Deadline: November 30, 2018
Proposals are invited for the regional program for Strengthening Higher Agricultural Education for Agri-Food Systems Transformation in Africa (SHAEA). In collaboration with the Governments of Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) are jointly launching a Call for Proposals for a Regional Project for SHAEA.
The main objective of this proposed project is to develop competent and relevant human resources required to accelerate agri-food systems transformation in Africa through strengthening
- agri-food related education and training enhanced with transdisciplinary approaches, experiential learning and applied research at selected African regional anchor universities;
- university linkages to the regional agricultural sector – its priorities, needs and stakeholders; and
- university partnership with private and public entities related to agri-food both within and outside Africa.
SHAEA is part of the WBG Board’s significant reinvestment in higher education in Africa with a regional emphasis that complements the African Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE) projects as well as the regional agricultural projects – the West African Agricultural Transformation Program (WAATP) and the East and Central African Agricultural Transformation Program (ECAATP).
Eligibility
Interested universities should meet all the following eligibility criteria:
- Be from one of the participating countries which have IDA funding availability;
- Has had at least 5 cohorts of graduates with masters degrees in relevant areas;
- Offers postgraduate programs at the Masters level (preferably also at the PhD level) in agrifood systems related topics and preferably one within the identified regional key knowledge gap areas;
- Has at least one existing active and functional regional partnership in the area of agriculture;
- Demonstrates on-going effort in reform/change for institutional improvement;
- No land acquisition needed if civil works are expected to be financed under the project;
- If a university has an existing agricultural ACE, it can apply as long as the proposed focus area for being a RAU is not the same as what is already supported by the agricultural ACE; and
- Only one proposal per university may be submitted
Application
All submitted proposals that meet the eligibility criteria will be selected through an objective, transparent, strategic and merit-based competitive process. Proposals will be submitted to RUFORUM through the national governments in each of the participating countries. Submitted proposals will be checked for compliance to the eligibility criteria by RUFORUM followed by a two-step evaluation process conducted by the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEC): i) a technical evaluation; ii) an onsite and leadership evaluation. The RSC will make the selection based on the c IEC’s recommendation.
Relevant documents, including the SHAEA Proposal Submission Form, SHAEA Evaluation Protocol, SHAEA Project Description and Results Framework, are available on the SHAEA website.
The deadline for submission of proposals to the RFU by the respective governments is November 30, 2018 (at midnight Greenwich Mean Time – GMT).
For more information, visit SHAEA.
