Solicitation for
Financial Literacy Training for Aquaculture Farmers

The Feed the Future Bangladesh Aquaculture Activity (BAA) is a five-year project of USAID which is working to improve nutrition through growth in the aquaculture sector.  BAA works in 21 districts of southwestern Bangladesh and two districts in the southeast.

In Bangladesh, the fisheries sector is huge.  The fish value chain is about 3.7% of GDP and about 23% of the whole agriculture sector.  About 17 million people, more than 11% of the population, earn incomes from fisheries.

Access to finance is one of the major constraints for the growth of the aquaculture sector. Most of the aqua-enterprises, especially smaller fish farmers, find it difficult to work with banks to get the services and loans they need for their businesses to grow.  As a result, they often need to borrow money from local money lenders with high interest rates.

"Access to finance" is more than getting a loan.  The owners of these small and medium sized businesses must manage their money well, understand profit & loss, understand what parts of their business is profitable and which are not, save regularly, plan for cash flow needs, and more.  A weak knowledge of financial management is one of core challenges of operating a successful business.

BAA believes that financial literacy training will improve the performance of aquaculture businesses by improving the financial management of the businesses and also enable the businesses to build stronger relationships with the formal financial sector.

Objective

We are looking for a partner(s) who can provide practical training to this under-served market.  The successful applicant will be a financial institution(s), MFI, or training Institutions with proven experience and success in helping small businesses improve their operations.

Scope of Work

The partner selected from this work will provide financial management training to at 2,000-3,000 owners and managers of fish hatcheries, nurseries, and fish farms.  These trainings will be held in various locations across southwestern Bangladesh.  We envision a two-day workshop.

It would be an added value if the selected training provider would include purposeful activities to link the business owners with formal financial institutions.

How to Apply

A clear, highly detailed, and professionally written plan is required in the application.  Be concise but complete.  Show how the training will be provided during the next 12 months or less.  Include the CVs of all proposed trainers. 

As you write, be aware that the trainees are successful business owners who have likely never received formal training in this subject but nonetheless deal with these issues every day.

Only qualified applicants should apply.  "Qualified" means an established organization with a track record in such capacity building.

Key Deliverables

    • A written training plan and schedule
    • Copies of all training materials (in Bangla)
    • Regular financial and narrative reports

Required documentation

If selected for financial support, the partner will be required to show:

    • A certificate of incorporation (for individual companies, a trade license);
    • An organizational organogram of key personnel, inclusive of the names of such personnel;
    • Tax Identification Number (TIN);
    • VAT registration number;
    • Proof of a segregated account (providing the name and address of such an account);
    • Other valid papers (provided by government institutions).
    • The percentage of VAT and the total amount of VAT should be mentioned in the proposal.

Submission details

Interested parties should submit a one-page summary of their qualifications and a complete training plan as described above on or before January 31, 2021, via email to  wfbanaproject@cgiar.org mentioning the title of solicitation in the subject line.