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Ocean Country Partnership Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) supports countries to manage the marine environment more sustainably, including by strengthening marine science expertise, developing science-based policy and management tools and creating educational resources for coastal communities. The programme is funded through official development assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver positive impacts for coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Bilateral partnerships under the OCPP are primarily delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), agencies of the UK government that possess unique expertise in marine science and management. The OCPP also funds two international initiatives that align with its aims and help to develop global public goods, the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) and the Friends of Ocean Action (FOA). GOAP is a global, multi-stakeholder partnership established to enable countries and other stakeholders to effectively measure and manage progress towards sustainable ocean development. FOA is a platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. GOAP and FOA are both strategic partners of the OCPP, and are funded by the Blue Planet Fund (BPF). They do however remain independent organisations from OCPP, BPF, and Defra. Their work, and its intended outcomes and impacts, are strategically aligned with the OCPP and complement its programming in bilateral partnerships. GOAP and FOA were originally developed as separate business cases under the BPF, then in 2022 introduced as integrated components under OCPP to provide a clearer overall BPF offer to recipient countries. The investment to GOAP supports ODA-eligible countries to develop 'ocean accounts' to more accurately and comprehensively capture data on the natural capital assets contained within their oceans. Using this data - and through further technical, advisory, and capacity building support - GOAP aims to ensure that biodiversity is valued and integrated into policy making, decision making, and infrastructure investments in these countries, resulting in the inclusive and sustainable use and management of the ocean. An initial investment of £1million was awarded to GOAP in FY 2021/2. Following good performance in year one, a further £6million of investment was awarded, split evenly over FY's 2022/3, 23/4, and 24/5; giving a total of £7million. From December 2023, following evidence of strong value for money, this investment has since been uplifted to a total of £14.2million, involving new and expanded scope for certain activities, as well as extending the strategic partnership into FY 2025/6. FOA is a multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. FOA, working closely with the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy, aims to mobilise ocean leaders to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. Through OCPP the investment supports pillars of FOA's work that strategically align with OCPP's own outcomes. There was an initial investment of £1million to FOA in FY 2021/2. After FOA performed well against investment and performance criteria in year one, a further investment of £2million was awarded in both FY's 2022/3 and 2023/4; rounding total investment for FOA to £5million.
Establishing and enhancing veterinary surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
This project aims to help establish effective surveillance for longer term capacity building for AMR in the terrestrial and aquatic veterinary sectors in selected LMICs, and to enhance veterinary medicines regulatory training.
Global Programme on Sustainability
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The programme supports sustainable economic growth that is both long-lasting and resilient to climate-related stressors. It does this through the integration of natural capital into decision making by governments, the private sector and financial institutions. The inability to value natural capital can undermine long-term growth and critically, the livelihoods of the poorest people dependent on ecosystems for their livelihoods. This programme directly addresses this challenge by (i) investing in data and research on natural capital; (ii) assisting countries to integrate this analysis into government policy making; and (iii) integrating this data and analysis into financial sector decision making.
Darwin Initiative
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative. This page contains information about Rounds 27 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 26, please see the Darwin Initiative website -https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/
Fleming Fund - Country and Regional Grants and Fellowships Programme
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The Fleming Fund helps low- and middle-income countries to fight antimicrobial resistance. A management agent has been appointed to deliver: country grants 24 low- and middle-income countries, regional grants in West Africa, East and Southern Africa, South Asia and South East Asia, and a global fellowships programme. These initiatives aim to improve laboratory capacity and diagnosis as well as data and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Through the country and regional grants and the fellowships programme the Fleming Fund will: build laboratory capacity for diagnosis; collect data on drug resistance, drug quality, drug use and the burden of disease associated with AMR; enable the sharing of data relevant to AMR locally, regionally, and internationally; encourage the application of data to promote the rational use of antimicrobials; shape a sustainable system for AMR surveillance and data sharing; and increase national leadership in addressing AMR. Projects funded through Fleming Fund will benefit people in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of drug resistant infection is greater.
