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.

Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain Solutions

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

This activity supports a number of different areas of work which aim to accelerate the climate benefits of the Kigali Amendment (KA) to the Montreal Protocol (MP) and encourage uptake of energy efficient and climate friendly solutions. This includes (1) The creation of an African Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chains (ACES) in Rwanda. ACES will accelerate deployment of sustainable (environmental, economic and social) cold-chain solutions throughout Africa. (2) The development and deployment of an HFC outlook model to address information gaps on energy use and energy related CO2 emissions from the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pumps (RACHP) market. It will assist in reducing cost of the transition for Article 5 countries to the Montreal Protocol and increase the climate benefit of action under the MP. (3) Increasing countries technical capacity and providing insights on global best practice of EE improvements of cooling products in parallel with HFC phase down, through model regulations and sustainable public procurement in ASEAN and Africa.

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund Round 9

Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a widespread and lucrative criminal activity causing major global environmental and social harm. The IWT has been estimated to be worth up to £17 billion a year. Nearly 6,000 different species of fauna and flora are impacted, with almost every country in the world playing a role in the illicit trade.

• Developing sustainable livelihoods to benefit people directly affected by IWT,

• Strengthening law enforcement,

• Ensuring effective legal frameworks,

• Reducing demand for IWT products.

By 2023 over £51 million has been committed to 157 projects since the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund was established in 2013. This round of funding includes the following projects: IWTEX002-003, IWTEV009-018, IWT121-129. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/illegal-wildlife-trade-challenge-fund-iwtcf (Language: English)

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 and 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.

'Highlight' Health financing for universal health coverage in the era of shocks, monitoring risks and opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

"The proposed research draws on the World Health Organization framework for monitoring progress towards UHC. The framework identifies three areas for monitoring: financing arrangements; intermediate outcomes of efficiency and equity; and UHC goals of service coverage and affordable health expenditures. Our research applies this framework to assess health financing at the national and subnational levels in five Sub-Saharan African countries with varied degrees of fiscal decentralisation and income levels: Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Our research describes the evolution of health financing arrangements before and after COVID-19, and progress in relation to efficiency and equity of health financing and UHC goals. This research draws on routine household surveys, government and donor expenditure information systems, and global data from the World Health Organzaition and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development" COVID-19

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 Core - Engineering for Development Research Fellowships

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

The Royal Academy of Engineering offers Research Fellowships each year to outstanding early-career researchers to support them to become future research leaders in engineering.

Royal Academy of Engineering Core - Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

The Higher Education Partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa Programme (HEP SSA) – supported by the Anglo American Group Foundation and the UK Government through the Global Challenges Research Fund – was established by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2016, following the successful pilot scheme, Enriching Engineering Education Programme. COVID-19

Royal Academy of Engineering Core - Frontiers of Engineering for Development

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Frontiers of Engineering for Development is a series of interdisciplinary symposia that facilitates national and international collaboration to tackle global development challenges. The event brings together a select group of around 60 emerging UK and global engineering and international development leaders from industry and academia to discuss pioneering technical work and cutting-edge research for international development from a diversity of engineering fields. Seed funding is available to progress some of the best ideas coming out of the event. COVID-19

OODA GCRF and Newton Consolidation Accounts - Cardiff University

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

The GNCAs represent an additional allocation from BEIS designed to reinvest in excellent UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Newton Fund programmes and enable them to maximise development impact. This involves instances where funding can be utilized to 9 original grant objectives affected by the ODA review, or opportunities for new follow-on, knowledge exchange or impact activities. In either case, the funding is targeted to support research along the route to achieving economic or social impact in countries on the OECD DAC list.