Federal Office for Agriculture and Food

LEAP-Agri: Call for Proposals - Pre-Announcement

The present document is a pre-announcement of the joint transnational research call of LEAP-AGRI co-funded by the following Funding Agencies part of LEAP AGRI from African countries (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda), from European countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Nederland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey), and from international organizations (CIHEAM-Bari, Italy).

Who can apply

Research teams (and other organizations, depending of Funding Agencies eligibility criteria) from the above mentioned countries are eligible for funding, unless otherwise specified in national rules of funding agencies which will be published on the official launch of the joint call.

Research teams from other countries are eligible provided that they fund their own involvement.

Why a Pre-Announcement

It aims at giving sufficient time to research teams to prepare good proposals and submit them on time.

Important Dates

Expected Launching of the call: January 2017
Deadline for submission of proposals: April 2017

About LEAP-Agri

LEAP-Agri is an African Union – European Union partnership between 30 partners aimed at research and innovation for food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture. The partnership is an ERA-NET co-fund financed by institutes and ministries from these countries with additional finances from the European Commission in support of the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on science, technology and innovation and the implementation of the jointly funded EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership.

The proposals will invite consortia composed of at least four research organizations and/or private and public practitioners from the partner countries (two African and two European) to submit project proposals for research and innovation in the countries concerned and with an added value for the EU-AU partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture. Requirements may differ between institutes/countries. The proposal development and execution should be driven by local demand and include an approach that contributes to enhancing impact.

Policy background

LEAP-Agri operates under the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, and its EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on science, technology and innovation, which includes the implementation of the jointly funded EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership focusing on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (endorsed by the EU-Africa Summit 2014).

The LEAP-Agri partnership is driven by concerns about how to achieve universal food and nutrition security. Access to food remains a global challenge, with hundred millions of people not having enough to eat. Nutritional imbalances in Europe and Africa are increasing, characterized by persistent under nutrition and growing diet-related diseases. It is projected that the global population will increase from 7 billion to more than 9 billion by 2050, the majority of this growth is expected to take place in Africa.

Partnership background

This EU-AU partnership builds upon long term collaborations between Europe and Africa. For LEAP-Agri this is exemplified by the support of ERAfica and IntensAfrica for this co-fund. The ERAfrica consortium is an independent initiative of African and European funders building on the success of the former ERA-Net Africa co-funded by African and European research agencies. The IntensAfrica consortium, has the experience of collaboration between Europe and Africa in the area of Food and Nutrition for Security and Sustainable Agriculture.

To consider this priority, a consortium of 30 partners from 19 African and European countries has been set up, in partnership with the European Commission, and build an “ERANet-Cofund” project whose acronym is "LEAP- Agri".

This project has two pillars:

  • Launching a Call for proposals for research projects combining Science and Impact;
  • Feeding the long term Europe Africa NSSA strategy and research community.

The LEAP-Agri Call for proposal

For the Call component, the global expected contribution of African and European countries in 18,5 million €, and taking in account the expected EC contribution, a total of 27,6 million € should be dedicated to the Joint Call for proposal.

The Call is expected to be launched in January 2017, and open for three months.

Call topics

Its objective is to develop scientifically based practical solutions in a research process to improve the agricultural sector and the African population food security and nutrition. The Call will consider three main topics and applicants are asked to submit proposals for research projects developing solutions to take care of:

  • Sustainable agricultural production intensification, in relation with social, economic and environmental aspects, including aquaculture;
  • Population nutrition and health in relation with agriculture and food systems;
  • Access to food, expansion and improvement of agricultural markets and trade, including local and territorial dynamics.

Projects proposals should take into consideration the different niches of agricultural production and trade covering the range of family farmers, as well as medium and large scale producers, their multicriterial performances, their contribution to local, regional and international markets, as well as the processing of food and grocery marketing, with a focus on rural and urban African population food security. All projects will have to include collaborative research. To focus and connect the knowledge sharing and research uptake activities, projects will be asked to design a Theory of Change with a related Impact Pathway which mentions well-specified outputs and outcomes. Other actions related to innovation and mobility are strongly encouraged.

Proposal selection

Project proposal should join together at least four teams (research institutes and other organizations, depending of funding agencies eligibility criteria) from two African countries and two European countries part of the LEAP-Agri consortium. National or international teams from countries not part of LEAP -Agri could join some project proposal, but would then have to cover their financial participation to the projects. The project duration should be 3 years, and depending of their objectives, global project proposal should range from 0,3 up to 1,5 million euros.

The Call will be scheduled with a two-step approach:

  • first a limited pre-proposal to be submitted in English to the Call Secretariat (via an on line submission), which will be evaluated by an independent evaluation panel;
  • second, for selected pre-proposal, a complete proposal to be submitted in English, to be evaluated by independent international reviewers.

A ranking list of the selected projects will then be established, and projects will get funds until Funding Agencies budget completion: each team will get funding from its country funding agency (and in some cases from other Funding Agencies), depending of the Eligibility criteria indicated by each LEAP-Agri Funding Agency.

Countries and Funding Agencies participating in the call

African countries: Algeria (DGRSTD-MESRS), Burkina Faso (FONRID), Cameroun (MINRESI), Egypt (MHESR), Ghana (STEPRI-CSIR), Kenya (MOEST), Senegal (MESR), South Africa (NRF), Uganda (UNCST);
European countries: Belgium (FWO, FNRS, BELSPO), Finland (AKA), France (ANR, AFD), Germany (BLE, DLR), Nederland (NOW, MINEZ), Norway (RCN), Portugal (FCT), Spain (MINECO), Turkey (TUBITAK);
International organizations: CIHEAM-IAMB (based in Italy)

You will be able to find all the information related to the Call on the website: http://www.leap-agri.com/.