Deadline: 31-May-23
The ‘Accelerating inclusive green growth through agri-based digital innovation in West Africa (AGriDI)’ initiative launched a second Call for Proposals to support innovations addressing key challenges related to climate change, sustainable use, and management of biodiversity as well as responsible production and consumption among farming communities in West Africa.
As in the first call for proposals, the second call for proposals of AGriDI, targeting ECOWAS countries, will provide competitive grants to enhance the capacities of key stakeholders in diverse areas of digital technologies and agro-ecological systems, and strengthen synergies with the private sector, civil society, and other community-based organisations. The grants support the development of tangible digital solutions that address real challenges for farmers and agribusinesses, especially among women and youth, thereby increasing opportunities for jobs and income in the region.
Purpose
- Category 1: Digital Innovations for agricultural productivity enhancement
- To support co-development and adaptation of innovative digital solutions for improving agricultural productivity.
- Category 2: Digital Innovations for market linkages
- To support digital innovations for establishing market linkages for farmer’s produce.
- Category 3: Policies for digital innovation
- To support development of policies for digital innovation.
Area (s) of Focus
- Category 1: Digital Innovations for agricultural productivity enhancement
- Digital solutions for solving agricultural production bottlenecks:
- Animal /Crop protection e.g. management of pests and diseases of national and regional importance.
- Geo information tools such as for mapping soils and agro-ecological conditions
- Weather and climate information including to support crop insurance solutions
- Other relevant applications supporting increasing national agricultural productivity.
- Category 2: Digital Innovations for market linkages
- Digital solutions to enhance effective market linkages.
- Category 3: Policies for digital innovation
- Policy analyses and development such as analysing and designing incentives for digital innovations, intellectual property, cyber security, data management and privacy issues, among others leading to improved policies.
Grant Categories
- Grants for co-development and adaptation of digital innovative solutions to enhance agricultural productivity.
- Grants for digital innovative solutions to establish market linkages for farmers’ produce.
- Grants for development of policies to support digital innovation.
Funding Information
- The total envelopefor this call is up to EUR 663,809.72. Up to a maximum of three (3)to four (4) grants depending on categories are foreseen. Each grant is implemented for a period of up to 15months from the time it is awarded. Funds are allocated in three grant categories as follows.
- Grant budget per project: EUR 150,000 – 300,000
- Category 1: Digital Innovations for agricultural productivity enhancement
- Min. EUR 150,000 and Max. EUR 300,000
- Category 2: Digital Innovations for market linkages
- Min. EUR 150,000 and Max. EUR 222,500
- Category 3: Policies for digital innovation
- Min. EUR 150,000 andMax. EUR 160,000
Target Groups
- The target groups for this call are:
- scientists and researchers in universities and research institutes ;
- agri-business owners and proprietors of legally incorporated small and medium enterprises ;
- innovators in tech hubs, innovation labs, and university technology transfer offices ;
- policy makers in national government ministries, departments, and agencies responsible for creating enabling policy environment to promote digital innovations, including those responsible for rural development, gender and social inclusion;and
- farmers in legally registered groups and cooperatives based in the eligible countries. The call encourages participation of women and youth, organizations and individuals (scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, policy actors, among others) from organisations in other parts of Africa and globally may also participate in the call. However, they can ONLY participate as ‘collaborators’ in a project. A collaborator brings a specific skill or expertise to implement specific activities in a project. Collaborators should be described in the proposal, and their role and contribution to the project should be clearly articulated.
Desired Outcomes
- AGriDI has three main objectives to achieve:
- increased uptake of agri-based digital technologies by farmers and SMEs, especially women and youth in West Africa;
- strengthened linkages between research communities, industry, and policy actors in digital innovations in the region, and
- a strengthened policy environment for scaling agri-business digital innovations in the region.
Eligible countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible for funding, the applicant must:
- Be a legal entity established at least since 2019 in one of the eligible countries in the ECOWAS region of West Africa.
- Have directly implemented research and innovation projects with the following characteristics;
- at least two grants for research and innovation activities, for an amount of over EUR 75,000 each during the last coupleyears (2019-2023) and
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the activities being proposed for funding.
- Be directly responsible for the preparation, management and implementation of the proposal including joint activities with beneficiaries .
- Applicants may also include other legally established organisations or individuals and list them as ‘collaborators’ also known as “co-applicants”in the proposal. The role and contribution of collaborators should be clearly described in the proposal.Collaborators or co-applicants should intervene in West Africa. Collaborators will directly receive funds from the Applicants who are responsible for reporting. In addition, collaborators or co-applicants may not necessarily meet the eligibility criteria highlighted in section 5 (i and ii). If awarded, the applicant will have fiduciary responsibility for the Project.
- Submit a maximum of one proposal per grant category but will not be awarded more than one grant in total.
Eligible Applicants
- Category 1: Digital Innovations for agricultural productivity enhancement
- Universities or Research institutions (Target group: Scientists or researchers)
- Technology hubs, innovation hubs, and technology transfer offices (Target group: Innovators)
- Category 2: Digital Innovations for market linkages
- Legally registered private companies, especially small and medium enterprises – SMEs in ICTs, agriculture, among others (Target group: Business owners and proprietors of SMEs)
- Legally registered farmer cooperatives or farmer groups (Target group: Farmer groups)
- Category 3: Policies for digital innovation
- Government ministries, departments, and agencies/commissions responsible for ICTs, science, technology, and innovation policy relevant for promoting digital innovations for agriculture. (Target group: Policy makers)
For more information, visit AGriDI.