Application Deadline: September 6, 2025
The “Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment” (WEE) project is part of the Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It aims to empower women in the private sector by creating good new jobs for women, improving their working conditions, and empowering women-owned businesses. The WEE project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Interationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The WEE project is offering partnerships to women-owned companies through “Integrated Development Partnerships with the Private Sector” (iDPPs).
iDPPs allow GIZ to cooperate with companies to implement joint projects. GIZ will support eligible project ideas with in-kind contributions, for example, national and international technical experts, capacity-building support, and small-scale equipment/material purchases. The partner company is expected to match – in-kind or in-cash – the value of resources GIZ invests into the project. GIZ and the partner company will co-implement the project idea: under this Call, there will be no cash flow between GIZ and the partner company.
Eligibility criteria
The following are minimum criteria for companies submitting project ideas:
- Ownership: Company is majority-owned by a woman/women (at least 51%).
- Nature of company: Company must be profit-oriented and not engaged in business practices that are unsustainable or harmful to development outcomes.
- Legal entity: Company is privately owned and must be legally registered in Rwanda for at least 2 years.
- Business sector: preference is given to labour-intensive sectors that have the capacity to create more new jobs.
- Financial and human resources of company: Company must have sufficient financial and human resources to co-implement the project idea with GIZ. The company should have had an annual revenue of at least 20,000 Euros in 2023.
Application Procedure:
A two-stage application procedure will be applied.
In the first stage, all interested and eligible parties are invited to submit a short concept note (Expression of Interest), which will be evaluated. Please submit your concept note (Expression of Interest) in English by email to [email protected] by September 6th, 2024. The subject line should be labelled “Expression of Interest for Partnerships with Women-Owned Companies”.
Only applications using the Concept Note template will be considered. This template as well as Frequently Asked Questions can be downloaded below.
During a second stage, selected applicants will be invited and supported to develop a full proposal for cooperation.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Program
