FUNDING SOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH PROJECTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The amount of organizations active in development cooperation is overwhelming. Therefore the following list can never have the intention to be exhaustive.
We have tried to categorize the different organizations. This might help in your search. Please be aware that the mentioned websites may give a list of interesting links which helps you on your search.
Sometimes there are special databases available which do offer an exhaustive list of organizations active in development for a certain country. For instance, you can buy a CD-ROM which mentions all possible organizations in the UK: ‘The Grant-making Trusts CD-ROM 2006’. It contains information on more than 4,000 UK grant-making trusts, spending over £3.6 billion a year in development. A little expensive (more than £100), but worthwhile.
You can find more information on the following URL: http://www.dsc.org.uk/acatalog/Grant_making_Trusts.html#a163. This is part of the website of the Directory of Social Changes (UK) which offers more information on fundraising directories.
This is just an example for the UK. Similar initiatives may have been taken in other countries as well.
You can also browse ‘overview’ or ‘gate’ websites such as the ‘Eldis Gateway to Development Information’ (www.eldis.org). Via ‘Aid and Debt’ you can click on ‘Donor Agencies’ and find more candidates for funding (bilateral and multilateral).
You often need a European partner when you apply for funding as a developing country NGO. Remember you can always contact ‘Bees Abroad’ to act as a partner organization. It is the organization where Pam Gregory works for (www.beesabroad.org.uk).
The following limited overview is partially based on the note provided by Bees for Development. By the way, their website is an excellent source of any kind of information related to beekeeping and development (www.beesfordevelopment.org)
1. International organizations (United Nations or government linked)
1a. Backed by the United Nations
Contact the appropriate UN office in your country.
FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations) (www.fao.org)
FAO supports beekeeping projects in developing countries. Applications for projects with budgets over $US10,000 must be submitted through your government ministry or specific agency (so-called Technical Cooperation Program at http://www.fao.org/tc/tcp/).
For projects with budgets under $US10,000, beekeepers’ groups and associations may apply for small project funding from the TeleFood Special Fund (http://www.fao.org/food/english/index.html). Request documents should include a brief description of the project’s objectives, the proposed food production or income generating activities, the work plan, the number of participants, a detailed list of inputs with cost estimates and reporting arrangements. Submit your request to the office of FAO or UNDP in your country.
IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries (www.ifad.org)
UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) (www.undp.org)
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) (www.unicef.org)
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) (www.unesco.org)
WHO (World Health Organization) (www.who.org)
1b. Others
The World Bank (www.worldbank.org): contact your local office (but more intended for government to government collaboration)…
2. Official government development cooperation
Official government aid, including specific bilateral cooperation programs. Information can be found on the respective websites, or in the local embassies in your country. For instance, in case of Belgium, if you are a partner country, you can find in the embassy a DGDC attaché and/or a BTC attaché – or at least the information how to contact them.
Belgium: Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) (www.btcctb.org) and Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGDC) (www.dgdc.be)
British Council: www.britishcouncil.org
UK: DFID (www.dfid.gov.uk)
Canada: CIDA (www.acdi-cida.gc.ca)
Denmark: DANIDA (www.um.dk)
Finland: FINNIDA (http://global.finland.fi)
Norway: NORAD (http://www.norad.no/)
Sweden: SIDA (www.sida.se)
Switzerland: SDC (www.deza.admin.ch)
Germany: GTZ (www.gtz.de)
New Zealand (www.nzaid.govt.nz)
United States: USAID (www.usaid.org)
Netherlands (www.minbuza.nl)
Italy (www.esteri.it)
Australia: AusAid (www.ausaid.gov.au)
Japan: JICA (www.jica.go.jp)
Etc.
Also the European Community is active in the field of development cooperation. It is interesting for local NGO’s in the South to take contact with the delegation of the European Commission in their country. The EC has budget lines (geographic and thematic) which sometimes are accessible to local organizations. Nowadays the EC delegations are qualified to select their own projects, so having good contacts with them is rewarding.
