French Committee for International Solidarity (CFSI) Grants 2019 for Family Agriculture in West Africa

 The French Committee for International Solidarity (Comité Français pour la Solidarité Internationale – CFSI), in partnership with Fondation de France, funds projects that support small-scale farming in West Africa.

Application Deadline: 25th February 2019

Eligible Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

About the Award: Faced with the rapid growth of cities and increased demand from urban consumers who change the city-countryside relationship, family farming must now strengthen its capacity to feed cities through local production.

In order to support them, the Fondation de France and the French Committee for International Solidarity (CFSI) joined forces in 2009 to launch a program to strengthen family farming in sub-Saharan Africa, refocused since 2010 on the African continent.

The overall goal of this call is to:

• promote local initiatives to increase access to food through viable and sustainable West African family farming;
• to share the gains on larger scales;
• and to contribute to documenting the sustainability of this agricultural model that is likely to challenge decision-makers to take these issues into account in public policies.

The program supports projects that address one and the other of the following two themes:

• connect family farming and markets / promote “local consumption”;
• develop sustainable agriculture practices / sustainable food systems.

Type: Grants

Eligibility: This call is for non-profit corporations:

1. Farmers’ Organizations (POs) in West Africa;
2. support NGOs active in West Africa or in Europe as long as they work with local partners;
3. research and / or training organizations.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: In order to encourage applicants to develop diversified partnerships, especially local ones, the Pafao program will not finance the whole project (maximum at 80%). The financing plans will mention the other solicited/acquired financial partners, as well as the self-financing part which is forecast.

Two kinds of initiatives will be supported:

• short-term projects (one-year duration), with a granted amount of 10,000€ to 15,000€;
• multi-year projects (3 years maximum), with a maximum amount of 50,000€ for the whole period (3 years) and paid in annual installments in light of the progress of the project.

The supported projects can already be under way, or be specific parts of wider projects, whether under way or new. The financed actions must unfold after January 1st, 2019 and begin before December 31st, 2019

How to Apply: 

• The file composed of the application form (word file), the budget (excel file) and the annexes requested – completed in French or in English – is to be sent by email only to the following address: secr.aea@cfsi.asso.fr. See all Links in Program Webpage Link below.
• The shipment will be made in several mails, each of which will have a maximum weight of 8 MB.
• The files will be processed by the program secretariat provided by the CFSI.
• Any question relating to this call for projects, and remained unanswered after a careful reading of the guidelines, can be asked by mail only to: secr.aea@cfsi.asso.fr

Visit Program Webpage for Details

Important Notes: The call for projects is reserved for proposals for actions in formalized partnership between a West African organization and a European organization. The leading organization can be West African or European.