1. Background and Context
The fisheries sector presents a significant opportunity for blue economy development in Somaliland. This abundant marine resource presents significant opportunities to drive economic growth, strengthen food and nutrition security, create employment, diversify livelihoods, and expand private sector investment through the blue economy. As demand for fish continues to increase both domestically and regionally, the fisheries sector has considerable potential to stimulate enterprise development, promote value addition, improve household incomes, and contribute to Somaliland's broader economic transformation.
Berbera plays a central role within this opportunity as one of Somaliland's principal fisheries hubs. The city supports a dynamic and interconnected ecosystem comprising artisanal fishers, boat owners, fishmongers, processors, transporters, retailers, cooperatives, women-led enterprises, financial institutions, government agencies, private sector actors, and supporting service providers. Together, these actors contribute to the harvesting, handling, processing, transportation, marketing, and distribution of fish to local consumers as well as inland markets such as Hargeisa, Burao, and Borama. Beyond the direct fish trade, the ecosystem also creates opportunities for businesses providing cold-chain services, transport, equipment maintenance, financial services, digital technologies, logistics, and business development support.
Despite this significant potential, the fisheries sector remains underdeveloped due to a range of persistent and interconnected constraints that limit productivity, competitiveness, and enterprise growth. Limited cold-chain infrastructure, weak post-harvest handling and preservation systems, inadequate fish-quality management, fragmented market coordination, limited business management capacity, and restricted access to finance and higher-value markets continue to constrain the sector's development. Climate variability has further increased uncertainty by disrupting traditional fishing patterns and seasonal predictability, resulting in fluctuating fish supply, market volatility, post-harvest losses, and reduced incomes for fishing households. At the same time, limited value addition, weak customer and market intelligence, insufficient business services, and uneven access to productive assets continue to reduce the ability of enterprises to capture greater value from the sector.
Many of these challenges are systemic rather than isolated. Weak fish handling practices reduce product quality before fish even reaches storage facilities, while unreliable cold-chain systems, inadequate transportation, and inconsistent quality management contribute to additional losses further along the value chain. Informal market coordination, limited access to timely market information, and fluctuating demand often force fishers and traders to sell rapidly at lower prices rather than optimize value. Access to productive assets such as boats, fishing gear, refrigeration equipment, and processing facilities remains uneven, limiting opportunities for enterprise growth and innovation. While these constraints affect the broader fishery ecosystem, they are experienced differently depending on an actor's role within the value chain, level of asset ownership, market influence, business capacity, and access to finance. Women and youth, who participate extensively in processing, retailing, and value addition, often experience these barriers more acutely due to limited ownership of productive assets, reduced bargaining power, and fewer opportunities to access larger-scale business financing and leadership positions.
Recognizing that effective innovation must be grounded in the realities of those operating within the sector, Somali Response Innovation Lab (SomRIL) undertook a fishery ecosystem mapping in Berbera to better understand the dynamics, relationships, constraints, and opportunities shaping the local fisheries ecosystem. The mapping was complemented by a Human-Centered Design (HCD)-based innovation convener involving actors from across the fishery ecosystem, including cooperatives, women-led Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), fishers, processors, traders, transporters, and other ecosystem stakeholders. Through ecosystem mapping, challenge mapping, actor journey mapping, and solution ideation, the process generated evidence on where value is created and lost across the value chain, how different actors experience shared challenges, and where opportunities exist for innovation, enterprise development, and ecosystem strengthening. Rather than identifying isolated technical problems, the findings demonstrated that many of the sector's constraints are interconnected and require solutions that combine improved business practices, market systems, supporting services, infrastructure, financing, and collaboration across ecosystem actors.
Building on previous World Vision investments in the Berbera fisheries ecosystem, including support to the Horseed Fishery Association and women-led Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), the ToR seeks to strengthen existing institutions and enterprises rather than create parallel structures. Successful innovations should leverage these existing platforms to generate sustainable livelihoods, improve market participation, and increase the long-term resilience of fishing households.
