Background:
India faces a growing ecological and socio-economic challenge from the spread of invasive alien species, particularly water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), which has colonised large areas of freshwater systems across the country. The resulting ecological degradation, public health risks, and disruption to local livelihoods disproportionately affect rural communities, especially women dependent on wetland ecosystems.
In response, Project NIDHI adopts a “mitigation through utilisation” approach, promoting the productive use of water hyacinth as a natural fibre resource. While technical aspects such as harvesting and processing are being addressed through parallel interventions, sustainable outcomes require strengthening the social, financial, and organisational capacities of participating communities.
The project therefore seeks to build an enabling ecosystem for women-led, community-based enterprises linked to Common Facility Centres (CFCs), integrating gender transformation, financial literacy, and enterprise development.
To support this, GIZ intends to engage an experienced consortium/agency to implement structured community mobilisation and capacity development activities across selected locations in Jharkhand and Assam.
Objectives:
The objective of this assignment is to strengthen the social, financial, and enterprise capacities of target communities engaged in water hyacinth-based livelihoods, enabling women-led groups and producer organisations to operate CFC-linked value chain functions as viable, inclusive, and sustainable enterprises.
The interested bidders are requested to submit the proposal in digital format / electronically – please refer to the bidding conditions and follow the instructions carefully.
The detailed documentation with regards to this call for proposals includes:
- Terms of Reference for the Assignment
- Grid for Assessing the Eligibility +Legal Inferences
- Technical Evaluation Grid
- C02 Emission Document
- Bidding Conditions + Financial Format
- General Terms & Conditions of Contracts