Grants

USAID ERA and Western Ukrainian Resource Center to work on optimizing railway border procedures

BCP Renovation and Reconstruction
Grants
20 November 2024

In October 2024, the NGO Western Ukrainian Resource Center, launched project activities under a grant from the USAID Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA) titled “Streamlining railway border procedures for faster grain exports to the EU”. This one-year grant project aims at harmonizing cross-border procedures to boost Ukraine’s rail exports of agricultural products, contributing to broader economic recovery.

The Western Ukrainian Resource Center will convene a cross-border group of Ukraine-EU experts to improve technical processes and customs procedures at the three pilot rail border crossing points (BCPs) of Mostyska, Chop, and Vadul Siret, on the borders with Poland, Hungary, and Romania respectively.

Project participants include representatives of the State Customs, Border Guard, Ukrainian Railways, and regional state administrations of Lviv, Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi Oblasts. They will contribute to analyzing the challenges and opportunities in the current processes at the three BCPs, and will propose how to improve technical and customs procedures, and increase the capacity of the personnel involved in cargo registration.

Background: Between 2023-2026, USAID, through the Economic Resilience Activity (ERA), is dedicating $115 million to support the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine (SARDI), Ukrainian Railways (UZ), and State Customs Services, to upgrade border crossing points (BCPs) to improve grain trade and export volumes.

USAID ERA shares what is expected from grantees’ applications and how they will be evaluated

Grants
24 May 2024

On May 24, the USAID Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA) held the second information session for potential applicants under the Annual Program Statement “Building the Future of Ukrainian Logistics and Export”, attended by more than 120 participants. 

Last year, USAID ERA joined the USAID AGRI-Ukraine Initiative to strengthen grain exports and improve global food security. As part of the initiative, USAID ERA supports agricultural companies, state authorities, phytosanitary laboratories, and it recently announced the Annual Program Request, a grant competition. The goal is to strengthen the logistics and export potential of the Ukrainian agricultural sector. 

Kirsten Pfeiffer, USAID ERA`s Deputy Chief of Party, spoke about the grant competition, happening March-August 31, including the goals and requirements. 

“Within the framework of this grant competition, we highlight two goals of applications that we are ready to support. The first goal is to improve knowledge and involve international experience in grain transportation, improve these processes by Ukrainian companies, strengthen market ties with companies in Europe, and improve marketing. Co-financing of logistics equipment for the agricultural sector, for which there is a great demand – USAID ERA helps with the purchase of the necessary equipment. We are looking for manufacturers of such equipment in Ukraine to help them enter world markets. We are also ready to purchase such equipment for agribusiness, but only if it is ready to show high indicators of grain export in metric tons. We also support training of personnel or upgrading of skills of private and public companies in the field of logistics and agriculture. We are ready to develop and implement programs for training and involving women in various processes, taking into account the new law on mobilization and the shortage of male labor in the labor market. Our next goal is the strategic development of border crossing points (BCPs), improvement or acceleration of processes at them, for this we are modernizing 42 BCPs, 9 of them are priority. Cooperation with Moldova and the EU is strategically important,” said Kirsten Pfeiffer. 

USAID ERA`s Grants Director, Valeriya Sorokina, notes the most important criteria by which USAID ERA evaluates applications is the potential of the applicant, and their compliance with the goals of the competition.  

Other factors include things like experience which is vital; no grant experience is necessary but rather USAID ERA is looking for experience in a certain field. Stability is key, despite the fact that Ukraine is going through difficult times. USAID ERA will assess the financial stability of the applicant and the anticipated contribution that the proposed activity can bring to the market as a whole. The last thing to keep in mind is inclusion, by which USAID ERA means employing and empowering women, young people, and people with disabilities. Overall, the aim is to develop the labor market, which will be beneficial to all market players and will contribute to economic growth. 

Other things to keep in mind: 

  • Applications are submitted in Ukrainian or English and applicants will be notified of an outcome by mail.  
  • The grant does not cover construction and building materials.  
  • The application can be up to 500,000 USD.  
  • The deadline for submitting applications is August 31, 2024, no exceptions.  
  • The grant duration is up to one year. 
  • A company or organization can submit multiple applications.  
  • The grantee must include co-investment contributions in monetary and non-monetary form (this can also be money from partners, customers, but not from sources funded by the US government). 
  • USAID ERA will work with selected applicants and provide detailed consultations to finalize the application. 

During USAID ERA’s last informational session, participants asked questions such as whether the educational platforms can apply, how to get a grant for a grain transporter in Ukraine, whether it is possible to use the grant to increase the number of jobs and pay wages to new employees, if a renovated premises can count as a company’s co-investment contribution, can a company apply for wagons if its own contribution is up to 15%, is it necessary to indicate value added tax (VAT) in the application budget, or finally, can an organization from the USA apply. USAID ERA will prepare and send answers to all questions not addressed during the session. 

Applications for the competition should be sent to Grants_ERA@dai.com 

Further details of the grant competition are here.

GRANTS

Annual Program Statement “Building the Future of Ukraine Logistics and Export” closed

USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) would like to thank all those who submitted applications for the “Building the Future of Ukraine Logistics and Export” funding opportunity. The application submission period is now officially closed. 

This funding opportunity was designed to support Ukraine’s economic recovery, focusing on enhancing agricultural export and logistics capacity, as well as improving infrastructure and processes along the western borders of Ukraine. We are grateful for the overwhelming response and the diverse range of innovative proposals we received. 

USAID ERA is currently reviewing the applications under the last funding window. Applicants will be notified of the application evaluation results by email. 

Stay tuned for more information, and once again, thank you for your interest and commitment to building the future of Ukraine’s logistics and export sectors!