Building on these insights, SomRIL is launching the Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge: Catalyzing Market-Driven Innovations across the Fishery Ecosystem. The Challenge aims to identify, support, and pilot innovative, market-driven solutions that respond directly to the opportunities and constraints identified through the ecosystem mapping and innovation convener. By supporting locally led innovations that improve fish quality, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen market access, expand access to productive assets and financial services, promote value addition, and improve coordination across the ecosystem, the Challenge seeks to catalyze practical solutions that strengthen the competitiveness, resilience, inclusiveness, and long-term sustainability of Somaliland's fishery ecosystem. These solutions should consider scale from the very beginning, taking into account business models that can be scaled within humanitarian programs and on the market.
2. Purpose of the Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge
The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge aims to identify, support, and accelerate locally led, market-driven innovations that address critical constraints while unlocking new opportunities across Somaliland's fishery ecosystem. Building on the insights generated through SomRIL's ecosystem mapping and Human-Centered Design (HCD)-based innovation convener in Berbera, the Challenge seeks to stimulate practical solutions that improve productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen market linkages and competitiveness, promote value addition, expand access to productive assets and business support services, and foster more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable fishery enterprises.
The Challenge places particular emphasis on innovations that generate tangible economic benefits for existing participants within the fishery ecosystem, particularly members of the Horseed Fishery Association, women participating in World Vision-supported Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), and youth-led enterprises. Successful innovations should demonstrate a clear pathway to increasing household incomes, creating decent employment opportunities, reducing poverty, and strengthening the long-term commercial viability of these target groups.
The Challenge is designed to move beyond identifying sector challenges by supporting innovators, entrepreneurs, cooperatives, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), private sector actors, and women- and youth-led enterprises to further develop, validate, and scale innovative products, services, technologies, business models, and partnership approaches that respond to real operational needs within the fishery ecosystem. Priority will be given to innovations that have demonstrated early feasibility or proof of concept and are ready for piloting, refinement, market validation, or scaling within the local context. Particular emphasis will be placed on innovations that demonstrate commercial viability, sustainability, scalability, and the potential to create measurable economic, social, and environmental value while strengthening linkages among actors across the ecosystem.
Recognizing that long-term improvements in livelihoods require stronger market systems rather than isolated interventions, the Challenge encourages innovations that strengthen commercially sustainable relationships between producers, cooperatives, aggregators, processors, transporters, wholesalers, retailers, exporters, institutional buyers, and other market actors. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how their innovation creates sustainable market demand, expands offtake opportunities, improves market coordination, or enables target beneficiaries to participate more competitively in local, regional, and, where feasible, international seafood markets.
The Challenge further seeks innovations that directly respond to the priority constraints and opportunities identified through the ecosystem mapping and community co-design workshops conducted in Berbera. Proposed solutions should clearly demonstrate how they address validated challenges experienced by fishers, processors, traders, women, youth, cooperatives, and other ecosystem actors, rather than introducing solutions that are disconnected from locally identified needs.
Through this Challenge, SomRIL seeks to catalyze locally driven innovation that not only addresses immediate operational and business constraints but also strengthens the broader fishery ecosystem by improving collaboration, supporting enterprise growth, expanding market opportunities, fostering inclusive participation, and accelerating the transition towards a more competitive, resilient, and sustainable blue economy in Somaliland.
Ultimately, the Challenge seeks to identify scalable and financially sustainable innovations that continue delivering value beyond the pilot period by strengthening inclusive fisheries enterprises, improving the performance and sustainability of the Horseed Fishery Association and its members, creating employment and income-generating opportunities for women and youth, promoting responsible and sustainable marine practices, and generating evidence for models that can be replicated across Somaliland's blue economy.
3. Objectives
The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge seeks to:
- Identify, pilot, and accelerate locally led, market-driven innovations that directly address the priority challenges and opportunities identified through SomRIL's fishery ecosystem mapping and Human-Centered Design (HCD)-based innovation convener in Berbera.
- Catalyze the development and validation of innovative products, services, technologies, business models, and partnership approaches that demonstrate the potential to improve productivity, strengthen enterprise performance, and create sustainable economic value.
- Promote innovations that improve fish quality, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen market linkages and competitiveness, and expand value addition across the fishery ecosystem.
