German-African Joint Projects for Marine and Coastal Nature-Based Solutions

An open call to support partnership projects through the MeerWissen Initiative.

MeerWissen is an initiative of Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ-German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) which aims to support German-African projects for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans.

This current call (Nature-based Solutions) supports joint projects which aim to strengthen the knowledge base for marine and coastal Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in Africa. The call focuses on nature as a tool to address societal challenges (food security, climate change, disaster risk management) while furthering biodiversity. The following focus points are to be considered:

  • Understanding marine and coastal biodiversity and ecosystems and their functioning in NbS.
  • Measuring, assessing and evaluating NbS and how (connected) coastal ecosystems serve as solution for local societal challenges.
  • Observing and understanding causalities between different coastal and marine ecosystems and their role as potential NbS.
  • Predicting the potential impacts of NbS in different sectors on local communities and socio-ecological systems.
  • Implementing scientific findings into political processes (national strategies, implementation plans, adaptation strategies).

MeerWissen project results are to be used by and translated into evidence-based political decision-making for coastal development planning. The call supports projects with a co-design phase (6-8 months) and an implementation phase (up to two years).

Eligible are joint projects of at least one African and one German academic institution. Eligible African partner countries of German development cooperation are:

  • Algeria.
  • Benin.
  • Côte d’Ivoire.
  • Egypt.
  • Ghana.
  • Madagascar.
  • Mauritania.
  • Morocco.
  • Mozambique.
  • Namibia.
  • Nigeria.
  • Senegal.
  • Somalia.
  • South Africa.
  • Sudan.
  • Tanzania.
  • Togo.
  • Tunisia.

The call funds one project per German partner institution.

In the co-design phase (6-8 months), projects are supported by €50,000 to €80,000. The funding value varies depending on planned activities. In this phase, only the coordinating institution receives funding. Eligible expenses include personnel costs and administrative expenses.

For the implementation phase (two years), the overall available budget is €360,000 (which includes the previous co-design phase).

Project proposals must be submitted by the deadline of 31 December 2021.

An online information session on the third Call took place on 20 October 2021 at (11:00 CEST).

(This report was the subject of a RESEARCHconnect Newsflash.)