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UK Integrated Security Fund (UKISF)
UK - UK Integrated Security Fund (UKISF)
The UK Integrated Security Fund (UKISF) replaced the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), with a wider remit, funding projects both in the UK and internationally to tackle some of the most complex national security challenges facing the UK and its partners. The UKISF combined the CSSF with the National Cyber Programme and the Economic Deterrence Initiative (EDI). The latter tackling sanctions evasion across the UK’s trade, transport, and financial sanctions. Like the CSSF, the UKISF budget includes Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funds and non-ODA funds.
Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF)
PROBLUE
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
PROBLUE is the World Bank’s leading multilateral mechanism for leveraging and disbursing blue finance towards sustainable ocean sectors and activities. It is a multi-donor trust fund that supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, Life Below Water, and the Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. PROBLUE aims to do this by reducing the existing blue finance gap by creating the necessary enabling environment for public and private sectors to shift from unsustainable to sustainable activities.
BBC World Service
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Increasing the provision of, and access to, impartial news and information that responds to audience needs in English and local languages in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America & Central America
The Evidence Fund - 300708
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The Evidence Fund procures and manages research and evaluations that primarily benefit ODA eligible countries. Most research and evaluations paid for by the Evidence Fund are country-specific, and all respond to requests for evidence to inform programme or policy decisions. Primarily serving research requests from HMG’s Embassies and High Commissions in ODA eligible countries, and from HMG policy and strategy teams, the Evidence Fund strengthens the evidence behind the UK’s priority international development investments and development diplomacy. The Evidence Fund also invests modest amounts of non-ODA, to strengthen the evidence behind wider UK foreign policy.
Environmental Pollution Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Environmental Pollution Programme’s aim is to work with ODA-eligible countries and regions to reduce the adverse impacts of pollution. Work will improve health and reduce environmental harm and poverty that results from chemical, air, waste and water pollution, as part of the Triple Planetary Crisis. 2021-22: Scoping year to share expertise, best practice and invest in research to strengthen the capacity of low- and middle-income countries to meet their obligations under UN Multilateral Environment Agreements and frameworks. 2022-2025: Phase one delivering two multi-year projects in Vietnam and South Africa through delivery partners Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and in country organisations. The programme reduced pollution and its impacts on the environment and health by promoting sustainable, economically viable practices, strengthening regulations, and enhancing awareness through multi-sector engagement, robust evidence projects, capacity building and monitoring to support policymaking. 2025-26: This year’s programme will build and expand on the successful approaches on reducing air pollution and increasing uptake of integrated pest management in Vietnam, adding new work on waste and plastic pollution. Work in Uganda will focus on developing a Health and Pollution Action Plan, creating a framework for future action that is aligned with priorities of national stakeholders. The programme will also establish Regional Pollution Forums, working in a multilateral way to amplify impact by spreading knowledge of successful interventions.
High quality statistics that improve lives globally
Office for National Statistics
High quality statistics and data are essential to enable evidence-based decision-making at local, national, and global levels. This ONS project supports its partners – national statistics offices (NSOs) in low- and middle-income countries – to strengthen their technical and organisational capacity, using its world leading expertise in statistical production and NSO management. Through a range of in-person and remote assistance, the project supports the production of higher quality, valuable and trustworthy statistics for the global good.
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.
UK support to Caribbean Financial Action Task Force
HM Treasury
UK financial support through HM Treasury to support regional efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing through effective implementation of anti-money laundering / counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) standards in CFATF member countries. The support will fund additional human resource to conduct country assessments of CFATF developing member countries, ensuring reports are timely and robust and drive improved efforts towards addressing AML/CTF deficiencies. HM Treasury is also supporting CFATF by providing funding to hire a AML/CTF supervision expert to help CFATF members improve their AML/CTF supervision of firms with AML/CTF obligations.
UK Aid Match II Fund
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To support the achievement of the Global Goals through funding UK-based civil society organisations to deliver projects that assist in ending extreme poverty and building a better world by 2030. The programme will also provide opportunities for the UK public to engage in international development issues and have a say in how a portion of the aid budget is spent.
