materials under a Creative Commons license by default, with strong rationale if another licensing approach is taken. We expect that such sharing will help to ensure that the goals of the innovative approaches in individual projects are ultimately integrated with each other and can be adapted and scaled up for better impact. Furthermore, we expect that sharing
experimental methods, data, and resources will ultimately improve the ability to compare and validate the tested innovations, interventions and products that can have impact at a greater scale.
Localization: As per the World Humanitarian Summit (UN, 2016), humanitarian action should be ‘as local as possible, as international as necessary’ and humanitarian workers have since then been committed to channel funding to local actors, work more in partnership with the objective of meeting the needs of the communities and individuals as best as possible. This principle will be kept in mind during the selection of the projects and proposals are more likely to be retained if they are cognizant of the local context including the plastic waste challenges in Hargeisa, they demonstrate how they intend for the innovation to be locally-rooted and how local knowledge and expertise are used to guide the design of the solution.
Design with the User: Develop context appropriate solutions informed by user needs. Include all user groups in planning, development, implementation and assessment. Develop projects in an incremental and iterative manner. Design solutions that learn from and enhance existing workflows and plan for organizational
adaptation. Ensure solutions are sensitive to, and useful for, the most marginalized populations: women, children, those with disabilities, and those affected by conflict and disaster.
Intellectual property and common goods: RIL encourages the use of Open Standards, Open Data, Open Source applications and Creative Commons licensing as these approaches have the potential to achieve greater scalability and sustainability. Should your innovation be based on proprietary technology or other form of intellectual property that you have developed, SOCIAL PLASTICS is committed to ensuring that your ownership rights are respected. Do not, however, attempt to pass on IP developed by others or Open Source materials as your own and respect the user licenses (including Creative Commons licenses, when applicable) of third-party content used in your project.
For more information: https://www.responseinnovationlab.com/tools-publications/humanitarian-innovation- intellectual-property-primer
What we are looking for
• Innovations that clearly address one or several of the Plastic Waste Innovation Challenge Statements.
• Innovations that focus on the nutrition status of specific groups – waste pickers, vulnerable women and youths.
• Focus on plastic waste recycling or development of alternative solutions
• Relevant and possible to implement for vulnerable groups residing in Hargeisas.
• Provide a clear pathway for sustainability, using a market driven approach and/or partnership with the
private sector. The project aims to establish relationships with private sector and initiatives not funded by institutional donors. Should the project later move to a scaling-phase, 50% match-funding from outside the traditional aid sector will be a requirement from partners.
• Novel but evidence-based solutions with an existing proof of concept/capacity to demonstrate soundness of the innovation. They need to be clearly distinct from mainstream waste management initiatives already ongoing in Hargeisa but not “untested” innovations at ideation stage. SOCIAL PLASTICS aims to bring new approaches to the local plastic waste value chain but the findings from the market dialogue to date is that there is sufficient existing examples of products, services or approaches in the local market that could be adapted to the vulnerable groups impacted by the climate change and waste pickers without needing to generate an entirely new untested product or service. It is expected that a large part of the innovativeness from the solution will reside in its
adaptation to the specific context of the plastic waste value chain and the needs of users in this geography.
Definition “proof of concept”
An innovation with a “proof of concept” is an innovation for which at least an initial demonstration has confirmed feasibility and relevance. The applicant will need to provide evidence, typically deriving from an experiment or pilot project.
For the purpose of this call, this evidence may be provided in various ways:
– Documents showing how the innovators have designed and tested a “minimum viable product”
– Research findings
– Pictures of a prototype
– Past reports on implementation of parts or of the full innovation
– Testimonies from users
Adapted from Oxford Dictionary & Humanitarian Innovation Fund/Elrha
• Any type of innovation is eligible: Solutions can include models, tools, products, services, technologies, processes.
• Projects that prove a deep understanding of the end-user needs and preferences and of the contextual constraints and opportunities for implementation.
