Partners Albania announces the call for Green Ideas 2018 national competition.

The aim of the “Green Ideas” competition is to support business initiatives that promote social inclusion, through integration and employment, and local economic development through environmentally friendly ideas.

Application criteria: 

• It’s a green idea in embryonic phase or in the initial phase of implementation;
• If the applying entity is not a civil society organization, the entrepreneurship must be categorized as a small business venture.
• If the applicant is an individual, he/she should contemplate (anticipate) in the business plan the type of legal registration of the project – idea.
• The project idea aims the sustainable development of environment through the creation of job opportunities and/or higher income;
• The project idea is in line with the main activity of the entity which applies;
• The project idea is entirely based on the use of local resources;
• The project idea is based on a detailed business plan and is environment-friendly;
• The project idea mobilizes the work and expertise of local recourses and makes use of their traditional abilities;
• The project idea has a plan on how to grow the activity and financial sustainability;
• The applying entity must show that has information or has performed an evaluation of local market showing the existing need; knows its competitors` and its idea presents competitive advantages;
• The project idea will support the revitalization of traditional local economies and link among people and community.
• The applying entities are eligible to receive funding from this competition not more than once in two years.

Who can apply:

The competition is open to:

Individuals;

Civil society organizations;

Small business ventures.

Financial terms:

The grant will support green project ideas for no longer than one year and with maximum funding of no more than 800.000 ALL.
Co-financing from alternative sources is encouraged.

The required documents:

• A project proposal in line with all the above-mentioned criteria;
• A detailed business plan of the project idea accompanied by the cash flow;
• A document certifying the legal status of the applicant entity (Court registration and TIN);
• For individual applicants, in case their idea wins, before the signing of the contract they should register as a non-profit organization or small business according to the legislation in place.

Format and language:

The presentation of the project idea needs to be in line with the criteria presented in the call, attached to a detailed budget. The budget should be presented in the form of a business plan listing all costs requested to be covered by the Green Ideas grant and co-financing, if there is any, for a one-year period.

The project ideas should be presented in the Albanian language.

Information on the submission deadline and the application procedure:

The deadline for sending applications is June 4, 2018

 The application can be submitted electronically at partners@partnersalbania.org, or by mail/hand delivered to our office:

Partners Albania for Change and Development, Rr:”Sulejman Delvina”, N.18, H.8, Ap.12; PO Box 2418/1, Postal code 1022, Tirana

Partners Albania will release a second announcement about the date of the competition.

Selection process:

The selection process will be conducted by a jury of experts from economic, environment, business and justice field.

The evaluation process will be conducted in two phases:

• The first phase will consist of the selection of the ideas that fulfill the application criteria, selection to be made by Partners Albania;
• The second phase will consist of the selection of three best ideas by the Jury of experts, as part of an open public competition. This selection will be based in the pre-selection list from the first phase.

Partners Albania will release a second announcement about the date of the competition, for the selected applicants.

Three winning ideas will be automatically part of the regional competition organized by Balkan Green Foundation, in Macedonia, in July 2017, through which they could receive additional funding for their idea.

Orientation sessions calendar:

To assist all interested applicants, Partners Albania will organize online and on-site orientation sessions about the procedures and application process. The following is the calendar of the orientation sessions:

To participate in the orientation sessions, express your interest by sending an email to partners@partnersalbania.org, indicating the date in which you are interested to participate. Further details on the orientation sessions will be provided to the interested applicants.

Training on Business and Marketing Planning 

To assist interested applicants in preparing their idea, Partners Albania will organize a two-day training on Business and Marketing Planning. The training will be provided by experts from Grand Thorton, on May 22-23, at Partners Albania offices.

****Applications for participation in the training closed due to the high number of requests.

Monitoring process:

All winners at the national and regional level will sign a contractual relationship as part of this financing, where will be clearly defined the reporting requirements according to indicators set in the project idea and the funding agreement.

For more information on the ideas financed over the years through the “Green Ideas” competition, please read our brochure.