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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core Objective: To develop and scale up local, sustainable production of Ready-to-use Supplementary Food (RUSF) and Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) in Africa, utilizing local resources and addressing nutrition in emergency situations. The aim is to increase access to life-saving nutritional products and build resilient food systems.
Target Recipient Type and Size: The grant targets consortia involving a wide range of actors including health specialists, producers, seed companies, SMEs, food industries, academic researchers, health institutes, start-ups, NGOs, civil society, and local authorities.
SECTOR-SPECIFIC/SECTOR-AGNOSTIC: SECTOR-SPECIFIC
Geographic Scope and Location Requirements: Projects must involve collaboration between Europe and Africa. Consortia are required to include at least three independent legal entities established in an African Union member state, with at least two entities from the same African Union region. Legal entities from all African Union member states are exceptionally eligible for Union funding. Standard EU Member States and Associated Countries are also eligible.
Key Filtering Criteria: Focus on nutrition in emergency situations, development/scaling of RUSF/RUTF, use of local African resources, and strong EU-Africa research and innovation partnership.
Grant Frequency and Program Context: This is a specific topic within the Horizon Europe 'Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment' Work Programme 2025, part of the 'Fair, healthy and environment-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption' destination. It implements the FNSSA roadmap of the AU-EU research and innovation partnership and is part of a humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus action.

Financial Structure

Funding Mechanism: Eligible costs will take the form of a 'lump sum'. Payments are contingent on the proper implementation of corresponding work packages, not on actual costs incurred.
Grant Amount per Project: Each funded project is expected to receive EUR 4,000,000.
Total Topic Budget: The total budget allocated for this topic ('HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-17') is EUR 8,000,000 (expected to fund 2 grants).
Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP): Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (e.g., academic researchers, health institutes, start-ups, SMEs) in the form of grants.
Maximum FSTP per Third Party: The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60,000.
Maximum FSTP Allocation: A maximum of 20% of the EU funding can be allocated for financial support to third parties within a project.
Indirect Costs: A flat rate of 25% for indirect costs is included in the calculation of the lump sum contribution.
Financial Guarantees: 5-8% of the total lump sum is retained as a contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type and Structure

Must be a consortium applying the 'multi-actor approach'.
Consortia must include at least three independent legal entities established in an African Union member state.
At least two of these African legal entities must be established in the same African Union region (as defined by the AU).
International organizations with headquarters in an EU Member State or Associated Country are exceptionally eligible for funding.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium.
Eligible organization types mentioned include: health specialists, producers, seed companies, SMEs, food industries, academic researchers, health institutes, start-ups, NGOs, civil society, local authorities.

Geographic Requirements

Participation from EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries.
Participation from all African Union member states is required and exceptionally eligible for Union funding.

Project Specific Qualifications

Proposals must apply the 'multi-actor approach' (involving a wide range of food systems actors and conducting inter-disciplinary research).
Proposals should involve contributions from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines.

Financial Capacity

Applicants must meet the financial and operational capacity requirements described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application Process

Application Procedure

Submission System: Applications must be submitted via the Electronic Submission Service available on the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Application Forms: Use the standard application form specific to this call (HE RIA, IA) available in the Submission System.
Evaluation Forms: Proposals will be evaluated using the standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) with necessary adaptations.
Support and Guidance: Guidance materials such as the HE Programme Guide, Model Grant Agreements (Lump Sum MGA), call-specific instructions, and detailed budget table templates are available.

Deadlines and Timeline

Application Deadline: 2025-09-16 00:00:00+0000.
Planned Opening Date: 2025-05-06.
Evaluation Timeline: Indicative timelines for evaluation and grant agreement are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Required Documentation

Proposals must adhere to page limits and layout described in Annex A and E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes, and Part B of the Application Form.
Applicants must propose the amount of the lump sum contribution with a breakdown by work package, beneficiary, and affiliated entity, detailing activities and resources.
Applicants must declare that they have followed their own accounting practices for budget preparation.

Post-Award Requirements

Reporting: Lump sum contributions are paid if corresponding work packages have been properly implemented and all other grant agreement obligations are met.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Checks, reviews, and audits will focus on the technical implementation of the action, including the fulfillment of conditions for releasing lump sum contributions per work package, ethics, research integrity, dissemination, exploitation of results, intellectual property management, and gender equality.

Evaluation Criteria

Award Criteria

Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. These typically include 'Excellence', 'Impact', and 'Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation'.

Specific Scoring Factors (derived from 'Expected Outcome' and 'Scope')

Contribution to Outcomes: How well the proposal contributes to:
- Scaling up locally produced RUSF and RUTF to improve access for children in need.
- Enabling national governments to develop locally suited RUSF/RUTF versions and regulatory frameworks (in line with Codex Alimentarius Guidelines).
- Supporting African countries' efforts in local production of energy, protein, and micronutrient supplements, contributing to climate change adaptation/mitigation, natural resource management, resilience, disaster risk reduction, and biodiversity protection/restoration.
- Developing new safe, efficacious, science-based recipes for alternative supplementary foods (with WHO validation).
Innovation and Impact:
- Increasing use of locally available sources (plant-, marine-, other locally available ingredients) for RUSF/RUTF production in Africa.
- Reducing the climate footprint of production and transport.
- Foresight for mentoring and accelerating innovative business concepts, including social innovation, for African or European food business entrepreneurs and start-ups, with special consideration for women and the diaspora.
Consortium and Approach Quality:
- Effective implementation of the 'multi-actor approach' involving a wide range of food systems actors and inter-disciplinary research.
- Linkages and clustering with other AU-EU research and innovation priorities (e.g., Food Systems transition projects, FNSSA, CCSE, AU-EU Innovation Union, CEA-First, International Research Consortium on FNSSA).
- Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines in the proposal.
Quality of Implementation:
- Soundness of the research and innovation methodology.
- Detailed activity planning and resource allocation.
- Defining a clear selection process for organizations receiving financial support to third parties.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Projects must adhere to all general conditions and annexes of the Horizon Europe Work Programme.

Ethical and Data Standards

Compliance with ethical standards and research integrity as per Horizon Europe guidelines.
Data protection and privacy regulations are implied through general Horizon Europe rules.

Intellectual Property (IP) Policies

While lump sum funding simplifies financial reporting, intellectual property management remains an obligation, with checks focusing on this aspect post-grant.

Risk Management

Risk management expectations are integrated into the technical implementation checks; the focus shifts from financial audits to verification of technical outputs and work package completion.

Special Considerations

EU-Africa Partnership: Strong emphasis on strengthening the EU-Africa Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) and other related initiatives.
Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus: The topic is explicitly part of an HDP nexus action.
Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH): Mandatory inclusion of SSH disciplines to ensure a human-centred approach and social innovation.
Gender and Inclusion: Proposals should consider gender and other socio-demographic groups, promoting the engagement of women and the diaspora in business concepts.
Innovation Ecosystems: Encouragement for building innovation ecosystems, including living labs and regional innovation valleys.
Synergies: Actions are encouraged to seek complementarities with EU Missions ('A Soil Deal for Europe', 'Restore our Ocean and Waters'), European partnerships (Agroecology, Animal Health and Welfare, Sustainable Blue Economy, Sustainable Food Systems, Agriculture of Data, PRIMA), and the European Innovation Partnership for Agriculture Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI).
International Cooperation: Maximizing impact through appropriate international cooperation is encouraged.
Widening Countries: Efforts to increase innovation actions for food systems sustainability in widening countries, EU outermost regions, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Grant Details