NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development

During a three-day workshop in Cotonou end November 2019, all Applied Research Fund (ARF) projects of NWO-WOTRO in Benin got together. Since these projects are finished or almost finalised, it was time to take stock of their outcomes, share lessons learned, and tackle issues related to scaling-up of project results. The final report (in French) and video are now available. »

In 2020 a synthesis study of the GCP and ARF projects under the Food & Business Research programme is executed. This first Thematic Paper of the F&BR Synthesis Study discusses Research for Development insights and innovations regarding three principles of Circular Agriculture: (1) preserving and enhancing natural resources, (2) efficient use of resources, and (3) multi-purpose use and recovering value from waste. »

The Global Challenges Programme (GCP) and the Applied Research Fund (ARF) together form the funding instrument Food & Business Research (F&BR), aiming at addressing persistent food security challenges in low and middle income countries. In 2020-2021 a synthesis study of the research projects under F&BR is executed by Daniëlle de Winter and Ellen Lammers.  F&BR »

On November 14, 2019, NWO-WOTRO and F&BKP organized a conference in The Hague gathering representatives of 14 finalized Global Challenges Programme projects. The objective was to communicate and discuss synthesized project research results, insights and lessons learned, aiming to inspire practices and policies in the field of Inclusive Agribusiness (IAB) and to scale promising solutions. The outcomes of this learning event are shared in this news item. »

”We need a paradigm shift to involve unusual suspects in research partnerships to foster the scaling of research and innovation on food and nutrition security”, was one of the conclusions during the ARF country workshop in Benin. Representatives of eleven Beninese ARF projects gathered in Cotonou from November 20 to 22, 2019 to take stock of lessons learned and outcomes and to jointly reflect, learn and work on further uptake of results. »

Representatives of eight Ugandan Applied Research Fund projects gathered for a country workshop in Kampala on June 18-20, 2019. Since most of the projects are finalized, it was time to take stock of the insights and outcomes, jointly reflect, learn and work on further uptake of results. The main theme was the issue of scaling innovations from food and agricultural research and how this can be enabled in Ugandan policy and practice. »

Farmers (f/m) in Ethiopia and in other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) often have difficulty getting the improved seeds they need to raise the productivity of their crops or livestock, the climate resilience and the profitability of their business. These seeds may be available in public research institutes or with private breeders, but do not reach the farmers. This was the topic of a high-level multi-stakeholder workshop in the context of the NL-CGIAR Strategic Partnership, which generated lots of insights and new ideas for collaboration. »

For food systems and agricultural livelihoods in Eastern Africa to truly be climate-resilient and low in emissions, climate-smart agriculture policies, practices and perspectives must be scaled. To move this forward, CCAFS in East Africa, NWO-WOTRO, F&BKP and AgriProFocus Ethiopia hosted a public dialogue, on June 13 in Addis Ababa at the International Livestock Research Institute Campus. »

Eight consortia of projects funded in the third call of the Food & Business Global Challenges Programme (GCP-3) gathered in Accra, Ghana, for their midterm meeting on January 14-17, 2019. The full report of the meeting, organized by NWO-WOTRO and including a public event organized by the Food & Business Knowledge Platform, has now been published online. »

Senior Experts, employed by Dutch research organizations and involved in CGIAR research or management, are offered a chance to spend (more) time on their CGIAR activities. The call to cover some of their personnel costs has been reopened with an adjustment in requirements for the Senior Expert. The deadline for the next assessment round is June 4, 2019. »

Nine projects are funded by NWO-WOTRO to strengthen the Netherlands-CGIAR research partnership on generating insights that contribute to improving seed systems in focus regions within Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa. 
This article was first published on December 21, 2018: additional information on the project consortia has been added on February 20, 2019.  »

The Food & Business Global Challenges Programme (GCP) addresses international, regional and global challenges on Food and Nutrition Security as a global public good. Six Integrated Projects of the second Call have now published their midterm factsheets, and one Fast Track project has shared its final findings. »