UK financial support to World Bank MENA programme
HM Treasury
UK financial support through HM Treasury to support the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's MENA programme, supporting developing countries to improve their understanding of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks they face, and strengthen their response to those threats.
UK financial support to the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism - MONEYVAL
HM Treasury
UK financial support through HM Treasury to support the strengthening of anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) systems in developing member countries of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism - MONEYVAL. The support will contribute to regional efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing through effective implementation of anti-money laundering / counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) standards in MONEYVAL member countries, with specific support for: Andora, Georgia, and Moldova.
UK financial support to Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)
HM Treasury
UK financial support through HM Treasury to support the strengthening of anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) systems in developing countries, in line with the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group's (ESAAMLG) Mission Statement and Strategic Plan. The support will contribute to regional efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing through effective implementation of anti-money laundering / counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) standards in all ESAAMLG member countries covering: Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
UK contribution to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Special Fund
HM Treasury
At the ninth UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) in Beijing on 16 December 2017, the Chancellor of the Exchequer signed a Contribution Agreement with the AIIB, formalising the UK’s commitment, made at the previous EFD in 2016, to provide US$50m to the AIIB’s Special Fund for Project Preparation. This fund provides grant support to developing Asian countries to prepare infrastructure projects for the Bank to finance. The UK's contribution is through the Prosperity Fund.
Migrants, Queenmothers, and Gender-Based Violence in Ghana
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
"This project is on the prevention of and responses to GBV within migrant communities in Ghana. They will employ narrative methodology to study the help- and justice-seeking behaviours of female Nigerian immigrants in response to two forms of GBV – intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner perpetrated sexual violence. The team will then use applied theatre and educational illustrated stories (comics) to raise awareness of how survivors can access services and justice and how their host community and female traditional leaders – ‘queenmothers’ – can assist them. Ghana and Nigeria will be primary beneficiaries of the outcomes of this project. These interventions are expected to contribute to behavioural change and the strengthening of the capacity of informal institutions in dealing with GBV, and consequently reduce its prevalence. The outcome will also promote poverty reduction (SDG goal 1), good health and well-being (SDG goal 3), gender equality (SDG goal 5), reduced inequalities (SDG goal 10), and finally, promote peaceful societies for sustainable development (SDG goal 16).
The impact on human health of restoring degraded African drylands
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This multi-country project aims to establish the health benefits of large-scale land restoration in Africa's Sahel region. We will leverage the Great Green Wall (GGW) of Africa initiative, the largest land restoration effort in the world, as a natural experimental system. Drylands host nearly 40% of the global population. The GGW and other similar land-restoration efforts currently underway around the world are set to reshape landscapes and the lived experiences of billions of people globally. Such restoration efforts are increasingly being regarded as potential 'Nature-based solutions' as the world seeks to confront and adapt to the triple challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and food security. At present however, human health considerations play a very minor role in the design and implementation of restoration projects, including the GGW. This project aims to fill this critical gap, to ensure restoration projects can maximally serve human health alongside other objectives. We will use a novel combination of activities spanning 4 integrated work packages to do this. Briefly, WP1 will comprise a literature review and community consultations to develop an iteratively refined, gender-sensitive logic model describing the causal linkages between dryland restoration and human health. This will guide the project by helping to refine key hypotheses and identify a suitable subset of secondary health outcomes to be evaluated in subsequent WPs. In WP2 we will collate as much existing data as possible for GGW countries to conduct a Sahel-wide village-matched health impact evaluation. The primary outcome to be investigated will be weight-for-age z score (WAZ) of children (0-59 months) as a measure of acute nutritional status. A subset of secondary outcomes in children and women emerging from WP1 as of particular relevance will also be considered. We will compare health outcomes between communities with and without GGW activities to evaluate the health impacts of restoration. WP3 will be a follow-up of WPs1-2 in which we will conduct a more targeted, community-prioritised, village-matched health impact evaluation with primary data collection in three focal countries (The Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso). Based on our current understanding of the linkages between health and environmental restoration, these are likely to include other anthropometric measures (e.g., height-for-age z score, HAZ), and outcomes reflecting risk factors on the nutrition, infection and mental health / well-being pathways. We will again focus on children and non-pregnant women. Some secondary outcomes require collection of biological samples from children for laboratory analysis. Follow-up sampling will give information on seasonal effects and an opportunity to compare child growth over a 12-14 month period between groups with and without GGW interventions. WP4 comprises a set of integrating tasks aimed at marrying the results of the health impact evaluations with current activities guiding the design and implementation of the GGW and understanding the role of and benefits to health of completing the GGW. With an anticipated cost of around $50 billion to reach its 100 million hectare target of restored drylands by 2030, it is essential for health impacts (benefits and costs) to be brought into existing decision-support tools for applied purposes. We will do this via a combination of steps from health economic evaluation, cost-benefit and trade-off analysis, and systems and scenario modelling in the context of a changing climate. In all WPs, our Project Partners and Scientific Steering Committee will further ensure local relevance and streamline the research-to-practice pipeline, enhancing impact.