• Develop measures for sustainable change of practices and/or access to nutrient dense and affordable foods by low income households
On Challenge Statement 1 – Behavioral change, we may fund solutions that:
• Stimulate behavioral change in a sustainable manner, that mitigate household- and community-specific constraints to use alternative plastics products
- Encourages reduce and reuse the plastic products
- PROPOSALS EVALUATION:
• Make use of contextual cues.
• Economically viable alternative to plastic solutions catered towards the consumers, primarily female in Hargeisa
• Any other solution that adequately responds to the challenge statement.
On Challenge Statement 2 – Circular economy, we may fund solutions that:
• Recycling solutions that are both economically and socio-culturally viable.
• Complements the existing waste management efforts of the plastic waste value chain in Hargeisa
• Solutions that aim to cater the local needs of humanitarian agencies and medium to large private enterprises
• Support the creation of jobs for the local youths.
• Any other solution that adequately responds to the challenge statement.
On Challenge Statement 3 – Green jobs, we may fund solutions that:
• Develop solutions that can enable dignified livelihood opportunities to the local waste pickers,
• Promote innovative products or services that enable the waste pickers and/or the vulnerable communities impacted by the climate change to reskill in the reduce, reuse and recycle of plastic waste
• Promote innovations that decrease the use of plastics, and encourages the reuse of plastics
• Any other solution that adequately responds to the challenge statement.
What will not be considered for funding
• Untested ideas and innovation at ideation stage.
• Basic research purely focused on research tools/methodologies that does not provide a clear path to development and testing of approaches that lead to measurable
outcomes in response to one of the challenge statements.
• Projects without the potential to expand in scale to provide solutions to a greater number or diversity of people.
• Projects lacking metrics to determine success or failure and to allow decisions about their appropriateness.
• Solutions that are only variations of existing approaches or repetitions of conventional solutions without
novel application.
• Projects that cannot be implemented in the vulnerable communities of Hargeisa i.e. ideas not directly relevant to low income community contexts.
• Solutions that require long-term financial support beyond the scope or scale of the Social Plastics Innovation Challenge Fund.
• Projects that don’t clearly consider the current contexts and relevant socio-cultural, political, economic, environmental and infrastructural constraints of available services/systems.
• Ideas that present ethical or safety risks.
• Training or educational programs or campaigns without clearly articulated, measurable behavioural change outcomes.
• Ideas that do not address at least one of the Innovation Challenge Statements of this call.
• Solutions whose primary objective is to solves issues of solid waste management, employment opportunities among the local youths, or poor working conditions and financial remuneration of the waste pickers.
Eligibility
This Call is open to all types of applicants with a proven interest in contributing to tackle the underlying causes of chronic plastic waste issues in Hargeisaand elsewhere. Private sector partners, organizations and individuals that can prove that they meet the selection criteria are strongly recommended to apply.
All types of legally registered companies and organizations will be considered – as well as individuals. Applicants may apply as single/standalone applicant or as a part of a partnership. Partnerships are strongly
encouraged.
Private sector partners and organizations with a strong track-record in East Africa are strongly recommended to apply as core criteria for this call are:
– Sustainability using market forces; and
– Relevance to the specific vulnerable community context in Hargeisa.
Evaluation and selection criteria and process
Proposals will be submitted in accordance with the instructions found in this document in section “Timeline and
Instructions”.
The evaluation process consists of a three-stage formal assessment by Response Innovation Lab, Engineers without Borders, and World Vision Somalia with technical support from the technical advisors from the Somali Resilience Program (SomReP) involving an initial eligibility check, external expert review and final selection committee decision.
Some of the variables that will be assessed during the initial evaluation include; completeness of the application documents, and relevance to the call requirements.
Proposals meeting the basic conditions above will be submitted to a technical evaluation by internal and external reviewers. Some of the core criteria considered include:
1- Plastic waste technical excellence: the proposals must demonstrate a sound understanding of drivers and levers of plastic waste generation and management and propose relevant solutions with demonstrated proof of concept and quality of the technical approach.
2- Innovation level of the solution: more innovative proposals (disruptive rather than incremental innovation) will be favored. They need to distinguish from mainstream plastic waste management activities implemented in Hargeisa.
