The Africa Catalyst programme awards grant funding to professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa for projects ranging between six months and one year. The aim of the Phase 5 call is twofold; to support new pilot initiatives working in partnership with professional engineering and engineering training institutions to support strong engineering professional bodies in Africa. Additionally, the scheme supports the continuation and dissemination of successful projects from the pilot, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 schemes, to exploit the impact of previous cohorts.
Since the first Pilot programme was established by The Royal Academy of Engineering in 2016, they have worked with over 30 institutions across sub-Saharan Africa covering a rich mix of initiatives ranging from policies and systems, student and graduate training schemes, the promotion, retention and upskilling of women in engineering, STEM in primary and secondary schools, and harmonisation and accreditation of engineering education and professional training.
The Royal Academy of Engineering is supporting awarded partners to become strong professional bodies that are effective, self-sustaining, transparent and provide useful services to its members, as well as positively influencing public discourse on engineering.
Eligibility: In line with eligibility criteria set by the UK government’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), lead applicant institutions must be from one of the countries listed below in order to be eligible to apply. The Academy will consider applications from the following countries in sub-Saharan Africa only:
Angola; Benin; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Eritrea; The Gambia; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mozambique; Niger; Réunion; Rwanda; Sao Tome and Principe; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Western Sahara and Zambia.
Projects will meet the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) objectives: promote the welfare and economic development of a country on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of ODA recipients; be designed to address a development need; and focus on a specific challenge affecting a lower income country.
Level of funding: The projects are either 6 months or one-year in length and each project has two grant size options: up to £50,000 or up to £100,000.
Additional information: The projects will run from January 2024 to January 2025
Key dates
- 28 November 2023: applications close at 13:00 pm GMT