Co-designing effective Nature-based Solutions in coastal West Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Communities living near coasts are increasingly at risk from coastal flooding as climate change raises sea-levels and causes storms to occur more frequently. Mangrove forests can help protect communities from this threat, as they reduce the energy of waves and storm surges, and trap sediment to help coasts keep pace with rising sea levels. Despite their benefit, a third of mangroves in West Africa have been lost since 1980. Mangrove wood is an important source of fuel and construction material for communities living nearby, and there are also pressures to use the land mangroves grow on for salt production and rice farming. Many interventions have been tried to protect mangroves, but these can have far-reaching consequences for people and the environment, and create novel mangrove landscapes which may not protect communities in the same way as natural mangroves. This project will generate new knowledge about the feedbacks from different interventions and the effectiveness of different mangrove landscapes at protecting communities, and use this to support communities in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to design solutions to protect and restore mangroves, and protect themselves from climate change risks. We will build on the knowledge communities have of mangroves, their changes and their relationship with people, and work with communities to imagine different ways of living with mangroves. We will then collect the evidence needed to evaluate these different scenarios. This includes making measurements and models of how different mangrove landscapes protect communities from flooding, looking at how sensitive this protection is to processes such as mining or forest loss along the rivers upstream of the mangroves, and seeing whether different strategies to protect mangroves affect some people more than others. We will examine these results with communities, refining scenarios and models to arrive at co-designed solutions. We will then work with communities to identify whether they have the power to implement these solutions, and identify how governments and other organisations can help support communities to protect and restore mangroves. We will assess whether the suitability of different approaches for protecting and restoring mangroves depends on the environment or on social factors. For example, some rivers carry a lot of sediment which could be trapped by small areas of mangroves, while other rivers have less sediment which may not be effectively trapped by small patches of mangroves. Likewise, options for people to switch from cutting mangroves to getting wood from alternative sources will depend on how close other forests are, the amount of land available for planting new trees, and the ease of bringing wood in from further afield. We will work in six different river catchments in three countries in West Africa, which differ in many environmental and social characteristics including how close they are to urban areas where products can be easily bought or sold, the amount of forest loss along the rivers and experience of past civil conflicts. We will work with communities in three areas within each catchment, allowing us to see the effect of differences in livelihoods and customs on possible solutions. These lessons learnt about the importance of context will be valuable for informing efforts to protect and restore mangroves across the region.
