FS4Africa launches Open Call 1 to support Research and Technology Stakeholders

Deadline: 30-Sep-25

The FS4Africa has launched 2 Open Calls aiming at least at 15 projects in total providing Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP), as a mechanism to maximize the project’s impact and accelerate network expansion.

Purpose

• The purpose of the OCs is to provide solutions for the improvement of food safety in the informal sector and ensure better access to nutritious food for urban and rural populations, build innovation ecosystems to bring together relevant public and private sector actors, researchers and society.

Challenges

• Food safety issues associated with weak channels for value chain organisation, traceability & authentication of safe food
• Mycotoxin contamination in multiple food crops including food and feed
• Pesticide residues in grains and vegetables
• Microbial contamination particularly contamination from coliforms (e.g. Escherichia coli)
• Food adulteration

Funding Information

• Total Open Call 1 budget: €600,000
• Max budget per project: €60,000
• Selected projects will be launched in February 2026 having an implementation timeframe of 12 months (until January 2027).

Eligible Activities

• Each Open Call proposal should propose the following activities:
  • A New Solution or Enhanced Solution:
    • Applicants should propose either a completely new innovative solution addressing the food safety challenges in the African Informal Sector, or enhancing an existing solution, leveraging tools, business concepts, or frameworks already developed by the FS4Africa project. Solutions do not necessarily have to be tied to FS4Africa existing UC topics as long as they align with the broader goals of the project and address one of the challenges.
  • Testing with at least 10 participants:
    • Outline a clear testing methodology to engage a minimum of 10 participants, such as (indicatively) farmers, SMEs, or other food supply chain actors.
    • Define metrics to measure the solution’s effectiveness, scalability, and practicality in addressing food safety challenges.
  • Demonstration in an event with at least 30 Stakeholders:
    • Plan and organise a public demonstration event to showcase the solution’s functionality, outcomes, and benefits.
    • Engage at least 30 stakeholders, including (indicatively) policymakers, industry representatives, researchers, and community leaders.
  • Plan for Upscaling and Market Rollout:
    • Present a roadmap for scaling the solution to a broader audience or market.
    • Identify potential barriers to scaling and propose solutions to overcome them (e.g., regulatory challenges, market entry barriers).

Eligible Costs

• The following cost categories are considered eligible:
  • Personnel costs: Costs of the personnel realising the work and preparing the deliverables/reports during each of the 3 phases. Applicants must calculate personnel costs according to the rules and regulations of their country and real labour market data regarding the relevant positions. For the proposal template, only the final amount allocated to personnel costs is necessary. Personnel costs are considered direct costs and can’t be managed as indirect costs
  • Subcontracting: Subcontracting should be clearly justified. Costs must be reasonable and comply with the principle of sound financial management. Coordination tasks cannot be subcontracted. Applicants should ensure that there are sufficient details for the action tasks, the estimated budget, and the procedure that will be followed to ensure best value-for-money. Any kind of organisation could be subcontracted, provided that they are not part of the FS4Africa consortium. The evaluators will assess the scope and value-for-money aspects of subcontracting, and their assessment will be reflected in the score of each proposal. Subcontracting is allowed for up to a maximum of 25% of the proposed budget when properly justified. When submitting the proposal, Applicants should only write the total amount for subcontracting. Selected Applicants should follow the standards for subcontracting set by the European Commission, ensuring best value for money and absence of conflict of interest, during the project implementation. Procurement must comply with the national and European regulations applicable to each applicant’s institution.
• Purchase costs:
  • Travel costs: Travel costs necessary for the execution of the sub-project.
  • Equipment costs: Borrowing or lending the necessary equipment is not eligible. Only depreciation costs for purchased equipment are eligible.
  • Other goods & services: Other goods and services include, for instance, consumables and supplies, dissemination (including open access), protection of results, certificates on the methodology, translations, and publications.
• Indirect costs: Indirect costs (overheads) could be up to 25% of the direct cost. Subcontracting is not included in the calculation of the 25% ceiling for indirect costs.

Expected Outcomes

• Through Open Call 1 (OC1), ≥ 10 (at least ten) additional projects will be funded to test, validate and enhance the business concepts and tools of the project.
• The FS4Africa Open Call seeks innovative solutions to enhance food security and resilience in African communities. Single entities are invited to develop and implement solutions that address specific challenges within the food system.
• Applicants are expected to collaborate with local stakeholders to ensure that solutions are contextually relevant and effectively address the unique challenges faced by African communities.
• OC solutions are expected to start at TRL4 and reach TRL6 by the end of the project.

Eligibility Criteria

• FS4Africa will only accept applications from one entity per proposal (no Consortia allowed) and proposed solutions must fit within one of the FS4Africa Use Cases or aim to address one of the following food safety challenges in Africa
• An automatic filtering to discard non-eligible proposals will be based on the following criteria:
  • Legal entity established in countries in Africa;
  • The proposal is submitted by a single applicant (consortia are not allowed);
  • Uniqueness of the proposal (one proposal per applicant)
  • Proposals are not pre-selected in the other projects’ open calls funded under the same topic (HORIZON-CL6-2023-FARM2FORK-01-20), i.e. UP-RISE
  • Proposed work to be carried out after the selection process;
  • Existing consortium members of the FS4Africa project and their affiliated entities are not eligible for the OC.
  • The proposal must be submitted before the defined deadline, applying the requested submission procedure.
  • Proposals shall only ask for funding for that part of the work that is not yet accomplished and will be carried out once having been selected for funding. Of course, this does not exclude the usage of e.g. results, IP, infrastructures or approaches already held by the applicants.
  • All Applicants must have a valid VAT number and must be active and operational. However, in case having VAT number is not mandatory according to the national legislation of the applicant’s country, a registration number from the respective national authority (National business registry, Commercial court or similar) must be provided.
• Eligible Countries:
  • List of participating countries (HE), the following Horizon Europe associated countries (in Africa) are eligible to receive funding through FS4Africa Open Call 1 (OC1):
    • Tunisia.
  • Until association agreements start producing legal effects either through provisional application or their entry into force, transitional arrangements may apply if provided for in the particular Horizon Europe Work Programme. The transitional arrangements apply with regard to the following countries and legal entities established in these countries, with which association negotiations are being processed or where association is imminent (listed in the alphabetical order):
    • Egypt
    • Morocco
  • Participants (other third countries) from the following low – to middle – income countries (in Africa) are automatically eligible for funding:
    • Algeria, Angola
    • Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi
    • Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Côte d’Ivoire
    • Djibouti
    • Egypt (Arab Republic), Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia
    • Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau
    • Kenya
    • Lesotho, Liberia, Libya
    • Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique
    • Namibia, Niger, Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan
    • Tanzania, Togo
    • Uganda
    • Zambia, Zimbabwe.

For more information, visit FoodSafety4Africa.