new grant facility supporting business partnerships

On the 7th of November 2016, the national launch of the “Local Competitiveness Facility” (LCF) grant fund took place simultaneously in the four pilot districts in Rwanda. LCF is a matched grant fund with the objective to support private business partnerships to enhance Local Economic Development (LED). The fund will focus on innovative value chain projects including pro-poor businesses in various sectors.

Through the cooperation of Belgium and Rwanda, the LCF grant fund (worth 2,4m EUR) will be implemented by the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA) of Rwanda together with four pilot districts throughout the country.

The main purpose of LCF is to fund innovative economic partnership projects to enhance pro-poor local economic development (LED). LCF will support partnerships companies of different sizes, cooperatives and also NGO’s and TVET centers can under certain circumstances be part of a partnership. The supported projects must be innovative in the area of value chain development and must have a positive LED and a real pro-poor impact.

The following budgets are available for beneficiaries:  

Projects under window 1:
Project Value: Between 6.170 EUR and 11.460 EUR
Grant from LCF: 90%
Own Contribution from project partners: 10% own contribution (cash or in-kind)

Projects under window 2:
Project Value: Between 11.460 EUR and 45.853 EUR
Grant from LCF: 70%
Own Contribution from project partners: 30% own contribution (cash or in-kind)

LCF will not only provide financial support to the beneficiaries, there will also be an important focus on capacity building. Each potential applicant can benefit from capacity building related to the elaboration and application to the LCF Fund. In addition, each beneficiary will have the opportunity to benefit from additional capacity building training related to project management, financial management and procurement and marketing. In cases where other skills development is required to implement a project, this skills development, or capacity building, can be part of the project budget.

As from the moment of the launch, information sessions and training on LCF will be organized in the 4 pilot districts and their sectors. Purpose is to raise awareness among local businesses, farmers, cooperatives, TVET centers, NGO’s, etc. on the possibilities and procedures of LCF. Brochures in both Kinyarwanda and English are distributed among the attendants who can also ask their questions regarding the application procedures.

More information: www.lcf.rw