Social Entrepreneurship Impact & Finance (seif) supports individuals and teams that apply innovative business ideas to address current social and/or environmental problems. Categories include agriculture; food and nutrition; environment; energy; water and sanitation; and others. The competition is open to social enterprises from all over Europe. The program will make four awards of CHF 10 thousand each. The application deadline is 30 June 2017. Link
agriculture
Southern Africa Network for Biosciences — Innovative Solutions in Nutrition
The Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio) is a NEPAD program for collaborative research, development, and innovation addressing challenges in health and nutrition in Southern Africa. The SANBio/BioFISA II Programme invites
proposals for innovative solutions in the nutrition sector. Themes are value addition to indigenous foods; post-harvest technologies; and other nutrition innovations for the SADC region. The SANBio member states are Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Seychelles, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The application deadline is 28 March 2017. Link
Drivers of Food Choice — Competitive Grants Program
With funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK’s Department for International Development, the program “Drivers of Food Choice” solicits applications for research projects that will provide a deep understanding of the drivers of food choice and the relationship with agriculture among the poor in the world’s low- and middle-income countries. Research grants can be awarded to any organization (e.g., research organizations, NGOs, government institutions, and private-sector organizations) committed to improving food and nutrition security in one or more of the 41 countries that account for 90% of global under-nutrition. The program expects to fund seven research grants of up to US$300 thousand each. The deadline for concept memos is 01 April 2017. Link
Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey — Research Fellowships 2017
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) awards research fellowships to international highly qualified PhD students and young postdoctoral researchers. Applicants should be non-Turkish citizens who are age 35 or younger. Preference is for candidates who have the potential to contribute to Turkey’s international cooperation in scientific and technological development. The fields of research collaboration include agricultural sciences, among others. The maximum length of the fellowship is 12 months. The application deadlines in 2017 are 06 March through 07 April, and from 05 September through 06 October. Link
World Food Program — Sustainable Food and National Security
The World Food Program’s Centre of Excellence against Hunger, in partnership with the University Centre of Brasília, invite research papers on the topic ”Sustainable Food and Nutrition Security: Building Bridges between Durable Agricultural Practices and School Feeding Programmes.” The contest is open worldwide to students enrolled in graduate programs, as well as professors and graduate researchers in social and political sciences, and nutrition. The three top winners will participate in international study trips organized by the WFP Centre of Excellence. Articles must be submitted in English. The application deadline is 02 April 2017. Link
European Commission — Black Sea Cross-Border Cooperation
The EC announces the first call for proposals of the ENI CBC “Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme 2014-2020.” The program aims to promote business and entrepreneurship (including in agriculture), and to promote coordination of environmental protection and reduction of river and marine litter. Participating countries are Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. The deadline for applications is 31 May 2017. Link
Feed the Future — Data-Driven Farming Prize
The Data-Driven Farming Prize seeks tools and approaches that use data to help smallholder farmers improve their agricultural productivity and value. Feed the Future invites proposals for data-driven approaches to be tested in Nepal to improve the productivity of rice, other cereals, and vegetables. Eligibility to compete for the prize extends worldwide to individuals, groups, organizations, and companies — in all sources and sectors — particularly local innovators in South Asia. The judging panel will award two grants of US$100 thousand each, and two others of US$50 thousand each, to the proposals with highest potential. The deadline for applications is 06 April 2017. Link
Young Innovators in Agribusiness — Postharvest Technologies Competition 2017
The East Africa Postharvest Technologies Competition aims to identify scalable post-harvest technologies in East Africa. Applications are open to both institutions and individuals of 18 years and above in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. The competition will select top 50 technologies from successful entries and offer them accelerated training on scaling up and pitching. Twenty-five participants in the accelerated training will be invited to showcase and pitch to development partners, donors, governments, farmers/traders associations, and investors at the East Africa Postharvest Technologies Fair in May 2017. The top five technologies will divide seed awards totaling US$30 thousand. The closing date for applications is 20 February 2017.
International Development Research Center — Innovations to Improve Livestock Vaccines in Africa and Asia
Canada’s IDRC calls for proposals to support novel ideas or pre-existing innovations to respond to the challenges of existing livestock vaccines in Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The research should focus on vaccine improvement for one or more of the eligible livestock diseases identified in the announcement. Eligibility to participate in the call for proposals extends to applicants from research-focused organizations in the private sector, academia, and research institutes anywhere in the world. The program will fund up to six research projects at a maximum of CA$1 million each. The deadline for proposals is 21 March 2017. Link
RUFORUM — Community Action Research Programme 2017
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is partnering with the MasterCard Foundation to implement the programme “Transforming African Agricultural Universities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development (TAGDev).” TAGDev announces the 2017 call for proposals for the Community Action Research Programme. The objective is to extend university activities to work more closely with rural communities. The current call focuses on crops and livestock value chains of strategic importance in Kenya and Uganda. In this current call, proposals will be accepted only from Egerton University and Gulu University. The application deadline is 27 March 2017. Link