West Africa Regional RFA - Deadline to apply: January 10th 2023

West Africa Regional Request for Applications

Please refer to attached PDF of the Request for Applications for details on submission

Title: Improving the affordability and availability of fruits and vegetables for healthy diets in West Africa 

Background

The Feed the Future Horticulture Innovation Lab program advances bio-physical and social knowledge and innovation within the horticulture sector, specifically in Africa, South Asia, and Central America.  Our global research network works with and promotes local leadership to advance horticulture and social innovations, empowering smallholder farmers to earn more income while better nourishing their communities. 

The Horticulture Innovation Lab is currently soliciting full technical applications from regionally- based organizations to conduct research to improve the affordability and availability of healthy diets (in particular consumption of horticulture crops) and making healthy diets affordable and available in the West Africa sub-Region.The selected research projects will be funded at $250,000 up to $750,000 depending on the scope of work, over a period of up to 3 ½ years. A total of approximately $1.2 million will be awarded, through which we aim to fund 2-4 projects. We encourage applications for a single subtheme, and collaborative projects that cover multiple sub-themes. 

The Horticulture Innovation Lab is looking for research applications led by local organizations that are relevant to, and appropriate for smallholder farmers and disadvantaged populations in focus countries. The research should result in useful recommendations and key takeaways for future Horticulture Innovation Lab research and development. Successful teams will include multiple disciplines, including agribusiness and nutrition experts, as well as horticulturists, agronomists, sociologists and economists.

Eligibility Criteria

The lead applicant and principal investigator must be from a USAID Feed the Future country from within the West Africa region - specifically Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Liberia, and Niger. Applicants can be from academic institutions, government sectors (including national agriculture research services), private entities, or other community based organizations. While international collaboration is allowable, intellectual lead and management should remain in the region. This includes but is not limited to leading efforts in determining research methodology, implementation, and information dissemination, such as publications and conference participation. Priority will be given to research projects with budgets that include a majority of funds to regionally based partners. 

Some key information

  1. For questions about budgets or contracts, please contact Katie Schroeder at kschroeder@ucdavis.edu or +1-530-752-3522.  For programmatic questions and questions about RFA please email Dr. Naalamle Amissah at jnamissah@ug.edu.gh or Dr. Freda Asem at fasem@ug.edu.gh
  2. Questions and answers relevant to all possible applicants will be posted here, West Africa Question and Answer Document, Deadline for questions is December 20, 2022 and questions and answers will be posted on a rolling basis.
  3. Two webinars will be provided to present information on the RFA and answer any questions about the RFA:
    1. First Webinar is December 12th at 3:00pm to 4:00pm GMT. Link for Webinar: West Africa Webinar One Link 
    2. The Second Webinar is December 13th at 3 pm to 4pm GMT West Africa Webinar Two Link  Meeting ID: 640 3042 4921
  4. RFA Timeline:

    1.  Request for applications: December 5, 2022

    2.  Deadline for application questions: December 20, 2022

    3. Applications due January 10, 2023 5:00pm PST to the Horticulture Innovation Lab via PiestarRx (RFA Piestar Submission Link). If you are not able to access Piestar, then 1) technical application can be submitted as a PDF document, 2)  budget justification, documentation of cost-share, and Supporting Budget Letters combined as a separate PDF document, and 3) an excel document for the budget with annual and cumulative totals for the prescribed categories. These documents should be emailed to horticulture@ucdavis.edu

    4. Lead Principal Investigators (PI) are required to complete short LASER PULSE video  training sessions on research for and with disadvantaged groups, and locally-led research.

    5.  Review of applications:  January 12 – January 22, 2023

    6. Notification of funding:  February 6, 2023

    7. Projects begin:  March 15, 2023

  5. NOTE: Due to the holidays and time constraints for submission of applications to the RFAs for South Asia, West Africa, and East Africa, letters of support in the application package can be unofficial letters of support at the time of submission. Applications are due January 10, 2023 5:00pm PST.

    Official letters of support, signed by authorized staff at an organization, will need to be submitted prior to the close of the application review period, January 22, 2023.

    Official letters of support sent after the close date for applications can be emailed to the Innovation Lab for Horticulture – horticulture@ucdavis.edu. Please include in the email the name of the Lead Principal Investigator to assist in the proper categorization of the letter of support.

  6. Cost share waiver information: If you are requesting a waiver of the cost share requirement, please include an explanation or justification for the waiver in your application in a separate letter or within the budget justification document. Requesting and potentially receiving a waiver of the cost share requirement will not be considered during the review process of applications in determining awarding funds.
    If a waiver has been requested and the application chosen for funding, a discussion will take place to determine the terms of the waiver

Helpful Links for drafting RFA Submissions

West Africa RFA Submission Link