- Strengthen commercially sustainable market systems by fostering innovative partnerships between producers, cooperatives, aggregators, processors, traders, wholesalers, retailers, exporters, institutional buyers, and other market actors that improve market coordination, expand reliable offtake opportunities, and increase access to higher-value markets.
- Foster greater collaboration and innovation among cooperatives, private sector actors, financial institutions, government, academia, researchers, and other ecosystem stakeholders to address shared challenges and unlock new opportunities.
- Promote inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship by creating opportunities for women, youth, cooperatives, SMEs, and other ecosystem actors to develop, test, refine, and scale innovative solutions.
- Generate evidence and learning on commercially viable, locally led innovations that demonstrate measurable economic, social, and environmental impact, with clear potential for replication, scaling, and long-term contribution to the development of Somaliland's blue economy.
- Promote inclusive participation and economic empowerment of women and youth by increasing access to market opportunities, strengthening enterprise competitiveness, and expanding the offtake and commercial viability of women- and youth-led businesses across the fishery ecosystem.
- Promote responsible and sustainable marine practices by encouraging innovations that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and post-harvest losses, strengthen traceability and food safety, support climate resilience, and contribute to the long-term sustainability of Somaliland's marine resources.
4. Priority Thematic Focus Areas
The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge seeks innovative, market-driven solutions that respond to priority opportunities identified through SomRIL's fishery ecosystem mapping and Human-Centered Design (HCD)-based innovation convener in Berbera. Applicants are encouraged to propose innovations that have demonstrated an initial proof of concept and have the potential to generate measurable economic, social, or environmental value while strengthening the competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability of Somaliland's fishery ecosystem. Applications may address one or more of the following thematic focus areas while responding to the following indicators:
- jobs created
- income increase
- buyers engaged
- offtake agreements
- enterprises supported
- women reached
- youth reached
4.1 Fish Quality, Post-Harvest Management and Cold-Chain Systems
How might we improve fish quality and reduce post-harvest losses by strengthening handling, preservation, cold-chain systems, food safety, and quality management throughout the fisheries value chain, while increasing incomes and reducing waste?
Maintaining fish quality throughout the value chain remains one of the greatest opportunities to increase incomes, reduce post-harvest losses, and improve the competitiveness of Somaliland's fisheries sector. Field insights from Berbera show that quality deterioration occurs at multiple stagesāfrom harvesting and onboard handling to landing, transportation, storage, processing, and retailing. These losses are influenced by a combination of technical, operational, infrastructure, and business challenges, including inconsistent fish handling practices, fragmented cold-chain systems, unreliable storage and transport, limited quality assurance mechanisms, and inadequate supporting services.
This thematic focus area seeks innovations that improve how fish is handled, preserved, monitored, transported, stored, or managed throughout the value chain. Proposed innovations should contribute to reducing post-harvest losses, improving fish quality and food safety, strengthening operational efficiency, or enhancing the reliability and accessibility of cold-chain systems in ways that are technically appropriate, commercially viable, and responsive to local operating conditions. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to:
- Fish handling and preservation solutions.
- Cold-chain technologies and services.
- Landing-site hygiene and quality management innovations.
- Fish-quality monitoring, grading, and traceability systems.
- Affordable preservation and refrigeration technologies.
- Cold-chain logistics and transport solutions.
- Maintenance and technical support services for cold-chain infrastructure.
- Energy-efficient cooling and preservation systems.
4.2 Market Linkages, Value Addition, Offtake Partnerships, and Inclusive Enterprise Growth
How might we create stronger and more inclusive market systems that connect fishery enterprises with reliable buyers, increase value addition, generate sustainable employment, and enable women, youth, cooperatives, and small businesses to compete in higher-value local, regional, and international markets?
Although demand for fish continues to grow across Somaliland, many fishery enterprises continue to operate through informal market relationships with limited access to market intelligence, customer insights, structured business planning, and higher-value commercial opportunities. Much of the fish sold through the ecosystem undergoes minimal value addition, while fluctuations in supply, prices, and demand reduce business predictability and profitability. Strengthening how enterprises access markets, differentiate products, understand customers, and compete commercially represents a significant opportunity for enterprise growth and sector development.