Hazardous Sanitation Labour: Connecting the Past, Present and Future of Manual Scavenging in Bangladesh
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Though declared illegal, manual scavenging persists in Bangladesh and across South Asia as a form of 'caste-based slavery' (IDSN 2014) that has simply 'adapted with modernisation' (Centre for Equity Studies 2019). In addition to low, irregular pay and little to no social protection, the men, women and children involved in this work risk frequent injury (gashes/cuts, breakages, back and neck problems), illness (vision and hearing impairments, skin, respiratory, parasitic and vector-borne diseases) and death (World Bank 2019). Since 2014, an estimated 156 people have died in septic tanks in Bangladesh (BILs 2019), while in India one person dies every five days emptying septic tanks and sewers (Government of India 2020). Whilst the Sustainable Development Goals call for decent work and the protection of public and environmental health for all, manual scavengers (whose global numbers are unknown) remain a vital, overlooked workforce in urban systems. Stigma and discrimination means that they remain largely unseen and unheard by planners, politicians and wider society (Singh 2014; Prasad and Ray 2019). In Bangladesh, a country where 'dirty work' (nongra kaj in Bengali) persists yet is poorly understood, manual scavenging is undertaken predominantly by self-defined Harijans ('children of God'), low-caste, religious and ethnic minorities living in dense segregated colonies, a legacy of British colonial rule (1858-1947), labour migration and subjugation (Sultana and Subedi 2016). Whilst mechanisation of the sanitation sector in Bangladesh seeks to eliminate manual scavenging, in reality, those involved in 'dirty work' are often unable to benefit from shifting employment arrangements (Zaqout et al 2020; Cawood et al 2021). This project, the first of its kind, places the spotlight firmly onto this neglected urban workforce, to highlight potential pathways to improved or alternative work. In doing so, the project makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge, building conceptual, methodological, empirical and impact-related innovation into its very design. Conceptually, the project draws together disparate literature and expertise from urban studies, development, geography, history and public health engineering, to connect the past, present and future of manual scavenging in Bangladesh by examining five key, understudied themes - identity (age, gender, caste, ethnicity and religion), migration, place of residence, techno-legal change and socio-economic mobility - situated within broader understandings of colonialism and the reproduction of caste. Methodologically, the project utilises a case study approach with a mixed qualitative toolkit, including secondary, archival research and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) across Bangladesh, India and Pakistan - countries where manual scavenging remains a caste-based occupation, and where British colonial rule (1858-1947) had potentially significant implications for the administration and legacy of 'dirty work'. Bangladesh is used as an 'illustrative case' (Flyvbjerg 2006) for Participatory Action Research (PAR) involving oral life histories with portraits, focus groups and impact activities with Harijan youth and community leaders to address a dearth of empirical knowledge on this topic. In deploying these methods, the project also advances tools and techniques on working with rather than on marginalised groups in urban systems. Innovations in conceptual framing, methods (combining archival research with PAR) and impact, including the establishment of internal and external 'learning and sharing' advisory groups, emerge from my unique position and positionality as a social scientist who has worked with and within interdisciplinary teams, and strong, established networks with policy advocates, activists and practitioners. These configurations place me in an excellent position to coordinate world-leading academic research with a direct line to policy and practice. COVID-19
Effectiveness and safety of calcium channel blockade for organophosphorus and carbamate anticholinesterase insecticide poisoning (CCBOC study)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC/JGHT 8 award to set up a big study (or randomised controlled trial, RCT) of patients with OP or carbamate poisoning admitted to 4 large Bangladeshi hospitals where this poisoning is a major problem, killing thousands of people each year.
Core - International Collaboration Awards
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
International Collaboration Awards enable outstanding researchers in the UK to partner with the best research groups in developing countries on projects that address issues faced by developing countries.