GLOBALSEAWEED PROTECT: conserve, improve, innovate, manage and empower for a resilient seaweed aquaculture industry
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The global seaweed industry is the fastest growing aquaculture sector contributing half of global marine production. Southeast Asia, notably Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, is the largest producer of red seaweeds that produce carrageenan, a hydrocolloid used in foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, worth c. US$14.7 billion and supporting over 1 million livelihoods there. Seaweeds, a low trophic crop, are of huge benefit to Southeast Asia, and unlike finfish/shrimp aquaculture, contribute to enhancing biodiversity. Demand for carrageenan is surging, but seaweed production systems in this region are massively challenged by the lack of genetic diversity, making them vulnerable to pests and diseases. This is compounded by climate change, which is also devastating wild seaweeds and habitats, the source of new cultivars on which the seaweed industry depends. These challenges threatening crop health, the wider environment and the livelihoods of the communities that rely on this industry for income. GLOBALSEAWEED-PROTECT aims to achieve a productive seaweed industry in Southeast Asia by taking a One Health approach. This will ensure that production systems are resilient to climate change, crops are healthy by preventing the introduction and spread of pests and disease, wild seaweed biodiversity and the wider environment are protected and enhanced, improving the long-term livelihoods of farmers and their communities, and providing a model for the rest of the world. The objectives, developed with our partners in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are to build capability and capacity in and between countries in i) research innovation, ii) development of resilient crops, (iii) implementation of biosecurity management strategies and tool kits for improving seaweed health, and (iv) engagement with local communities, researchers, governments, industry and NGOs through ‘Sharing Best Practice’ workshops. These objective will be realised through four Work Packages: WP1: Sustain resilient and viable seaweed production systems. WP2: Improve resilience of cultivars to climate change and pest and diseases. WP3: Adapt and build seaweed aquaculture systems that reduce losses of production due to disease, while also improving the health of the commercial crop and the wider aquatic environment. WP4: Empower local solutions to ensure viable and resilient seaweed production systems. The outcomes of new methodologies and knowledge generated from developing climate-resilient seaweed cultivars and how these temperature-resilient cultivars adapt to climate change will have far-reaching applications and benefits for seaweed farming throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. Understanding wild and farmed biodiversity and how seaweed farming and help seaweed-habitat restoration and the wider environment will strengthen production systems and, therefore, be of value to seaweed farmers. Implementing a Global Seaweed Protection Strategy will optimise seaweed health, the ecosystems supporting them, communities reliant on these crops and of value to policy makers. Introducing a Progressive Management Pathway for Improving Aquaculture Biosecurity (PMP/AB), trialling innovative early warning pests and diseases detection methodologies, and working with local communities to achieve a more reliable economy through e.g., crop diversification, will also improve production system health and thus livelihoods. This project will also contribute to the UK Government’s International Development Strategy to re-energise the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably No Poverty, No Hunger, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequality, Climate Action, and Life Below Water. Through our collaborations and further development of research networks our proposal will, therefore, have a legacy of cooperation well beyond the lifetime of the funding.
AQUASoS: an integrative scalable interdisciplinary approach for climate resilient sustainable SE Asian aquaculture
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Rivers, seas, and deltas are particularly vulnerable to rising water temperatures, salinization, pollution, and changes in sediment flow due to natural and anthropogenic environmental change. These changes disrupt ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, and threaten food and water security, disproportionately impacting developing nations. We have chosen the Mekong Delta (MKD) in Vietnam to develop our framework approach due to its relevance to the wider SE Asia region aquaculture development for a number of reasons including; 1) scale with more than 80% of national production @ 5 million tonnes, growing at 3.3% pa and a value over $8.9billion, 2) multi-species production and 3) complex one health landscape driving anti-microbial resistance (AMR). Adding to the complexity of developing sustainable aquatic food systems in the MKD is the increasing burden of infectious diseases. Indeed, infectious diseases in Asian and global aquaculture are a major continuous threat to sustainable production representing a ‘wicked problem’. Ongoing research at the University of Stirling coupling pioneering Earth observation technology into a Digital Observatory at the river-to-sea systems scale will be harnessed to build the Aqua System of Systems (AquaSoS). AquaSoS will be designed to address the above ‘wicked problem’. Our inter-disciplinary approach will brings together digital information on the component parts of this complex system to understand the current and projected interactions and influences. We will deliver suite of products and solutions for developing sustainable aquaculture that truly embeds consideration for natural resources (and protection thereof) and the peoples who's lives depend on aquaculture. This will provide a framework to tackle this ‘wicked problem’ across the SE Asia region and indeed globally. A critical component of our approach is the integration of both existing data and future data generation from multiple sources (metagenomics, biodiversity indices, in-situ sensors, satellite etc) into a scalable data formats into a one-stop-shop of information (SoS) accessible to stake holders including, policy and decision makers, scientists and industry to resolve the conflicts between environmental responsibilities and sustainable aquaculture practise and development. AquaSOS brings together a world-leading researcher consortium incorporating critical elements of Earth observation, biodiversity understanding, and one health approaches directly linked to cutting edge health biotechnologies. This is further supported by a network of international experts, with emphasis upon the SE Asian region that is global aquaculture’s powerhouse of production. AquaSoS team members furthermore actively engage with many relevant industry, government and policy bodies, both nationally and internationally, and with public engagement fora, that will provide effective conduits for ensuring the science and solutions developed are communicated effectively and widely to support knowledge sharing and action. Our consortium will use this project to further build upon a ‘SE Asia Woman in Science Research Network’ that promotes and recognises leading women scientists and takes their leadership to build capacity and legacy by providing research collaboration opportunities and career advancement.
