DFID stands for the Department for International Development, operated by the government of the United Kingdom (UK), and is responsible for aid directed abroad. The UK is among the top 3 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donor countries, spending US$19.4 billion on official development assistance (ODA) in 2018. DFID provided almost 75% of the total UK ODA in 2018, and has recently released information regarding DFID procurement opportunities, programs and budget for 2021. The document describes 50 opportunities to be approached to market from Q4 2019 to Q1 2022, each with an estimated value ranging between £1m to £50m. The total estimated value of the opportunities is £970m. DevelopmentAid has selected several opportunities from the DFID procurement pipeline and prepared an overview of these.
Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa
The continuation of the SITA South-South project seeking to address the challenges faced by the current state of African-Indian trade relationships is one of the largest projects to be financed by DFID from the 2019-2021 pipeline. The value of the project is set to be between £40 m – £50 m within the approach to market of this opportunity expected in Q2 2020. This future project will be a follow up to the currently running “Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa”, worth £19 m. The previous phase of SITA was been implemented by Oxford Policy Management and International Trade Centre. The current phase of the project supports the increase of African exports to the large and growing emerging market of India. It also helps African businesses to strengthen their productive capacity and competitiveness and addressed the main challenge of exporting mostly unprocessed primary commodities.
Fighting undernutrition in Bangladesh
Another important opportunity in the DFID procurement pipeline is the continuation of the current nutrition program in Bangladesh which aims at preventing stunting. This future multi-sectoral nutrition program’s approach to market is expected in Q1 2020 with an estimated budget of £40 m plus. The project currently being implemented in the country aims to reduce the incidence of stunting amongst children under two years of age and to act as a catalyst for support across government and other stakeholders towards a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach to undernutrition at the national level. The future program will be designed to scale up the already established good practices and strengthen government leadership. Among the organizations implementing the current nutrition program addressing the stunting problem in Bangladesh are Save the Children UK and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research.
Quality education in Tanzania
The Sub-Saharan Africa region will benefit from the “Shule Bora (Quality School)” – Education Technical Assistance to the Government of Tanzania, with a provisional budget of £40 m plus. This opportunity’s approach to market is due in Q3 2020. The future project under this opportunity will aim to improve the quality of pre-primary and primary schools in Tanzania. According to DFID, the newly designed educational program in Tanzania will include four outcomes: improve learning outcomes for all children, improve transition rates to secondary school for girls, prevent physical and sexual violence in and around schools, and help children with disabilities access quality education. The project is planned to unfold between 2020 and 2021.
Stability across Somalia
In its pipeline for 2020-2021, DFID announced Phase III of the Somalia Stability Fund which is currently under implementation. This flexible and adaptable instrument will develop a portfolio of projects aimed at strengthening local governance and reducing conflict in Somalia – one of the world’s poorest and most fragile states. The approach to market for this opportunity is Q1 2021. Adam Smith International, Crown Agents Limited and Crown Agents Bank are the organizations currently implementing Phase II of the Somalia Stability Fund.
Background
The DFID project pipeline is an informational resource on potential funding and partnership opportunities that offers an advanced look at contracts that DFID is in the process of developing and plans to issue in the coming year. Keep updated on the status of the above-mentioned projects, as well as other DFID projects, in the Funding menu on www.developmentaid.org.
