About SELCO Foundation:

SELCO Foundation’s mission is to create a platform of solutions that uses sustainable energy as a catalyst to bridge environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation. With holistic development as the primary focus, the organization strives to create equitable societies, where services are accessed by all communities. The interventions of SELCO lead to a sustainable delivery model of essential services like livelihoods, education, and health till the last mile. (Read more about SELCO here: http://www.selcofoundation.org/)

About the Programmes s Objective:

For smallholder farmers, women's collectives and micro-enterprises, post-harvest processing and value addition are the backbone of their livelihoods — yet they work runs on manual effort, heavy drudgery and lost time. Drying, cooling and processing activities are done by hand, produce spoils quickly, value addition stays out of reach, and farmers are forced to sell raw at low prices. The clean energy technologies that could change this already exist; they simply don't reach the farmers who need them most. When harvest gluts crash prices, farmers have no way to hold produce for later sale, and the processing machines that would let them add value are rarely available locally.

Post-Harvest Processing (PHP) in agriculture and horticulture faces several challenges that drive significant losses and less income for farmers. Among them are high post-harvest losses caused by improper processing and handling. Inadequate storage — including the absence of cold storage and other enabling technologies — adds further spoilage and quality loss, while limited access to processing facilities and modern technologies compounds the problem.

Value addition refers to enhancing the worth of agri-horti produce through activities such as cleaning, grading, sorting, packaging, processing and preservation. It reduces post-harvest losses, extends shelf life, improves product quality and strengthens demand for farmers' products. In doing so, it raises farmer incomes and expands the export potential of agricultural and horticultural produce. Effective post-harvest management and value addition are therefore central to improving the efficiency and profitability of the agricultural sector.

This project addresses these problems by supporting livelihood solutions in post-harvest processing and value addition. To this end, SELCO Foundation invites clean energy enterprises to apply for support to scale Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) driven livelihood technologies — widening access to clean energy and strengthening the livelihoods of the communities that depend on it.

Scope of Work

Shortlisted enterprises may choose to work on all or a part of the activities listed below-

• Scaling the livelihood technologies through Post Harvest Processing (PHP) and Value Addition
• Unlocking relevant schemes and finance
• Conducting Awareness and Orientation workshops with end-users, Financial Institutions, NGOs etc.
• Conduct Events/Melas
• Capture learnings

Duration of the Program: The program is planned Aug 2026 up to Jan 2027

Geography – Karnataka, Odisha (Kalahandi, Koraput, Rayagada), Maharashtra (Pune, Nagpur, Assam – Bodoland territories- Baksa, Udalguri, Kokrajhar, Tamulpur, Cachar, Hailakandi, Sribhumi, Kampur, Guwahati, Other districts within these states are preferred)

Who can apply:

• Enterprises working on livelihood technology solutions in Post harvest processing and value addition of Agriculture, Horticulture, micro business
• Enterprises working with farmer communities for scaling technologies
• Grassroots enterprises catering to local demand for livelihood technologies.
• Enterprises looking at working closely with stakeholders such as NGO’s/ Govt Institutes/Financial/schemes institutions for scaling their technologies.

Interested consultants / organisations, with relevant experience (please include samples and/or references of the previous similar work as proof of experience) and based out of India are requested to reach out with a detailed proposal giving a brief on the methodology and the process they will uptake for this project, including budgets (with break-ups and explanation), timelines and milestones and submit the same to google form https://forms.gle/ns2Yf4BkifPzMtLD9 on before 15th July 2026.

To download the full ToR, click here: ToR Scaling Livelihood Solutions in Post Harvest Processing (PHP) and Value Addition