This thematic focus area seeks innovations that strengthen market linkages, improve enterprise competitiveness, promote value addition, and enable fishery enterprises to capture greater value from existing and emerging market opportunities. Innovations may focus on improving customer access, strengthening business performance, developing higher-value products or services, expanding market reach, or creating more efficient and resilient market systems. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to:
- Buyer aggregation models, including market linkage and aggregation platforms.
- Value-added fish products and processing innovations.
- Models that increase market access and buyer partnerships
- Business models that together create new business opportunities, increase value addition, and generate employment
- Market Coordination and Supply Chian Solutions that improve how fish is aggregated, traded, distributed, and marketed across the value chain.
- Packaging, branding, and product differentiation.
- Enterprise management and business support tools.
- Business development and market readiness services.
- Traceability systems that improve consumer confidence and market access.
4.3 Inclusive Finance, Productive Assets and Business Support Services
How might we improve access to finance, productive assets, business services, and investment opportunities that enable fisheries enterprises to grow, innovate, create employment, and become commercially sustainable?
Access to finance, productive assets, and business support services remains a key determinant of enterprise growth within the fishery ecosystem. Discussions with fishery actors demonstrated that many enterprises struggle to invest in boats, fishing equipment, processing facilities, refrigeration, transport, and other productive assets due to financing models that do not adequately reflect the operational realities of fisheries businesses. Small enterprises, cooperatives, and emerging entrepreneurs often face additional barriers in accessing investment capital, technical services, and business development support needed to expand and become more competitive.
This thematic focus area seeks innovations that improve access to finance, productive assets, business services, and investment opportunities that enable enterprises to strengthen productivity, resilience, and long-term growth. Applicants are encouraged to explore commercially sustainable approaches that lower barriers to investment while improving access to the resources and services required for enterprise development. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to:
- Fisheries-focused financial products.
- Asset financing and leasing models.
- Shared access to productive assets and equipment.
- Investment readiness and business advisory services.
- Equipment maintenance and technical support enterprises.
- Shared business services for SMEs and cooperatives.
- Innovative enterprise support models.
4.4 Ecosystem Coordination, Collaboration and Digital Innovation
How might we strengthen collaboration, coordination, and information sharing across the fisheries ecosystem so that cooperatives, private sector actors, government, financial institutions, and service providers work together more effectively to unlock sustainable economic opportunities and improve sector performance?
Many of the challenges experienced within the fishery ecosystem extend beyond individual enterprises and require stronger coordination among fishers, processors, traders, cooperatives, transporters, financial institutions, government agencies, service providers, and market actors. While numerous initiatives exist across the sector, collaboration, information sharing, and service coordination remain limited, reducing opportunities to collectively address shared constraints and improve ecosystem performance.
This thematic focus area seeks innovations that strengthen ecosystem coordination, improve collaboration among actors, enhance information flows, and develop shared services that create value across the broader fishery ecosystem. Innovations may leverage digital technologies where appropriate, but equally important are new business models, institutional arrangements, partnership mechanisms, and service delivery approaches that improve how actors work together. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to:
- Innovative coordination and information-sharing platforms.
- Cooperative management and governance innovations.
- Market information and communication systems.
- Shared logistics and distribution services.
- Digital traceability and supply chain management solutions.
- Multi-stakeholder partnership models.
- Shared service platforms for fisheries enterprises.
- Ecosystem coordination and business networking solutions.
5. Geographic Scope
The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge is focused on the Berbera fishery ecosystem in Somaliland. Proposed innovations must be piloted within Berbera and demonstrate a clear understanding of the local fisheries context, market dynamics, operational realities, and ecosystem needs. Applicants should clearly indicate:
- The specific location(s) where the innovation will be piloted within Berbera.
- How the proposed solution responds to the identified needs and opportunities within the Berbera fishery ecosystem.
- The key beneficiaries and ecosystem actors that will be engaged through the pilot.
