Funding

Due diligence in global agricultural supply chains can often only be implemented jointly by private sector companies, civil society organisations and local partners. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports such cooperations with various funding opportunities. 

Below you will find an overview of completed and current funding opportunities, competitions and funds. We cordially invite you to take a look at our ongoing projects and apply with your project proposals. 

Idea competition: feminist & fair

Organised by the GIZ global programme “Sustainability and Value Added in Agricultural Supply Chains” on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, “Feminist & Fair: The Future of Agricultural Supply Chains” was a new idea competition open to corporations, civil society, academics and/or standards organisations. Applications could be submitted until 1 August 2022. The competition was designed to foster the implementation of a feminist development policy and focuses in particular on the establishment of fairer global agricultural supply chains and the execution of transformative projects to include marginalised groups, especially women and girls.

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Competitive fund to promote due diligence: The Due Diligence Fund

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and INA are promoting promising approaches to fulfilling corporate due diligence with a new competition fund. Together with the agri-food sector and its suppliers, we want to achieve greater sustainability in global agricultural supply chains and improve the living conditions of smallholders and plantation workers. The focus is therefore on practical implementation on the ground in BMZ's partner countries. Companies based in Germany can apply together with one or more non-profit partners until 24 June 2022. Projects are funded with a sum of up to EUR 123,000 over a period of up to 6 months. 

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Coffee Innovation Fund

How can companies and cooperatives promote sustainability in the coffee sector? The Coffee Innovation Fund (CIF), financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), supported 53 pilot projects in seven countries in Asia and Africa between 2019 and 2023 to make coffee cultivation more profitable for farmers in innovative ways. Using a wide variety of approaches, the CIF projects tested innovative ideas to improve production, processing or marketing of the beans and contributed to more local value addition. Criteria such as innovation, replicability, inclusivity and potential impact played a role in the selection of proposals. Subsequently, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supported the companies and cooperatives in designing and implementing their projects. In addition to financial support, they all received access to a broad network in the coffee industry. 

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Sub-Saharan Cotton Initiative

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) startet  four pilot projects as part of its Sub-Saharan Cotton Initiative in the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022. The initiative aims to make cotton and textile supply chains in sub-Saharan Africa more sustainable by mobilising the commitment of the private sector and promoting innovative ideas. During the next three years, consortia of international and/or local companies, with the participation of civil society organisations, will implement four projects in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia. Own contributions of the consortia total almost EUR 5 million.

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COVID-19 Emergency Aid for Fair Trade

GIZ was commissioned by BMZ to implement the COVID-19 Emergency Aid for Fair Trade in more than 30 countries in the Global South. BMZ provided a total of EUR 19.5 million for this purpose. The initiative was carried out in cooperation with Fairtrade (Germany and International), Forum Fairer Handel e.V. and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V. The aim was to alleviate the hardship of smallholder farmers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic with direct and rapid relief measures and to contain the spread of the virus. In addition, the takeover of operating costs and the implementation of various training courses ensured the business continuity of the producers and their organizations.

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Emergency Aid Food Crisis

The impact of the Ukraine conflict poses major challenges to agricultural and food systems worldwide, as well as smallholder farming structures in the Global South. Therefore, the BMZ launched the Emergency Aid Food Crisis, which was implemented by GIZ as a single measure in 37 countries that are most affected by the impacts of the war. The Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag) was responsible for implementing the Emergency Aid Food Crisis in collaboration with nine other GIZ projects. The Initiative for Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains (INA) received EUR 8.1 million for the implementation of the single measure as part of this partnership. The INA projects, which were implemented in collaboration with Fairtrade International, Forum Fairer Handel e.V., and the Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V., ran from June 2022 to April 2024 in 23 countries. 

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Initiative for Climate Smart Supply Chains (I4C)

The Initiative for Climate Smart Supply Chains (I4C) is a funding program that supports innovative projects by multi-stakeholder consortia involving the private sector. Thereby, projects work on the topic of climate smart supply chains. The I4C brings together a wide range of actors along the supply chain of selected agricultural commodities and funds their cooperation projects in partner countries of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to combat climate change. The I4C aims at making global agricultural supply chains more climate-friendly and resilient.

In 2022 consortia were able to apply for funding by handing in their project proposals.

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