Aid by Sector
Building Local Resilience in Syria (BLRS)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The Building Local Resilience in Syria (BLRS) programme will take an integrated approach to help Syrians in need to feed themselves and their families. It will help around 65,000 Syrians in need per year to be less reliant on harmful coping behaviours (like skipping meals, child labour, or recruitment to violent and extremist groups) and less dependent on emergency aid, and to be more self-reliant and more economically and socially resilient to shocks and stresses. It will deliver interventions at local level, and particularly target women, young people, and those with disabilities, whom we know are especially vulnerable in the various Syria contexts.
Low-carbon Agriculture for avoided deforestation and poverty reduction Phase II - Rural Sustentável
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
As a follow-up phase to a similar ICF intervention in Brazil, Rural Sustentável aims to promote low-carbon agriculture (LCA) on small and medium-scale farms to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through avoided deforestation, enhance producers’ income and quality of life, increase the adoption of sustainable practices, and foster policy replications in Brazil and abroad. The programme operates through three distinct projects in separate Brazilian biomes: PRS Amazon, PRS Cerrado, and PRS Caatinga. Each project has its own budget, implementing agency, timelines, and activities but despite their differences, all three projects share a common theory of change: by providing small- and medium-scale farmers and landowners with alternative methods of production and income generation, the rate of deforestation can be significantly reduced.
The Democratic Republic of Congo - Green Growth Programme
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
This five-year, £38m, International Climate Finance (ICF) programme will support the development of a climate-smart agricultural sector in DRC focusing on rural areas to deliver both climate and economic development objectives. There will be four elements to this programme: • Work to improve the business environment for agricultural businesses in the DRC which will be delivered in partnership with the Government of DRC. • Support to help grow climate-smart agriculture businesses. • Increasing access to finance for established agriculture businesses. • Monitoring and evaluation.
Land Degradation Neutrality Fund
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The LDN Fund invests in projects which reduce or reverse land degradation and thereby contribute to ‘Land Degradation Neutrality’. The LDN Fund is co-promoted by the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Mirova. It is a public-private partnership using public money to increase private sector investment in sustainable development. The fund invests in sustainable agriculture, forestry and other land uses globally. The Fund was launched at the UNCCD’s COP 13 in China in 2017.
The eco.business Fund
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The eco.business fund is a public-private partnership investment fund which aims to shift incentives in financial institutions (i.e. Banks) towards investing in nature, by embedding social and environmental risk into investment decisions, catalysing transformational change in the financial sector. The fund will increase lending to businesses which incorporate sustainable practices that contribute to biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of natural resources, climate change mitigation and adaptation to its impact across South America: Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.
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.
Delivering the Agriculture Breakthrough
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To accelerate the development of solutions that promote resilient, sustainable and productive food systems, and rapidly increasing honest and reliable climate finance to take solutions to scale.
Rohingya Response and National Resilience Programme (RRNRP)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve protection and quality of humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya population living in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, so that they can live full and meaningful lives. This to be done peacefully living alongside host communities, for whom the impacts of the crisis need to be reduced and development opportunities provided. The programme marks a shift in FCDO’s (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) response to the crisis by providing longer term, predictable support to address the needs of both refugees and host communities. Whilst the focus will be on sustaining and improving the humanitarian operation through provision of quality basic services, there will be a specific focus on stimulating the economy, rehabilitating the environment, and promoting stability for both populations’ benefit. The programme aim to support COVID-19 and early emergency recovery support for national resilience by providing support to the national COVID-19 and disaster response.
Animal Health Systems Strengthening (AHSS) Project
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
Phase 1 (2022-25) - The aim of the project was to work with responsible authorities in Lower-Middle Income Countries to build resilient health systems by strengthening capabilities in animal health systems, to better protect from, and detect and respond to known and emerging diseases (including those of epidemic and pandemic potential) through a One Health, all-hazards, system strengthening approach, improving livelihoods and enhancing global health security. Phase 2 (from April 2025) - The project will focus on increasing the resilience of the animal health sector against climate change induced shocks, strengthening the competent authorities’ ability to reduce the burden of animal disease associated with climate variability - aiming to improve livelihoods through strengthened livestock assets, particularly amongst the rural poor, reducing loss attributed to disease and climate change vulnerability through stronger animal health systems. AHSS will continue to take a One Health and cross HMG approach to enhance global health security, improve resilience to climate change and support poverty reduction, working in partnership with Department of Health and Social Care, UK Health Security Agency and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office at the human-animal-environmental interface to maximize impact.
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.
Sustainable Inclusive Livelihoods through Tea Production in Rwanda
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The project supports job creation and increased incomes by working with smallholder farmers to develop greenfield tea. The Wood Foundation Africa (TWFA) will set up and run two Services Companies supporting approximately 12,000 smallholder tea farmers over 7,500 hectares. Farmers will be supported to produce tea for the first time, employing best farming practices, including understanding and managing climate risk and variability.The Services Company will be co-owned by the farmers. This will lead to improved incomes and livelihoods (in particular nutrition and education) for the farmers and their families. Unilever and Luxmi will build a factory which will heavily rely on the tea supplied by the smallholder farmers with support from The Wood Foundation Africa.
