📋 Tender Overview
Contract partner: Mercy Corps Europe
Country: Georgia Contract type: Standardvertrag Project start: 01.10.2025 Funding amount: € 900.000,00 End: 30.09.2028
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
Overall goal
Strengthened rural development in the target municipalities as a consequence of fostering entrepreneurial potential and improving livelihoods of young people (ages 18-35).
Expected results
- Young entrepreneurs, Women’s Rooms, Vocational education and training (VET) Centres and Business Development Service (BDS) providers have improved skills, knowledge, and capacities and apply them to develop youth entrepreneurship;
- Young entrepreneurs thrive through increased access to finance, business support structures, networks, and key market actors;
- Existing and newly created youth-led enterprises benefit from gender inclusive and online safety practices and tools.
Target group / Beneficiaries
Direct Beneficiaries are 1,800 young people (aged 18-35, out of which at least 50% female) including from vulnerable and marginalized groups, residing in 21 target municipalities (including those who have temporarily migrated due to work, studies, or other factors, but maintain residence) who intend to launch new or expand already existing micro, small, or medium enterprise in these locations. Enterprises will include agricultural and non-agricultural ventures led by young entrepreneurs, and young commercial farmers who have taken over or will take over the family business.
There is a substantial network of CSOs and NGOs, VET Centres and Business Development Service providers, and governmental entities in the target regions. These entities will be prime training facilitators and will support the institutionalisation of the training modules.
Activities
The project will utilise tailored capacity building and business incentives to strengthen entrepreneurial skills and capacities. These needs-based activities will address pre-identified knowledge and skills gaps, delivered by experienced local training providers.
Furthermore, it will enable youth-led enterprises and young entrepreneurs to increase their business productivity, reduce their risk profiles as potential microloan recipients, improve sales and profitability; and increase their potential to hire new staff; which in turn will help young people to build sustainable businesses and improve their livelihoods.
Finally, the project will also strengthen capacity of Women’s Rooms, VET Centers, and BDS providers on implementing gender equality and gender mainstreaming tools, awareness raising in prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH), identify and counter technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) to ensure safety of online business.
Context
Youth in Georgia have a very high literacy rate (about 99.4%) and the vast majority of them are highly motivated to pursue opportunities for employment and professional growth. This is true both for rural and urban young pe