6. Pilot Duration and Scale
The Challenge is designed to support 1-3 innovative solutions for pilot implementation over a three-month period. The pilots should demonstrate early results, generate practical learning, and provide evidence of the innovation's potential for further refinement and scaling. Within the scope of the Challenge:
- 1 -3 innovations will be selected for pilot implementation.
- Proposed solutions must be implementable within a three-month pilot period.
- Pilots should demonstrate an existing proof of concept or early validation and focus on testing, refining, or validating the innovation under real operating conditions.
- Applicants should clearly describe the expected outcomes, pilot approach, and potential for future scaling or replication beyond the Challenge.
7. Funding Modality and Grant Size
The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge will support 2-3 selected innovations, each receiving an award of USD 15,000 to USD 30,000, to implement a three-month pilot within the Berbera fishery ecosystem. The total funding envelope for the Challenge is USD 55,000.
- Following the evaluation process, SomRIL/WV reserves the right to negotiate the final budget, implementation approach, and deliverables with selected applicants. This may include requesting applicants to adjust or reduce their proposed budget to maximize value for money and ensure alignment with the objectives and available funding of the Challenge.
- Funding is intended to support the implementation, testing, refinement, and validation of innovative solutions that have demonstrated an initial proof of concept and address priority thematic focus areas identified through the Challenge. Eligible costs may include operational expenses, materials and suppl, personnel costs, technical expertise, pilot implementation activities, monitoring and learning, and other reasonable costs directly related to delivering and validating the proposed innovation.
- Funding will be provided on a milestone-based basis, linked to agreed deliverables, outcome-based milestones, and learning objectives. The final grant amount, milestone structure, and disbursement schedule will be agreed upon during the contracting phase.
- Grant funding is not intended to support large-scale infrastructure investments, recurrent operational costs beyond the pilot period, debt financing, or activities that fall outside the scope and objectives of this Challenge. The funding is designed to enable innovators to generate practical evidence, validate their solutions under real operating conditions, and demonstrate their potential for future scaling and wider adoption.
8. Guiding Principles
All proposed solutions should align with the following guiding principles throughout the design and implementation of the pilot:
- Humanitarian Principles and Do No Harm
Proposed solutions should be implemented in accordance with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Applicants should demonstrate awareness of local conflict dynamics, social inclusion, environmental considerations, and potential risks, while ensuring that interventions do not unintentionally exacerbate vulnerabilities or inequalities.
- Innovation and Market Orientation
Solutions should demonstrate innovative approaches through products, services, business models, partnerships, or the adaptation of existing practices that respond to validated market and ecosystem needs while creating sustainable economic value.
- Localization
Innovations should be rooted in the Somaliland context by leveraging local knowledge, skills, partnerships, and resources, while strengthening local ownership, enterprise development, and ecosystem capacity.
- Design with the User
Solutions should be informed by the needs, experiences, and operational realities of end users, with appropriate mechanisms for engaging customers, businesses, and other ecosystem actors throughout implementation.
- Sustainability and Scalability
Applicants should demonstrate the potential for financial, operational, social, and environmental sustainability beyond the pilot period, together with realistic opportunities for replication or scaling.
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Environmental Stewardship
All activities should model environmentally responsible practices, including low-waste events, responsible material use, and positive messaging on circular economy and climate resilience.
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Learning and Knowledge Sharing
Applicants should be willing to document implementation progress, lessons learned, and evidence generated during the pilot to contribute to broader ecosystem learning and continuous improvement.
10. Performance Expectations
Selected innovations are expected to demonstrate the following during the three-month pilot period:
ā¢ Functional Pilot Implementation: implement and test the proposed innovation under real operating conditions with clearly identified users, customers, or ecosystem partners.
ā¢ Innovation in Practice: demonstrate a meaningful improvement over existing products, services, business models, or operational practices within the fishery ecosystem.
ā¢ Market Validation: generate early evidence of market demand through customer uptake, partnerships, user adoption, revenue generation, or other appropriate indicators.
ā¢ Ecosystem Value: demonstrate how the innovation contributes to improving fish quality, enterprise performance, market access, business services, ecosystem coordination, or other priority areas identified in this Challenge.