3- Potential for impact: The proposed innovation must first and foremost have the potential to truly improve the state of plastic waste management in Hargeisa with key focus on creating alternative livelihoods for the most vulnerable groups living in the community. Applicants must be in a position to clearly articulate how the proposed innovation will contribute to change on the state of plastic waste in Hargeisa and make a clear and difference in the lives of the households and communities that are engaged in the plastic value chain or are impacted by the climate change in East Africa. Applicants must describe expected involvement of affected people in the innovation process and how they may be impacted by the outcome in the short and long term. As applicants prepare proposals, they need to be thinking about the change they want to create and to demonstrate how the rights and interests of affected people are respected.
4- Sustainability: change and impact: The proposal must also already outline next steps clearly in terms of scaling opportunities and sustainability. What are the sustainability perspectives for this innovation? How many people will benefit from it during the pilot and how many more could benefit if it is successful and scaled? Applicants are required to have in mind factors of cost, complexity and expected results (potential impact). Innovations that are expected to produce better results at lower cost and complexity are more likely to be sustainable in the long term. The applicants will need to explain the short- and longer-term plans to reach a higher sustainability level compared with current practices.
5- Relevant, problem-driven solutions: The proposed solution should be clearly linked to needs on the ground, answering a gap in the sector. The innovation should be based on a sound problem analysis, contextual awareness and intervention logic. Rather than an innovation looking for a problem, it is critical to show how the innovation responds to a challenge that is meaningful for the wellbeing of the
targeted communities and how it is mindful of the local circumstances. Proposals will score better if they show that they address well identified barriers and constraints rather than general vague issues related to plastic waste.
6- Feasibility: The main parameters under scrutiny will be technical, team capacity and realistic objective-setting. Applicants will be asked to clearly explain how the proposed innovation will eventually be tested in communities and how it is relevant for implementation more broadly in the country’s systems (clear sustainability plan). The proposal should contain a realistic timeline and budget as well as measures of success for the duration of the pilot.
7- Judicious use of project resources and demonstration of the applicant of capacity to match the Innovation Challenge Fund with own financial resources (which may be in-kind). Applicants need to be able to articulate how the investment level justifies the expected outcomes or how an initial investment will later become a cost-efficient approach.
A full scoring grid will be disclosed to applicants as they prepare their proposals.
RFP Evaluation Criteria
The evaluation shall be conducted in three sequential stages.
- Stage one:
Preliminary examination to determine the eligibility of the applicant and the administrative compliance and responsiveness of the proposal received. Eligibility will be determined by the proper submission of all requested documentation. This will be on Pass/Fail basis
- Stage two:
Proposals that pass stage one will then be subject to a technical evaluation which shall determine the technical compliance of the goods/services offered in the proposal compared with the stated requirements as detailed in the RFP and annexes.
The goods or services offered in the proposal shall be evaluated in comparison to a known problem statement in the RFP and annexes.
- Stage three:
Applicants that have reached this stage will be subject to a formal, substantive and financial assessment. Although price is an important factor it is not the only consideration in evaluating responses to this RFP.
Detailed evaluation depending will include the following criteria and a decision leading to a final selection or award may take several weeks.
- Comprehensive description of the proposed solution and/or evidence of any existing integral or partial solution
- Price
- Credit and payment terms
- Guarantees/warranties
- After sales service
- Stock availability & delivery time
- Knowledge of the sector and problem statement
- Experience
- Ability to deliver within proposed timeline
Support offered by the fund
DURING THE PREPARATION OF APPLICATIONS:
The Social Plastics for Economic Development project proposes a range of resources (readings and interactive activities) to support you in the preparation of applications. None of those activities are mandatory to be able to submit an expression of interest but they are strongly recommended.
The benefits for the potential applicants will be:
• Information sharing and discussing the ideas with various sector experts.
• Introduction to and linkages with various ecosystem stakeholders who may be valuable implementing partners.
• Access to sector specific data and information that can guide and facilitate the development of compelling concept notes.
Please read the section Call Timelines and Instructions on opportunities to engage in interactive group and individual sessions.