Working towards Adaptive and Versatile Environmental Sustainability in mollusc aquaculture (WAVES)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Mollusc aquaculture produces 20 million tonnes (USD 29.8 billion) live biomass annually, supporting both marginal farming communities and export trade. Asia hosts >95% of activity with bivalves dominating production, primarily oysters, mussels, and benthic clams. These non-fed species offer a ‘low-carbon’ solution to high-quality nutritional security and confer environmental benefits for biodiversity and seawater nutrient status. Molluscs are inexpensive, nutritionally rich and sector expansion can enhance food security in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, mollusc output as a proportion of aquatic animal aquaculture declined to 20.3% from 30.2% since 2000, with producers facing challenges from climate change and disease, concerns over algal toxins, food safety and reliable access to high-quality seed, and other societal, cultural and commercial pressures. Questions remain as to whether mollusc culture can develop and grow into a sustainable industry, in the face of bottlenecks to seed supply, changes in production and nutritional value resulting from climate change, and commercial pressures from other aquatic food producers. At grow out, diseases and climate impacts present major issues, with a more complete understanding of environmental tolerance of crop species necessary to map the suitability of existing and potential future farm locations. Meanwhile, hatchery technology offers promise for enhancing reliability of supply and providing a platform for future resilience by enabling initiatives such as selective breeding. The WAVES consortium aims to develop capacity in diversified mollusc aquaculture to create system resilience and to promote the sustainability and growth of this sector. To achieve our ambition, four key objectives have been co-developed that place engagement with farming communities and stakeholders at its heart: i) conduct systems mapping of current mollusc production in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia (clams, mussels and oysters) as models of wider Asia to provide deep understanding for activities, livelihoods and climate change threats; ii) create a systems dynamic model and develop a scenario tool to forecast plausible futures for mollusc aquaculture; iii) generate data to support species diversification for climate resilience, to promote hatchery development for reliable supply of high-quality seed, and to produce safe and nutritious food; iv) iterate and disseminate findings to develop context-sensitive roadmaps for future sustainable expansion of resilient mollusc aquaculture. Our consortium entrains multinational expertise in bivalve aquaculture and physiology, with specialists in microbiology, nutrition, food safety, systems-thinking, climate forecasting, sustainable socioeconomic development, environmental justice and multilevel governance, to genuinely implement systems-scale understanding in forecasting plausible futures for mollusc aquaculture. Beneficiaries include coastal communities where operations are located and people whose livelihoods rely on mollusc farming that are threatened by climate change effects. Development and expansion of mollusc farming, through improved productivity and enhanced natural resource use, will contribute to regional food and nutritional security. Core to our vision is enhancing regional capability and capacity for systems approaches, which will be achieved through collaboration, training and mentorship. The WAVES Consortium seeks to enable the equitable transition of mollusc aquaculture to sustainable systems resilient to the challenges posed by climate change, ensuring optimised use of the natural environment, and with increased output enhancing local food security and nutritional benefit. The project will provide a contextually-relevant fulcrum to stimulate further investment and create a UK-Asia alliance of researchers leading developments in mollusc farming and contributing to UN SDGs 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 17.
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