The LandSense Challenge targets individuals, web-entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs with innovative IT solutions for environmental monitoring. The IT solutions need to address one of the three LandSense domains: (1) Urban Landscape Dynamics; (2) Agricultural Land Use; or (3) Forest & Habitat Monitoring. Selected finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas online to an expert jury. The grand prize winner will receive €2,000 and a 1 year subscription to Sentinel Hub Enterprise. Proposals have to be submitted by 21 August 2020. More
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Agropolis Foundation — Research and Education in Agriculture for Sustainable Development
The Agropolis Foundation in France seeks partnerships to address the world’s challenges related to food, agriculture, and biodiversity. The Foundation intends to devote one-third of its resources to co-invest with private and public partners. Potentially interested partners can contact Agropolis at the indicated email address. Click here for more information
U.S. Embassy Turkmenistan — Exchange Program for Biotechnology Experts
The U.S. Embassy announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a program to organize an exchange visit for 5 biotechnology experts from Turkmenistan to the United States for two to three weeks. The Turkmen experts will study the experience of US scientific and educational institutions in developing and applying biotechnologies and then adapt the new biotechnologies to Turkmenistan’s conditions. Awards may range from US$35 thousand to US$55 thousand. Eligibility extends to U.S. non-profit organizations and US educational institutions. Applications are due 21 August 2020. Link
Canadian International Development Research Center — Economic Opportunities for Women East Africa
The International Development Research Center (IDRC) seeks to support locally grounded in-depth evaluative and action research to identify and scale successful solutions for achieving women’s empowerment and gender equality in the world of work. Evaluative projects will have a budget of up to CA$500 thousand and a duration of up to 24 months. Action research projects will have a budget of up to CA$700 thousand and a duration of up to 36 months. The call is open to research institutions, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda. The submission deadline for proposals is 31 August 2020. Details can be found here
Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund — Traditional Communities in the Cerrado
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a global program that provides grants to civil society to safeguard the world’s biodiversity hotspots. The CEPF intends to engage a consultant to develop an innovative knowledge product that will document best practice pertaining to the identification and mapping of areas of social and environmental importance where “invisible” traditional communities of the Cerrado reside. The consultancy will be conducted over a six-month period between September 2020 and March 2021. The total amount of time for the assignment is estimated at 20 days. Proposals can be submitted in Portuguese or English. The closing date for the submission of applications is 21 August 2020. Details here
Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries — Special Call for Proposals on Firms and Climate Change
The Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) Initiative announces a special research grant program specifically related to understanding the relationship between private sector development and the environment. The objective of PEDL is to fund cutting-edge, policy-oriented research that could be published in leading academic journals. Exploratory Research Grant (ERG) are grants of between £10 thousand and £40 thousand. Grants will fund research assistance, data collection and new surveys in LICs. Proposed projects must be relevant to policy in low-income countries in order to be eligible. The deadline for this special call is 31 August 2020. Link
Olam International — Prize for Food Security 2021
The Olam Prize for Innovation in Food Security, in partnership with Agropolis Fondation, honors and offers financial support to an outstanding research project for its potential impact on the availability, affordability, accessibility, or adequacy of food. Olam invites applications from research projects in plant science, soil science, nutritional science, agricultural sciences, and any other field of scientific research impacting food security, focused on any part of the agricultural supply chain. The winning research project will receive US$75 thousand in unrestricted funding to support further development of the research project. The deadline for applications is 11 January 2021. Link
U.S. Department of Agriculture — Strengthening West African Community Phytosanitary Practices
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeks to strengthen and further the technical assistance to the West Africa region to increase governmental capacity to meet international phytosanitary standards. USDA seeks partners with whom to collaborate to build the capacity of Economic Community of West African States. The initial award will be US$150 thousand. A total of US$350 thousand may be available over the lifetime of the project. Eligible applicants are state cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States. The closing date for applications is 31 July 2020. Link
U.S. Department of Agriculture — Strengthening East African Community Phytosanitary Practices
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeks to strengthen and further the technical assistance to the East Africa region to increase governmental capacity to meet international phytosanitary standards. USDA seeks partners with whom to collaborate to build the capacity of Economic Community of East African States (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda). The initial award will be US$150 thousand. A total of US$500 thousand may be available over the lifetime of the project. Eligible applicants are state cooperative institutions or other colleges and universities in the United States. The closing date for applications is 31 July 2020. Link
U.S. Department of State — International Transboundary Water Cooperation
The program on international water cooperation seeks to improve coordination and cooperation over shared waters in regions where water is, or may become, a source of conflict. A grant for up to US$950 thousand will be awarded for a multi-donor partnership mechanism to support cooperation on shared waters. Eligibility extends to US and foreign non-profit organisations, institutions of higher education, and public international organizations. Applications have to be submitted by 14 August 2020. More information