With the partnership projects funded from this 2nd Call for Concepts MeerWissen seeks to contribute to discussions and ongoing policy developments aimed at building sustainable blue economies in African partner countries.
The thematic focus of this 2nd Call therefore is: Strengthening biodiversity conservation in sustainable blue economy approaches in Africa.
MeerWissen seeks to support partnership projects that contribute to:
Understanding marine and coastal biodiversity and ecosystems and their functioning
Documenting the current status of marine and coastal biodiversity and ecosystems
Identifying areas of high biodiversity and ecosystem value and vulnerability
Measuring, Assessing and Evaluating ecosystem services
Observing and understanding environmental change and the impacts of economic activities in different sectors on marine biodiversity, ecosystems and socio-ecologic systems
Predicting the potential impacts of economic activities in different sectors on marine biodiversity, ecosystems and socio-ecologic systems
Budget Ceiling and Funding Duration
Partnership projects may be funded with up to EUR 240,000 for a period of up to two years. MeerWissen requires a solid justification of the budget. To support the above-mentioned priorities, a large part of the funds should be spent on activities with regard to capacity building, outreach, networking, stakeholder involvement and knowledge transfer. Funding of staff costs and purchases of instruments and equipment can be considered to a limited extent, but must be well justified. If projects are successfully implemented, follow-on funding may be applied for.
Eligible Organisations and Partnerships
MeerWissen supports partnerships of at least one German and one African academic institution. It is, however, required that a German academic institution submits the application. The German institution will receive the grant and will forward resources to the partnering institution(s).
In order to receive funding all organizations (German and African) must fulfill legal and commercial requirements:
The contracting German partner institution with head office in Germany must be governed by public law or must have a non-profit-making status
All partner institutions receiving forwarded funds must be legal entities and have publicbenefit or non-profit status.
Contribution (e.g. in-kind) from the German applicant
Definite legal regulations (German law) for the funding are: the „Vorläufige Verwaltungsvorschriften“ (VV) zu § 44 BHO and the „ANBest-P“ (Allgemeine Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen zur Projektförderung)
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are precluded from funding.
MeerWissen seeks to support partnerships of equals. All partners’ active commitment is a prerequisite for participation in the MeerWissen funding program. Applications, therefore, include an expression of interest by the African partner institution(s) (confirmation of cooperation). Concepts have to reflect the equality of all partners (e.g. through shared financial resources, shared responsibilities in project management, joint decision-making, joint participation in planned publications and products). This entails the release of personnel or a contribution to financial or other resources to be invested in the partnership. Grant recipients commit to undertake regular exchange and joint reviews of project progress together with their co-submitting partners, involving the secretariat of the MeerWissen Initiative for broader knowledge exchange and results monitoring.
MeerWissen fosters a strong partnership and co-design approach to ensure that priorities of projects are jointly set, results meet local needs and are usable by all partners as well as decision-makers. Co-design processes – facilitated and funded by MeerWissen – will take place after the selection of concepts to give partners the opportunity to refine their concepts and enhance the partnership approach in their proposals.
In this Call for Concepts, MeerWissen will fund a maximum of one project per German institution.
Eligible Countries
MeerWissen supports partnership projects in the following African coastal states that are cooperation countries of official German Development Cooperation: Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania.
In case of equal rating of concepts based on content, priority will be given to projects in countries which do not yet receive funding through MeerWissen.