HORIZON EUROPE
European
Specific Challenge:In many African regions, agriculture is predominantly subsistence-oriented, hence most farmers lack the means to invest on improving the productivity of their exploitation activities, or to undertake basic transformation of their produce. Low productivity and lack of economic diversification makes farmers vulnerable to food insecurity, and contribute to a continuous migration towards urban areas, especially among the younger generations.
In many locations, unsustainable practices generate serious impacts on the environment, such as deforestation for energy or for new agricultural land, or soil degradation, which further aggravate the vulnerability of rural populations.
Scope:Proposals shall screen existing bio-based technologies that can be adapted and successfully transferred to rural African contexts. The focus should be on simple, robust technologies that can be operated and maintained locally, and suitable for operation at farm, village or rural community level (including mobile systems). A variety of end-products can be considered[1], and the business models developed should be sustainable and highly circular. Although bio-fu...
see more
Specific Challenge:In many African regions, agriculture is predominantly subsistence-oriented, hence most farmers lack the means to invest on improving the productivity of their exploitation activities, or to undertake basic transformation of their produce. Low productivity and lack of economic diversification makes farmers vulnerable to food insecurity, and contribute to a continuous migration towards urban areas, especially among the younger generations.
In many locations, unsustainable practices generate serious impacts on the environment, such as deforestation for energy or for new agricultural land, or soil degradation, which further aggravate the vulnerability of rural populations.
Scope:Proposals shall screen existing bio-based technologies that can be adapted and successfully transferred to rural African contexts. The focus should be on simple, robust technologies that can be operated and maintained locally, and suitable for operation at farm, village or rural community level (including mobile systems). A variety of end-products can be considered[1], and the business models developed should be sustainable and highly circular. Although bio-fuels or bio-energy can be part of the end-products, projects focussing mainly on these outputs are not eligible.
The selected technologies shall be integrated into one existing agri-food system[2] without compromising food production, and without fundamentally changing established agricultural practices, provided that these are sustainable. The integrated value chain should be widely replicable, based on agricultural by-products or dedicated crops that can be incorporated through multi-cropping or intercropping practices, including agro-forestry. It shall be tested and adapted in real productive conditions, in an appropriate number of testing sites. A thorough assessment shall be performed on the agronomic, environmental, social and economic sustainability of the whole model, including gender issues and an assessment of potential risks. The project shall deliver practice guides and policy recommendations for deployment in new areas.
Projects should ensure solid collaboration between farmers, farmers associations, local industry, technology providers, research centres, extension services and policy makers. Development partners and relevant international organisations should be involved as appropriate. Proposals should include a task to cluster with other relevant projects involved in the EU-Africa R&I Partnership on FNSSA and with the cooperation platform established under SFS-33-2018[3]. Activities should also be foreseen to cluster with the other projects financed under this topic.
The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 9 million would allow this specific scope to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude the submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.
Expected Impact:Proposed activities will deliver new and sustainable bio-based value chains that can be plugged into African agri-food systems. This will help rural communities to:
Increase and diversify agricultural income and foster savings and investment.Enhance sustainability and reduce the environmental impact of domestic and economic activities, through e.g. reduced logging or nutrient recycling.Develop new economic activities and sectors, thus creating new jobs and opportunities. In the longer term results will contribute improving livelihoods, enhancing food security, increasing community resilience, and reducing rural migration.
Projects should also contribute increasing the innovation capacities of participating organisations, and reinforcing the scientific collaboration between the EU and Africa.
Cross-cutting Priorities:GenderInternational cooperation
[1]Examples include fertilisers or soil improvers, feed, energy or fuels, soap, building or packaging materials, etc.
[2]Agro-food system shall be understood here as a characteristic combination of farming activities and (possibly) first-level transformation or conditioning of the farming outputs.
[3]The awarded project acronym is LEAP4FNSSA
see less
Consortium characteristics
:
The aid is European, you can apply to this line any company that is part of the European Community.
characteristics of the Proyecto
Los costes de personal subvencionables cubren las horas de trabajo efectivo de las personas directamente dedicadas a la ejecución de la acción. Los propietarios de pequeñas y medianas empresas que no perciban salario y otras personas físicas que no perciban salario podrán imputar los costes de personal sobre la base de una escala de costes unitarios
Los otros costes directos se dividen en los siguientes apartados: Viajes, amortizaciones, equipamiento y otros bienes y servicios. Se financia la amortización de equipos, permitiendo incluir la amortización de equipos adquiridos antes del proyecto si se registra durante su ejecución. En el apartado de otros bienes y servicios se incluyen los diferentes bienes y servicios comprados por los beneficiarios a proveedores externos para poder llevar a cabo sus tareas
La subcontratación en ayudas europeas no debe tratarse del core de actividades de I+D del proyecto. El contratista debe ser seleccionado por el beneficiario de acuerdo con el principio de mejor relación calidad-precio bajo las condiciones de transparencia e igualdad (en ningún caso consistirá en solicitar menos de 3 ofertas). En el caso de entidades públicas, para la subcontratación se deberán de seguir las leyes que rijan en el país al que pertenezca el contratante
Characteristics of financing
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon 2020 projects. See the information in the Online Manual.