Please visit the website for all the publications and resources that can support the development of your application. We are flagging three must-read resources below:
FOR THE WINNING PROJECTS:
The funding envelope for this Innovation Challenge Fund stands at a maximum of USD 150,000. The Social Plastics for Economic Development project team reserves the right to select between 1 to 3 projects and to allocate or not the full envelope. The minimum pilot budget that can be considered will be USD 50,000 per project and the maximum if 1 single pilot is selected will be USD 150,000.
Funding + innovation management & acceleration + impact measurement & learning support + ecosystem linkages including through World Vision Somalia and Somali Resilience Program (SomReP) presence on the ground Fund of USD 150,000 in total
Minimum envelope of USD 50,000 & maximum at USD 150,000 (if 1 single pilot)
Call Timelines & Instructions
OVERALL CALL TIMELINE:
All submissions are to be received purely digitally according to instructions below. Submissions not following those instructions will not be considered.
PHASE 1:
• Final week of May 2024: Call launch
All information is availed on the
RIL website www.responseinnovation.com/somalia;
Somali Jobs https://somalijobs.com/tenders
Relief Web https://reliefweb.int/jobs
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/WVSomalia/
https://so.linkedin.com/in/world-vision-somali-65a09020a
This includes supporting documents and instructions to sign up for info sessions or listen to recordings.
• June 2024: Market Dialogue and Information sharing
10 & 24 June 2024: Info sessions (market dialogues), online, open to all interested partners for additional information and details of the call. All actors will have the same access to information as all resources will be reposted on the website.
Info Session 1:
When: 10th of June, 2024 03:00 PM EAT
Info Session 2:
When: 24th of June, 2024 2024 03:00 PM EAT
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and answers will be availed publicly on the RIL website and regularly updated from 15th of June.
Individual or specific questions can be sent to [email protected] until 24th June 2024.
Answers will be sent individually by email and summarized publicly in the FAQ (last update will be on 26th of June
2024.
Note that no substantial changes will be made on any of the tender documents based on information received from suppliers
10th of June and 24th of June 2024: possibility to book a 30-min individual consultation with SOCIAL PLASTICS team via the website. This is a platform to raise questions with the SOCIAL PLASTICS team without worrying about disclosing critical information about your innovation idea in front of potential competitors. The SOCIAL PLASTICS team will not give feedback to serves to ameliorate the innovation idea. Answers provided in these sessions will be anonymously summarized and shared in the FAQ (without revealing any innovation specifics).
Individual Consultations
When: 10th of June or 24th of June
Register: Register: https://calendly.com/utsav_kharel/individual-consultations-innovation-challenge
• 30th of June 2024: Deadline for submission of full proposals. Only applications by google form will be accepted. The annexes are mandatory requirements. An email will be sent to confirm receipt of proposal.
• July: Review of applications
Applications will be going through several stages of review: eligibility check, longlisting, shortlisting with external expert reviewers.
Top applications may be invited to pitch to a senior panel of experts. This will be communicated in February. Once selected, the winning applicants will receive confirmation which will be conditional to
1. The applicants successfully passing through the due diligence and partnership vetting process of SOCIAL PLASTICS;
and
2. The applicants addressing the queries of the selection committee satisfactorily in a revised version of their proposal.
A contract will be awarded once the aforementioned stages have been successfully completed.
World Vision Somalia reserve the right to select 1 or several applications and are under no obligation to select the cheapest project.
• July: winning applications announced
• August: Awarded partners fully start pilot implementation in Hargeisa with technical support and backstopping from the SOCIAL PLASTICS team. An inception phase at the beginning of the project, including field visits and partner meetings will help refine details of the pilot plans.
Contacts
Response Innovation Lab tendersglobal.net hosted at World Vision Somalia
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.responseinnovationlab.com/somalia
The webpage of the project will be regularly updated throughout the call to share information with all
potential applicants and partners.
How to apply
The deadline for the submission of your application is by the 30th of June via email to [email protected] and the email subject should read: Social Plastics Innovation Challenge Fund
For more information about the Social Plastics project, procedure to submit the Call for Application details visit: