Capacity Building

 Contracting authority Stichting SPARK

Programme title: Innovation that scales start-up ecosystems in Mediterranean countries

Activity Name: Capacity Building Phase 2 and 3

Locations: Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine & Tunisia 

Date of advertisement  November 22, 2023

Application Deadline: December 15, 2023 (17:30 Local Time)

Duration: 6 months (including reporting)

Expected Start Date:   January 1, 2024

 Last Date for Questions and Answers (Q&A) December 1, 2023 (17:30 Local Time)

  Application Method  Offers should be sent to [email protected]

Contracting Authority – SPARK

SPARK supports higher education and entrepreneurship to empower young, ambitious people to lead their fragile and conflict-affected societies into prosperity. SPARK is a dynamic and growing, international not-for-profit development organisation with 100+ staff members, in more than 14 offices around the world.

SPARK supports refugees in the Middle East by providing them with scholarships in universities and higher education institutions in the region. SPARK also supports young entrepreneurs in fragile states, to start or grow their own businesses.

SPARK with the support of the European Commission is looking for a service provider who can support on the implementation of the capacity building component under SPARK’s ‘From Innovation to Creation’ programme. The programme aims to strengthen innovation through supporting cluster cooperation and start-up ecosystems in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. This is achieved through strengthening the supportive eco-system for start-ups, support for start-ups to scale and enhancing the start-up environment through advocacy and regional exchange.

The services to be provided fall under the first component and focus on providing tailored capacity building support to Business Support Organisations in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. This support should build on the outcomes of the capacity assessments developed under the programme during the course of 2023, and should include the drafting of tailored capacity building support plans and the implementation of these plans.

To increase the impact of the services, the support should be tailored to the capacity needs of the Business Support Organisations. During the first phase of the capacity building, the capacities of the programme partners (local Business Support Organisations) have been assessed individually on a wide range of organisational pillars. The requested services include the writing of a tailored support plan for each organization, based on the assessments, as well as the provision of the outlined support. The areas that the capacity building should focus on include, but are not limited to, organisational management and sustainability, operations, networking and advocacy.

For further details, please see the ToR (here)