Responses to clarifying questions – Jordan Specific

Yes, in-kind is possible as well. However, it is a competitive process, so if all of your co-funding comes from in-kind sources, your application may be less competitive. See the general FAQ explaining how you can monetize in-kind co-funding.

Salaries for youth for whom jobs are being created, matched, or improved (= the beneficiaries of the project) cannot be part of the project budget. However, salaries for staff members who will be involved in project implementation can be included in the project budget.

We are interested in the number of youth who are eventually employed, matched, or for whom job conditions improve, regardless of who employs them.

You will need to at least match 100% of the Fund’s grant, preferably more. Your project will be valued higher if you plan to invest more than the grant you are requesting from the CFYE. Mind you, the co-funding can also come from other (donor or third party) sources.

In other words: if your total project costs 300,000 EURO you can request up to 150,000 EURO from CFYE

We have not set a ceiling on the grant amount, but we will consider whether your budget is feasible and realistic and whether you can come up with the required co-funding. We will also assess whether the grant cost per job is competitive. We will make that assessment in more detail in the second phase (detailed business cases), where we will assign coaches to shortlisted applicants.

The grant may include an amount for capacity building to project beneficiaries (such as job seekers, employees or entrepreneurs). When we refer to TA (technical assistance), we usually mean TA to the entities that are implementing the project. This TA is provided free of cost, as a complement to the grant funding. Thus, the TA is directly linked to the project you will be implementing. If you only need to cover the cost of TA within the project with grant funding, then the grant can be for TA only.

The budget should not include expenses that have already been made (before the project starts), nor should it include costs that are not directly related to the project you are proposing. Other than that, it is quite open and depends on the project.

Funding may be requested to scale up existing activities (leading to an acceleration of results in jobs). However, we would look critically at the additionality of our grant, in other words, to what extent would this scaling up have taken place without the CFYE grant and in what has the grant improved the outcomes. The CFYE baseline starts when CFYE funded activities start, so only jobs created after the grant has been awarded would count.

This will depend on the projects that are presented and that are selected based on the strong business and high value for money. We do not expect to fund more than 5 or 6 projects in Jordan

There is no specific goal on how to distribute jobs among countries. On average, we expect to support 5-7 projects per country, depending on the market potential and the quality of the projects. The status and development of markets can differ hugely; we take that into account when selecting projects.

That depends on the project and the profile of the private sector partner. If (one of) the private sector partner(s) is a training institution, then it stands to reason that they will play a role in upskilling. More in general, we believe the private sector has a significant role to play in providing sustainable employment opportunities to youth. If a private company that is leading the project, or that is part of the consortium will create jobs, this will increase the degree of control of the implementing partners over the expected outcomes. You will need to show where the jobs will be created, matched, or improved, and this is easier to show if they come from the (value chain of) the private sector partner(s).

For example, a project which focuses on matching may aim at bridging the gap between the skills of graduates of vocational institutions who want to work in the tourism sector but simply miss the skillset that is needed by the employers. In Uganda, there is a project that provides a post-graduate training course in digital skills combined with an apprenticeship in private companies, with a job guarantee at the end of the training for the graduates.

Yes, absolutely, provided you meet our other eligibility criteria.

Assuming there is a second cycle, yes.

This is up to you to assess when presenting your project proposal. If you think youth do not have the right mindset, you will need to suggest how you will deal with this. Mind you, if the agribusinesses have not yet been set up, it may be difficult to achieve the minimum number of jobs required to be eligible for a CFYE grant.

Yes, if it includes countries on which the Fund is focused on (see our website), it will make the application more competitive.

To the company. The fund has no claim over profit earned.

The duration of CFYE funded projects is two to three years – we will assess project results over the project lifetime. The minimum duration of a decent job is currently assessed at 6 months (but this is under assessment at the moment)

During the evaluation phase of the business case, we will try to assess to what extent your project outcomes are subject to risks. You will need to answer questions during this phase (not during the concept note stage) on the risks you foresee for the project and how you plan to mitigate them. Once the grant has been awarded, then we will take into account unforeseen events that occur during implementation.

This should be over the project period, maximum of 3 years.

It can also include refugees, as long as they are living in Jordan.

At least one of the (private sector) consortium partners needs to be operating in Jordan, in order to meet the eligibility criteria.

On the application form, you can only fill in 3. There is no limit in principle. However, the partner’s role needs to be relevant and have a clear role in the project.

This will depend on a case-by-case basis. Value for money only looks at the total grant requested compared to the number of jobs created, matched, or improved. But we are also interested in the quality of jobs. In some specific cases, we may value job opportunities for women differently from those for men.

Once again, we follow a case-by-case process. For newly established businesses, it will depend on how new they are, and whether they have demonstrated that their business model is feasible and has growth potential. In general, we do require some kind of a track record or evidence that the activities being proposed will create jobs.

Either can be a lead applicant as long as a private sector company is part of the consortium.

One of the consortium partners does have to be a private sector company with confirmed labour demand. But not all private companies in the consortium need to employ youth, as part of the project outcomes.

One or more applicants can be domiciled overseas, but at least one of the private sector partners (with confirmed labour demand) must be operating in Jordan. This can be a company that operates in other countries as well.

The local consultants cannot be included in the jobs created unless they will be employed for a long period of time. The jobs that are being created should be created for at least 6 months, and preferably longer. The more sustainable the jobs are, the more likely it is that your project idea will be selected.

This is the minimum requirement. The project may focus purely on women, in which case it would be a more competitive application – all other things being equal.

Digital jobs are important for Jordan. Training and capacity building is important means towards jobs, and are activities we can fund. However, the CFYE focuses on job outcomes, not only on capacity building. So, showing a clear pathway to jobs is important for us. Jobs do not have to be in-house or payroll jobs only. Self-employment, sales agent jobs, etc, are also eligible.

We look closely at your organisation and the ability to grow or remain stable (Covid-resilience or options to pivot to other sources of business), as healthy businesses create steady jobs. We review the entire picture – your project idea, your organization(s), and the people who will work on the project.

A healthy cash flow is clearly important for the sustainability of your company, and as such will be taken into account. However, it is not an important outcome if this cashflow does not translate into a significant number of decent jobs that are created, matched, or improved.

That depends on the project. If this refers to providing women jobs as sales agents, and their working conditions are decent, the answer is yes.

There is no limitation here.

You are welcome to apply for any sector. We have highlighted priority sectors where we see potential job growth, but if you believe that your sector has potential for job growth (and specifically your project idea) your application is welcome. Regardless of the sector, you will need to provide some kind of evidence or reasoning why you think there is job potential in the sector.

We do take Covid resilience into account, or Covid pivoting ideas. This may be relevant, for instance, if you are thinking of a project in the tourism sector.