Climate Smart Livestock Systems (CAD 1,500,000)

Deadline: 25th January, 2024

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) are investing an initial CAD13.5 million to lead, through IDRC, a fund for climate-smart livestock systems (CSLS) in Africa.

The focus of the fund will be to develop new climate-smart livestock technologies and business models to improve animal productivity, promote climate adaptation and lower emission intensity for smallholder livestock farmers in climatic hotspots in Africa.

The CSLS programming will have two streams of research:

1. climate-smart innovations in livestock systems
2. delivery models to commercialize and scale mature climate-smart innovations

Thematic focus areas   

Four thematic areas have been identified as being research priorities for CSLS program:

1. water, pastures and feed management
2. Indigenous knowledge systems, climate data and management
3. integration of renewable energy — circular economies
4. animal health

Funding 

• They intend to provide grant funding for up to six research projects of up to a maximum of CAD 1,500,000 each for 36 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• Only concept notes that meet the following eligibility criteria will be considered.
  • The lead applicant organization should be an African institution (public or private). It will be the administering institution.
  • The project shows a gender-balanced consortia without compromising the expertise needed to accomplish the objectives of each concept note.
  • The consortia preferably comprise researchers, farmer organizations, extension services, financial services and women’s groups.
  • Applicants from academia, and private and public sector organisations with strong research focus are eligible for this global call.
  • Applicants from United Nations (UN) systems are not eligible to apply to this call as lead or co-applicant organizations. UN organizations may participate as third-party organizations.
  • Applicants from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Centres are not eligible as lead organization but are eligible as co-applicants or third-party organizations.
  • At most, one person can apply as the principal investigator, only for one project.
  • Multi-country applications are encouraged.

For more information and application.