ā¢ Learning and Adaptation: use SomRIL monitoring, evaluation, and learning tools throughout implementation to refine and improve the innovation throughout the pilot while documenting key lessons and challenges.
ā¢ Future Growth Potential: demonstrate a credible pathway for continued implementation, commercial sustainability, or scaling beyond the pilot period.
12. EVALUATION CRITERIA
The evaluation process shall be conducted in two stages: Preliminary Evaluation and Technical Evaluation (please see link: https://wvi.box.com/s/mb0leq5xu9jxmkxgt95g2ys7z6ntueso )
12. Eligibility Criteria
The following eligibility criteria define who may apply to the Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge and the minimum conditions proposals must meet to be considered. These criteria are intended to ensure that selected applicants have the legal standing, local presence, and operational capacity required to successfully implement and validate innovative solutions within the Berbera fishery ecosystem. Proposals that do not meet these eligibility requirements will not be considered for further evaluation.
- Eligible Applicants: the Challenge is open to legally registered local enterprises, start-ups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), cooperatives, research institutions, local NGOs, and civil society organizations with innovative solutions that align with one or more of the Priority Thematic Focus Areas. Applications may be submitted by a single organization or as a consortium.
- Legal Registration and Documentation: applicants must be legally registered entities in Somaliland and able to provide valid legal documentation, such as registration certificates or business licenses, at the time of contracting.
- Geographic Eligibility: proposed solutions must be piloted within Berbera, Somaliland, and demonstrate clear relevance to the local fishery ecosystem and its operational realities.
- Thematic Eligibility: proposals must align with at least one of the Priority Thematic Focus Areas outlined in this TOR.
- Innovation Readiness: applicants must demonstrate that the proposed innovation has progressed beyond the conceptual stage and has an initial proof of concept or early validation suitable for pilot implementation.
- Organizational Capacity: applicants must demonstrate sufficient technical, operational, managerial, and financial capacity to implement the proposed solution within the three-month pilot period.
- Compliance and Exclusions: applicants must comply with humanitarian principles, the Do No Harm approach, safeguarding requirements, and applicable environmental and regulatory standards. Individuals applying in a personal capacity, unregistered entities, purely research-focused proposals, standalone training initiatives, and large-scale infrastructure projects are not eligible under this Challenge.
13. What Will Not Be Considered for Funding
The following types of proposals will not be considered under the Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge:
- Ideas that remain at the concept stage without evidence of an initial proof of concept, early validation, or readiness for pilot implementation.
- Purely academic research, feasibility studies, or assessments that do not include a clear pathway for testing an innovative product, service, technology, business model, or partnership approach.
- Standalone equipment purchases without an accompanying business model.
- Standalone infrastructure investments.
- One-off income-generating activities with no pathway to sustainability.
- Activities dependent on ongoing donor subsidies.
- Innovations that do not clearly demonstrate benefits to target fishery ecosystem actors.
- Proposals that duplicate existing market services without demonstrating additional value.
- Standalone training, awareness, or capacity-building initiatives that are not integrated into a broader innovation with clear operational, business, or market outcomes.
- Business-as-usual approaches that replicate existing products, services, or practices without demonstrating meaningful innovation, adaptation, or improvement within the Somaliland context.
- Large-scale infrastructure or capital-intensive investments that exceed the scope, budget, or objectives of this Challenge.
- Proposals that cannot realistically be implemented and validated within the three-month pilot period.
- Solutions that do not demonstrate a clear market need, user demand, or value proposition for the fishery ecosystem.
- Proposals that do not align with any of the Priority Thematic Focus Areas outlined in this TOR.
- Projects that depend on long-term grant financing without demonstrating a credible pathway towards operational or financial sustainability.
- Innovations that pose unacceptable ethical, environmental, safeguarding, or safety risks, or that are inconsistent with humanitarian principles and the Do No Harm approach.
- Activities that are primarily intended for the purchase of vehicles, construction of buildings, or other major infrastructure investments not directly required for piloting the proposed innovation.
More Details to be provided in full ToR upon Expression of Interest.
We hereby invite Expression of Interest from registered, approved and reputable consultants to provide above-named services to World Vision Somalia.