2. Eligibility and admissibility conditions: described in Annex B and Annex C of the Work Programme.
Due to the specific challenge of this topic, in addition to the minimum number of participants set out in the General Annexes, proposals shall include at least four participants from a specific region of Africa (as defined by African Union) and in total a minimum of five participants from Africa.
Proposal page limits and layout: please refer to Part B of the proposal template in the submission system below.
3. Evaluation:
Evaluation criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex H of the Work Programme.
Submission and evaluation processes are described in the Online Manual.
4. Indicative time for evaluation and grant agreements:
Information on the outcome of evaluation (two-stage call):
For stage 1: maximum 3 months from the deadline for submission.
For stage 2: maximum 5 months from the deadline for submission.
Signature of grant agreements: maximum 8 months from the deadline for submission.
5. Proposal templates, evaluation forms and model grant agreem... 1. Eligible countries: described in Annex A of the Work Programme.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon 2020 projects. See the information in the Online Manual.
2. Eligibility and admissibility conditions: described in Annex B and Annex C of the Work Programme.
Due to the specific challenge of this topic, in addition to the minimum number of participants set out in the General Annexes, proposals shall include at least four participants from a specific region of Africa (as defined by African Union) and in total a minimum of five participants from Africa.
Proposal page limits and layout: please refer to Part B of the proposal template in the submission system below.
3. Evaluation:
Evaluation criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex H of the Work Programme.
Submission and evaluation processes are described in the Online Manual.
4. Indicative time for evaluation and grant agreements:
Information on the outcome of evaluation (two-stage call):
For stage 1: maximum 3 months from the deadline for submission.
For stage 2: maximum 5 months from the deadline for submission.
Signature of grant agreements: maximum 8 months from the deadline for submission.
5. Proposal templates, evaluation forms and model grant agreements (MGA):
Research and Innovation Action:
Specific provisions and funding rates
Standard proposal template
Standard evaluation form
General MGA - Multi-Beneficiary
Annotated Grant Agreement
6. Additional provisions:
Horizon 2020 budget flexibility
Classified information
Technology readiness levels (TRL) – where a topic description refers to TRL, these definitions apply
Members of consortium are required to conclude a consortium agreement, in principle prior to the signature of the grant agreement.
7. Open access must be granted to all scientific publications resulting from Horizon 2020 actions.
Where relevant, proposals should also provide information on how the participants will manage the research data generated and/or collected during the project, such as details on what types of data the project will generate, whether and how this data will be exploited or made accessible for verification and re-use, and how it will be curated and preserved.
Open access to research data
The Open Research Data Pilot has been extended to cover all Horizon 2020 topics for which the submission is opened on 26 July 2016 or later. Projects funded under this topic will therefore by default provide open access to the research data they generate, except if they decide to opt-out under the conditions described in Annex L of the Work Programme. Projects can opt-out at any stage, that is both before and after the grant signature.
Note that the evaluation phase proposals will not be evaluated more favourably because they plan to open or share their data, and will not be penalised for opting out.
Open research data sharing applies to the data needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications. Additionally, projects can choose to make other data available open access and need to describe their approach in a Data Management Plan.
Projects need to create a Data Management Plan (DMP), except if they opt-out of making their research data open access. A first version of the DMP must be provided as an early deliverable within six months of the project and should be updated during the project as appropriate. The Commission already provides guidance documents, including a template for DMPs. See the Online Manual.
Eligibility of costs: costs related to data management and data sharing are eligible for reimbursement during the project duration.
The legal requirements for projects participating in this pilot are in the article 29.3 of the Model Grant Agreement.
8. Additional documents:
1. Introduction WP 2018-20
9. Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy WP 2018-20
18. Dissemination, Exploitation and Evaluation WP 2018-20
General annexes to the Work Programme 2018-2020
Legal basis: Horizon 2020 Regulation of Establishment
Legal basis: Horizon 2020 Rules for Participation
Legal basis: Horizon 2020 Specific Programme
Additional information about the call
other advantages