DfE NI - GCRF QR funding
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Grant to Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland to enable Northern Irish higher education institutes to carry out pre-agreed ODA-eligible activities in line with their institutional strategies. For Queen’s University Belfast in FY2019/20 this included: workshops in Cambodia, Vietnam, South Africa, and Uganda about health and education; 11 pilot projects spanning 16 eligible countries (Angola, Burundi, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe); and additional support to GCRF and NF-funded activities. For Ulster University in FY2019/20 funding supported six pump-priming projects on: LMIC maternal, neonatal and child health; PTSD in Rwanda; Decision-Making in Policy Making in Africa and Central Asia; and hearing impairment and dementia in China.
HEFCW - GCRF QR funding
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Additional GCRF funding to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales to support Welsh higher education institutes (HEIs) to carry out ODA-eligible activities in line with their institutional strategies. ODA research grants do not represent the full economic cost of research and therefore additional funding is provided to Welsh HEIs in line with their research council grant income. In FY19/20 funding was allocated to Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University and Swansea University. In FY19/20, the funding was used to fund: the full economic cost of existing ODA eligible activities (e.g. already funded by GCRF); small ODA-eligible projects; fellowships to ODA-eligible researchers; and to increase collaboration and impact. 53 ODA-eligible countries have been reported as benefiting from the funded work, with Brazil and India the most frequently mentioned. By region, the largest number of projects were based in the LDC’s (Least Developed Countries) in Asia, South America, and East Africa, with only a few projects in the middle-income countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.
ODA BEIS analysts - cross-cutting for both ODA funds
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
ODA BEIS analysts. For the monitoring and evaluation and learning for NF and GCRF
SFC - GCRF QR funding
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Formula GCRF funding to the Scottish Funding Council to support Scottish higher education institutes (HEIs) to carry out ODA-eligible activities in line with their three-year institutional strategies. ODA research grants do not represent the full economic cost of research and therefore additional funding is provided to Scottish HEIs in proportion to their Research Excellence Grant (REG). In FY19/20 funding was allocated to 18 Scottish higher education institutes to support existing ODA grant funding and small projects. GCRF has now supported more than 800 projects at Scottish institutions, involving over 80 developing country partners.
Global Challenges Research Fund Evaluation
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The overall purpose of the GCRF evaluation is to assess the extent to which GCRF has achieved its objectives and contributed to its intended impacts.
Transformation Project - ODA Reporting Tool (ODART)
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The Reporting ODA Digital Service (RODA) is the data submission, processing, reporting repository system for data on BEIS R&I ODA Eligible Programmes delivered by Delivery Partners
UUKi Delivery Support
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
These are delivery cost for shared learning workshops/training and best practice (for current and future applicants) on ODA assurance, eligibility, reporting and partnership working through either the NF and GCRF
ODA website - cross-cutting for both ODA funds
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
This is the website for NF and GCRF consortia that promotes funding calls and impact case studies as well as publishing report such as the annual report and monitoring and evaluation documentation.
Ad-hoc GCRF activity on BEIS Finance system
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Increased contributions towards a range of research projects jointly funded with DFID, and funding for the Devolved Administrations for disbursement to universities within the devolved regions to fund the full economic cost of GCRF ODA research.
Royal Academy of Engineering Academies Collective Fund: Resilient Futures - Frontiers of Development
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Frontiers of Development is part of the Joint Resilient Futures Initiative which is a collaboration between all four UK Academies under the GCRF. The aim of the JRF initiative is to construct a pipeline in the UK and the developing world for interdisciplinary researchers focused on tackling development challenges in a sustainable manner.
Delivery costs for ODA eligible activities - Non-Staff Delivery Costs for CHN_147
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Non-Staff Delivery Costs for CHN_147 - Lab based - RAL Space
Do neighbourhoods matter? Country- cluster- and individual effects on attitudes towards intimate partner violence in low- and middle-income countries
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The study will address significant knowledge gaps in our understanding of women's and men's attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women (IPV) at the neighbourhood-level in 54 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across Central-, East- and South Asia, the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North- and Sub-Saharan Africa.