[Wigsat-l] RIU Innovation Challenge Fund

[Sophia Huyer]

Cross-posted from UgaBYTES.


Call for funding

Second RIU Call for Proposals - Innovation Challenge Fund: Phase 2  
Africa

The purpose of the African Innovation Challenge Fund (African ICF) is to
provide financial support to teams so they can take promising research,
funded by DFID, to the next stage of use. The selected initiatives will
contribute to RIU's purpose by delivering significant use of RNRRS and  
other
natural resources research outputs for the benefit (direct or  
indirect) of
poor men and women in different contexts.

The first RIU call issued in 2007 focused on target countries in S and  
S.E.
Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam) and the response
demonstrated that there were many entry points for scaling up RNRRS  
research
knowledge. However the subsequent lesson learning study on the Asian
challenge fund process indicated that, the scope of the call may have  
been
too broad, creating wide expectations which the challenge fund was  
unable to
fulfill. The RIU management team have therefore decided to focus the  
Africa
call on two key elements which we feel are critical in getting  
research into
use and from which lessons can be drawn for decision makers. These two
elements are 1) novel communication methods and 2) public-private
partnerships which can stimulate the use of natural resource  
technologies
and processes produced by DFID research activities for the benefit of  
large
numbers of people.

More information on these focal areas and the context of the African  
ICF can
be found in the guidance notes (available in English and in French)

The RIU Innovation Challenge Fund Africa will focus on the following
countries in sub Saharan Africa: Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, S.Africa plus three Francophone  
countries-
Senegal, Mali and Niger (Total 10 countries).

Other countries in Africa e.g. Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia,
Malawi and Nigeria are involved in RIU country programmes under  
another RIU
component -component 1.2- Enhancing Demand. To avoid duplication of  
effort
these six countries are not the primary focus of the African ICF. They  
may
be considered for funding where regional initiatives exist but we stress
that in this call we wish to focus on the ten countries which have been
highlighted above.

The guidance notes and application forms are available in English and
French, although we kindly request that applications are submitted in
English to assist selection procedures.

Any questions or queries should be directed to the RIU Grants and Policy
co-ordinator Lucy Nickoll L.nickoll at nrint.co.uk

Closing date for submission of Concept Notes: Monday, 1st September,  
12 noon
(GMT+1)

If you are interested in this call, please view the following documents:

1.       Concept Note Application Form (English)
<http://www.researchintouse.com/downloads/African_CN_english.doc>

2.       Concept Note Application Form (French)
<http://www.researchintouse.com/downloads/African_CN_francais.doc>

3.       Guidance Notes (English)
<http://www.researchintouse.com/downloads/Africa_guidance_notes_v5_english.d
oc>

4.       Guidance Notes (French)
<http://www.researchintouse.com/downloads/Africa_guidance_notes_v5_Francais 
.
doc>

5.       Natural
<http://www.researchintouse.com/index.php?section=16&subsection=49>
Resources Knowledge Database

6.       RIU Logframe
<http://www.researchintouse.com/downloads/RIU_Logframe_June_2007.doc>

7.       RIU Data Management Guideline
<http://www.researchintouse.com/downloads/RIU_Data_management_guidelines.pdf
> s

Please also see our website; www.researchintouse.com