Directorate General Development (cooperation with ACP countries / European Development Fund): http://ec.europa.eu/comm/dgs/development/index_en.htm
Europe Aid Cooperation Office: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/europeaid/index_en.htm
3. NGOs, charity organizations, trust funds
There are thousands of NGOs. Some are very large and well known (e.g. Oxfam at www.oxfam.org), others are tiny (e.g. Umubano = Flemish-Rwandese association who also works in beekeeping, at www.umubano.be). NGO’s seated in the North are not easy to approach in order to apply for financial support. Most of them have long term programs and partnerships (e.g. for 5 years). This means that the destination of the funding is rather fixed, so it is not evident to let approve new projects. It may take time!!
On the other hand, also NGOs are eagerly looking for new opportunities and projects, which are promising in terms of impact on development. Although rather few NGOs are directly involved in beekeeping, ‘additional income’ is a popular item nowadays, especially for vulnerable target groups: AIDS orphans, women, disabled, elderly, prostitutes who want to build a new life… So linking your beekeeping project to those vulnerable target groups means a surplus value. For instance you can employ disabled people to stick (attractive) labels on the (nice and clean) honey pots. If you want to work with specific target groups, you can contact specific NGOs (such as Handicap International, Elderly International, AIDS organizations….). Be creative!
Also ‘sustainability’ is an important asset of beekeeping. It doesn’t use too much investment and technology, and leads to self reliability. And don’t forget the ‘attractiveness’ of your project and products!
So it is anyway worthwhile to contact an international NGO (or North NGO), via a local contact point or otherwise. You can also make use of your diaspora (see remark on page 7).
It is interesting to propose different scenarios for your project. For instance a minimal cost, medium cost and high cost scenario, leading to different outcomes. This leaves the NGO a choice, and gives an impression of a thoroughly thought out project.
To find your way in the jungle of NGOs it is easier to make use of umbrella organizations and websites. For instance:
· www.coprogram.be in Flanders
o Vredeseilanden (www.vredeseilanden.be), Broederlijk Delen (www.broederlijkdelen.be) and Trias (www.triasngo.be) are active in agriculture and rural development
· www.coordinationsud.org in France
· www.bond.org.uk in the United Kingdom
There is also a website of the European Confederation of NGOs CONCORD (www.concordeurope.org).
Below you find a few organizations which may be considered as charity organizations or trust funds.
ADRA = Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (www.adra.org)
CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development) (www.cafod.org.uk)
CAFOD believes that all human beings have a right to dignity and respect, and that the world's resources are a gift to be shared equally by all men and women, whatever their race, nationality or religion.
Christian Aid (www.christian-aid.org.uk)
Christian Aid is an agency of the churches in the UK and Ireland. We work wherever the need is greatest – irrespective of religion or race
Rockefeller Organization (www.rockfound.org)
The Rockefeller Foundation is committed to fostering knowledge and innovation to enrich and sustain the lives and livelihoods of poor and excluded people throughout the world.
Ford Foundation (www.fordfound.org)
Strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement
The McKnight Foundation (www.mcknight.org)
We use our resources to empower those who have few opportunities for social and economic growth.
CARE International (www.careinternational.org): contact your local office.
CARE International is one of the world’s largest independent relief and development organizations, working in more than 70 countries and benefiting over 45 million poor and marginalized people.
ActionAid International is an international development agency whose aim is to fight poverty worldwide (www.actionaid.org)
World Vision (www.worldvision.org)
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
John Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (JHUCCP) envisions a world in which communication saves lives, improves health and enhances well-being (www.jhuccp.org).
International Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD) is a non-profit based in Maryland, USA. Their mission is to apply sustainable principles to development projects around the world (www.solarcities.org).
Bread for the World: Christians lobbying against hunger (www.bread.org)
Interchurch organization for development co-operation (ICCO) finances activities which stimulate and enable people, in their own way, to organize dignified housing and living conditions (www.icco.nl)
Heifer International is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability (www.heifer.org).
Ashoka wishes to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated (www.ashoka.org).
Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment (www.winrock.org).
SNV is dedicated to a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. They don’t provide funding anymore, but free consultancy (www.snvworld.org)
Rotary International also provides some funding for development projects. Especially of interest are the matching grants. First you should convince a Rotary club in your region to fund a project (e.g. setting up a demonstration apiary). The amount of funding can be relatively small. Then Rotary International adds additional funding. For more information explore the website www.rotary.org (or go directly to http://www.rotary.org/foundation/grants/matching/index.html).