The call for proposals for a PPP and Research Uptake expert, within the NL–CGIAR partnership, has been reopened with an adjustment concerning the engagement of the candidate: the minimum size is now set at 60 per cent, though still with a preference for a fulltime engagement. The new deadline to submit a proposal is November 7, 2018. »

A call for a PPP and Research Uptake expert within the framework of the Netherlands – CGIAR partnership has been launched. The Dutch government considers Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Research Uptake to be crucial in achieving the SDGs. The expert is therefore intended to increase the role of the private sector (for-profit and not-for-profit) in CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and Platforms. Deadline to apply for this position is October 18, 2018. »

Seven proposals are awarded under the Senior Expert Programme within the framework of the NL–CGIAR strategic partnership. The seven senior researchers, affiliated with Dutch research institutions, will receive extra funding to spend more time on research and research management in large CGIAR programmes and platforms. »

The Third International Workshop of the Applied Research Fund (ARF) took place from February 13 till 16, 2018 in Addis Ababa. The focus of this workshop was to enhance research impact for Food and Nutrition Security by strengthening the competence of ARF project consortium members in the areas of theory of change development, impact pathways, knowledge co-creation, and research uptake. »

A video impression of the public seminar “The potential of value chains for nutrition: Knowledge exchange for better informed policies and practices”, which took place on February 16 in Addis Ababa. »

The third international workshop of the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) took place from February 13 to 16, 2018, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop focused on on co-creation and research uptake and was organized by NWO-WOTRO and the F&BKP, in collaboration with AgriProFocus and IFPRI Ethiopia. The public seminar on the third day was entitled “The potential for nutrition-sensitive value chains”. »

The F&BKP, together with NWO-WOTRO, has published a special edition of the F&BKP newsletter, dedicated to the research projects funded within the first call of the Applied Research Fund (ARF-1). The newsletter features the ARF Brochure in which the programme is presented, ARF factsheets from eight ARF-1 projects and one finalized ARF-2 project, and other outputs from the research projects. »

“We need to stretch ourselves and our outcomes, such that our Climate Smart Agriculture research has an  outreach to 7 million farmers, rather than the 350 per project that we are focusing on initially”, commented Bruce Campbell, director of CCAFS. In GCP-4, eight research projects were funded on scaling of Climate Smart Agricultural practices. The call is a first stepping stone towards the Netherlands’ partnership with the CGIAR. »

The Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) recently organized a knowledge sharing meeting on inclusive agri-business (IAB) strategies in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of the afternoon session was Connecting research with policy and practice. Please find here the report and video impression of the meeting. »

The Netherlands-CGIAR partnership has launched a  Call for research proposals which generate insights that contribute to improving “seed” systems in Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa. Applications for pre-proposals can be submitted until April 12, 2018. The deadline for full proposals will be August 30, 2018. »

“Inclusive Business Models offer opportunities for economic and social development for certain groups, but they are not effective as means to poverty alleviation”. That finding was presented by Guus van Westen (Utrecht University), coordinator of the Follow the Food project. This entails one of the nine research consortia funded within GCP-2, that were all present during their midterm meeting in Kenya from January 15 till 19. »

On November 1, 2017, NWO-WOTRO together with the Food & Business Knowledge Platform offered a training to GCP consortia on how to write and tell stories of change. The training was set up to enhance the skills of GCP researchers to identify and present their research insights to various target audiences. Several stories of change were developed after the training and published on the project pages. »

Nine new projects under the second round of the third call of the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) have received funding from NWO-WOTRO. The new ARF projects will start in the next few months and will take up to three years. »

In October 2016 ARF-2 project members met for a learning exchange during the second International workshop of the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) in Cotonou, Benin. The workshop focused on knowledge exchange and strategies of co-creation and research uptake. »

The five GCP-1 projects came together for their midterm workshop in Accra, Ghana. The workshop also included a public meeting on “Inclusive Food Value Chains”. The detailed report of the three-day workshop is now available online. »

NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development has joined forces with seven Dutch research organizations to make funding available for use-inspired research tackling global challenges to the benefit of the most vulnerable people in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Deadline for submission is May 23, 2017. »

The F&BKP, together with NWO-WOTRO, has published a special edition of the F&BKP newsletter, fully dedicated to the research projects funded within the first call of the Global Challenges Programme (GCP-1). In the newsletter various facsheets, articles and knowledge items illustrate how these GCP-1 projects work on a range of themes via co-creation and research uptake. »

In the end of 2016, the five NWO-WOTRO projects funded within the first call of the Global Challenges Programma (GCP-1) of the Food and Business Research Programme were at their midterm stage. »

In the context of the GCP-1 midterm review, this article provides an insight into some NWO-WOTRO and F&BKP lessons on transdisciplinary collaboration. »

Longer-term research has as much, but complementary, relevance for the objective of food security as shorter-term research. The research funded through the Food & Business Global Challenges Programme (GCP) may last four to five years. This allows for methodologies that require time to lead to results, such as in-depth studies, iterative research approaches and more »

Representatives of nine Applied Research Fund (ARF) projects – from research, the private sector and NGOs and governmental agencies – gathered for a country workshop in Entebbe on the 26th and the 27th of January. They discussed and reflected upon emerging findings and results of research on food security and private sector development. »

NWO-WOTRO has launched the fourth call for proposals for the Food & Business Global Challenges Programme on Scaling Climate Smart Agriculture. GCP aims to generate research-based advanced understanding of 1) emerging key issues in food security and their impact on regional and local food security and 2) the role of private sector development. »

Representatives from research, the private sector, NGOs and governmental agencies from ARF and GCP research projects as well as interested experts all gathered recently in Ghana from 12 to 15 December, 2016. Ghanaian experts in the field of food security were also present. »

Six new projects under the first round of the third call of the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) have received funding from NWO-WOTRO. The new ARF-projects will start in the next few months and will take up to three years. All research teams are led by a practitioner organization from one of the fifteen partner countries of Dutch development cooperation. »

NWO-WOTRO Science for Global Development recently launched a call for proposals on strengthening the scientific base for knowledge brokering activities and approaches in research programmes. The call is entitled SURe: Science for Using Research. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2017. »

Practitioners and researchers of seventeen projects within the NWO-WOTRO Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF), gathered in a workshop in Benin from October 25 to 28, 2016. »

NWO-WOTRO Science for global development has launched the last round of the third call for proposals for the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF). ARF is one of the two funding instruments within Food & Business Research, providing grants for demand-driven applied research that contributes to food security in the fifteen partner countries of »

NWO-WOTRO has launched the third call for proposals for the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF). The call has been developed in close collaboration with the Food & Business Knowledge Platform. »

NWO-WOTRO has launched the third call for proposals within the Food & Business Global Challenges Programme (GCP). The theme of the call, which was developed in close collaboration with the F&BKP, is “Transformation of food systems with a focus on sustainability and urbanization”. »

Within the Food & Business Knowledge Platform, all awarded NWO-WOTRO Food & Business Research projects of GCP and ARF can connect with relevant partners to improve their research and work on various research uptake and impact activities. The F&BKP supports these activities by: Publishing the research projects, progress, (intermediate) results and events on the F&BKP »

Today, WOTRO has launched the second call for proposals for the Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF). ARF provides grants to demand driven applied research that contributes to innovation for food security in developing countries. The call has been developed in close collaboration with the Food & Business Knowledge Platform. ARF aims at promoting »

On April 10, 2014 WOTRO Science for Global Development launches the second call within the Global Challenges Programme. The call has been developed in collaboration with the Food & Business Knowledge Platform and focuses on two priority areas for research and innovation: Inclusive business models for food security and Regional trade for food security. »

The Food & Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) provides grants for applied research on innovations for food security and private sector development in partner countries of Dutch development cooperation. Research funded by ARF is driven by the knowledge demands of local practitioner organizations (private companies, NGOs and governmental organizations) and is executed by these same »