The USAID Democratic Governance in Eastern Ukraine Project is launching a new program to support sustainable economic growth and recovery in liberated and frontline communities for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the agricultural, food, and processing sectors in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions.
Applicants who: can participate in the project
- registered as Ukrainian business entities;
- have less than 1,000 hectares of land in physical use for agricultural enterprises or up to 250 employees for processing enterprises;
- are willing to demonstrate effective management and present a system of internal controls that protects assets.
Preference will be given to businesses owned by women, veterans or their family members, persons with disabilities, and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Within the framework of the program, support will be provided in the following areas:
- Procurement of drip irrigation and sprinkling systems: pumps, filtration systems, pipelines, drip lines, valves, fertigation systems, automation equipment, digital control systems for agriculture and water tanks.
- Purchase of greenhouse equipment: polyethylene film for greenhouses, plastic or metal frames, ventilation systems, drip irrigation and sprinkling systems (except installation and heating systems).
- Purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment: mini tractors (up to 100 horsepower), mini harvesters, plows, harrows, fertilizer spreaders (without engine), tractor-mounted sprayers, tractor-mounted seed drills, mobile crushers for agriculture, inter-row spring-blade cultivators, soil tillers, combined pre-sowing tillage machines.
- Procurement of storage/processing equipment: cold storage rooms for fruit and vegetable storage, food processing lines, food processing machinery, packaging plants, canning machines, and industrial vacuum sealers for food products.
- Assistance with branding and labeling issues: including developing logo designs and visual branding, finding packaging and labeling solutions to enhance product appeal and ensure compliance with local or international market standards, and creating promotional materials such as brochures, flyers, and digital content, and a website.
- Assistance in obtaining ISO or HASSP certificates (for processing facilities).
- Assistance in obtaining other types of consulting services that may be needed on a one-time or temporary basis, including warehouse organization, logistics system optimization, consulting on permit systems, implementation of specialized software, etc.
The USAID Democratic Governance in Eastern Ukraine Project is accepting applications until January 30, 2025.
You need to submit an application via this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe14vObqrgOPneKgXrnkrKF-8JCAUymLVkrb784jbdANJ8-pw/viewform
Details of the competition are in the appendix.