4. Development cooperation at the level of higher education
Flemish Interuniversity Council – University Development Cooperation (VLIR-UOS) (www.vliruos.be)
Interuniversity Council of the French Community in Belgium (CIUF-CUD) (http://cud.ciuf.be)
University partnerships in cooperation and development (UPCD) in Canada (www.aucc.ca/upcd-pucd/index_e.html)
Dutch organization for international cooperation in higher education (NUFFIC) (www.nuffic.nl)
Norwegian council for higher education (NUFU) (www.siu.no/nufu)
The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) in the US (www.aascu.org/alo)
Swedish International Development Cooperation Programme (SIDA) (www.sida.org)
German service for academic exchange (DAAD) (www.daad.de)
Austrian service for exchange (ÖAD) (www.oead.ac.at)
Spanish agency for International Cooperation (AECI), including cooperation at the level of higher education and research (www.aeci.es)
Danish initiative for development cooperation at the level of higher education = Enhancing Research Capacity in Developing Countries (ENRECA), via the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (search under ‘development policy’ and ‘development research’) (www.um.dk)
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including a program for university and post-university training (search under development cooperation) (www.esteri.it)
The British Council may also have opportunities (www.britcoun.org/education)
UN/DESA – Office of Human Resources for International Cooperation – United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (http://www.un.org/esa/desa/)
Etc.
Sometimes universities themselves provide some budget lines. For instance the University of Gent provides a few doctoral and post-graduate scholarships (http://www.ugent.be/en/research/developmentcooperation). Also the Catholic University of Leuven has its own limited development program (www.kuleuven.be).
5. Research funding organizations
The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS - http://www.twas.org) supports research by means of awards and scholarships, but the main activity of interest is the provision of research grants and the support of research units in least developed countries.
Research grants of up to US$10,000 each are offered to scientists from developing countries of proven ability for research projects in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. The Grants are intended to cover the costs of specialized equipment, essential consumable material, and scientific literature. Deadlines: 1 July and 1 December each year.
The initiative ‘TWAS research units’ is meant to build and sustain units of scientific excellence, assisting them to achieve a critical mass of highly qualified and innovative scientists who will be able to better address real-life problems facing the countries. Each TWAS research unit selected receives a grant of up to $30,000 to strengthen its activities. The grant can be renewed for up to three years. The deadline for submissions is 31 August of each year.
International Foundation of Science (IFS) supports scientists in developing countries by awarding research grants. Applicants must be under 40 years old (under 30 for Chinese applicants) and possess a higher academic degree (at least an MSc or equivalent). Grants (maximum value US$12,000) are awarded for a period of 1-3 years, and may be renewed twice. Applicants must be citizens of, and carry out research in, a developing country, at the start of their research career and work at a developing country university or national research institution (www.ifs.se).
The Third World Organization for Women in Science offers postgraduate training fellowships (www.twows.org).
The European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN) is a forum for communication between European Organizations, researchers, EU institutions and others concerned with (sub)-tropical forest research. The website offers an extensive overview of training courses and funding and grant opportunities in this area (www.etfrn.org).
You can also find research opportunities in other development organizations, such as the organizations focused on higher education or several NGO’s or trust funds (e.g. Rockefeller Organization). Also some universities offer opportunities (see above: point 4).
6. Organizations with a regional scope
CTA (Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) is operating within the framework of the ACP-EC Cotonou Agreement (African, Caribbean and Pacific countries only). CTA does not provide funding for training (www.cta.nl).
Commonwealth Development Organization (‘capital for development’), in principle only for Commonwealth countries and private sector (www.cdcgroup.com)
Near East Foundation, contact your local office (Armenia, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Oman, Swaziland, West-Bank-Gaza, Yemen) (www.neareast.org)
The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) is an autonomous regional Pan-Arab development finance organization, ("the Fund"). Its membership consists of all states who are members of the League of Arab States. It finances development projects and provides fellows for Arab PhD holders to conduct research and/or lecture in the best universities of the world (www.arabfund.org).