The Household Solar Workforce Development Challenge will award up to $350,000 in grant funding to support scalable, innovative, third-party training solutions to the off-grid solar home system sector's workforce needs in sub-Saharan Africa. USAID, as part of its commitment to the Scaling Off-Grid Energy (SOGE) Grand Challenge for Development, is supporting the Household Solar Workforce Development Challenge run by the ResilientAfrica Network (RAN).
The Problem
Off-grid solar home systems (SHS) are an emerging solution to provide access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. According to GOGLA, the off-grid solar sector globally has an estimated annual growth rate of 140% that is primarily driven by pay-as-you-go (PAYG) business models and 'plug-and-play' solar home system technology. With continued growth, the sector could support up to 1.3 million full time equivalent jobs by 2022.
Hiring and retaining qualified employees has been challenging for many SHS companies. Challenges include lack of candidates with appropriate technical and “soft skills,” lack of relevant and context-based curricula on off-grid systems at the certificate level, the inability of the sector to compete for fresh graduates with higher-paying established companies, high-performing employees being poached by competitors, and a lack of capital to invest in the continued training and professional development of current employees. Furthermore, in Africa, SHS solutions are often deployed in rural and remote areas where it can be even harder to attract and retain staff.
About the Challenge
Third-party organizations that focus on training workers for the off-grid solar home system sector offer a viable, and potentially more efficient and effective workforce development solution, but are not yet widely supported or utilized.
The specific objectives of this funding window are to identify and support scalable, innovative, third-party training solutions to the off-grid solar home system sector's workforce needs in sub-Saharan Africa.
This call is an initiative of the ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of its commitment to the Scaling Off-Grid Energy (SOGE) Grand Challenge for Development.
Why Participate?
The selected organizations will receive awards ranging from USD 100,000 to USD 350,000 for project implementation over the course of one year, subject to the availability of funding.
Deadlines:
- Call for Proposals Opens: 16 October 2019;
- Closing Date for Questions: 29 November 2019;
- Call for Proposals Closes: 15 December 2019;
More info:
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