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: Phase two delivered a one-year programme which built and expanded 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. The programme launched in Uganda and focussed on developing a Health and Pollution Action Plan, creating a framework for future action that is aligned with priorities of national stakeholders. The programme also established the Regional Pollution Forum platform, taking a multilateral approach in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa to amplify impact by spreading knowledge of successful interventions.
Mozambique Agricultural Jobs and Climate-Resilient Investment Programme (MAJI)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve incomes, create better/more jobs for women and men in Mozambique and support their resilience to climate shocks.
Productivity for Prosperity (P4P)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
Productivity for Prosperity is a sustainable economic transformation programme that will increase labour productivity and climate-resilience in Tanzania’s job-creating sectors. It will achieve this through private sector development (investment facilitation, trade facilitation and building capabilities of firms) and business environment reform (supporting proportionate and predictable regulation). P4P will dovetail with the UK’s external engagement and influencing activities in Tanzania. P4P will initially prioritise the agroprocessing and horticulture sectors, and will provide flexible support to bolster the UK’s current and future prosperity objectives.
Scalable Ecosystem Monitoring In Kenya: Soil health And human-wildlife coexistence
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
African ecosystems represent the vibrant heart of the continent?s wellbeing: as thriving habitat for the abundant, unique wildlife, as a basis for humanity?s survival and growth (e.g. clean water, agriculture, resilience), and as a key economic factor (e.g. clean energy provision, food, critical materials, tourism). Adapting to and combatting the ecological crises already battering Africa is crucial for its future, in which protecting and restoring terrestrial ecosystems will assume an inevitable role. One pertinent problem in sub-Saharan Africa is to improve agricultural yields for growing nutritious demand whilst restoring ecosystems on limited arable, already-degraded land. Increasingly encroached spaces, stressed by climate extremes and anthropogenic expansion, also proliferate human-wildlife conflicts that threaten shared multi-species livelihoods, balanced biodiversity, local productivity, as well as the economically important sector of sustainable wildlife tourism. Understanding complex ecosystems can only advance through data-driven evidence of their state, evolution, and sustainable interventions, and thereby inform decision-making. Scaling up data acquisition across large, complex landscapes is the key bottleneck. Our new paradigm--to bring physics into the ecosystem instead of ecosystems into labs or computers--aims at tackling this data-poverty crisis at scale. Ecosystem monitoring is extremely difficult: any comprehensive understanding of interactions between diverse agents, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales, across regions and over time, requires scalable, non-invasive, information-dense, well-understood data, ideally in real-time. To meet some of the most urgent and demanding challenges unfolding across Africa and elsewhere, this is the only viable path forward. We suggest conducting in-field physics applied to two key challenges in Africa: food provision and wildlife conflict, both intrinsically embedded in the climate crisis, while offering scalable climate solutions, improving community resilience and local stakeholder empowerment. This project will develop and deploy a rigorous physics-based ecosystem monitoring framework that integrates non-invasive geophysical data acquisition, sensor technology, and community co-design to address two intersecting challenges: Monitoring and restoring soil health by creating tomographic imaging of the evolving 3D soil, and mitigating crop-raiding elephant conflict by an early-warning system for farmers. We will design a modular, open-hardware physics-informed sensor kit (~£20-30 /unit), to be locally assembled at minimal cost and effort, for detecting seismic and environmental signals relevant to soil structure, moisture, weather and wildlife movement. This will be facilitated by symbiotic expertise between Kenyan and UK research, academic, non-profit institutions which already forged deep partnerships, each bringing into the project an integral role leading essential subprojects, ensuring equity and reciprocity. By the end of the project, we will have: Two physics-based monitoring sites operating in Kenya; open-source designs for wide-spread adaptation; a new generation of trained local physicists, environmental scientists, and farmers; demonstrated proof that physics research can drive solutions to imminent real-world problems. The combined effort on scaling up sensing while skilling up farmers, students, and scientists will break new grounds for large-scale ecosystem monitoring across Africa, not only to support local communities and scientists in their mitigation and adaption to the climate and ecological crises, but to empower them to lead innovations with bespoke solutions that may propel Africa to the fore of tackling these crises, and lead the way for other world regions that will face similar problems in the future. This unites rigorous scientific innovation with ethical, participatory implementation ? a model for how intersectional physics collaborations can work for people and the planet.
A Soft Matter Physics approach to tuning soil acidity in sub-Saharan Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Context Soil acidification is an urgent and escalating barrier to agricultural productivity in sub?Saharan Africa (SSA). Climate change amplifies nutrient leaching (Ca²?, Mg²?, K?) and the accumulation of toxic ions (H?, Al³?), which degrade soil structure, reduce water retention, and inhibit root growth. Over 35 % of SSA?s cropland (>350 million hectares) is acid-affected (pH < 5.5), especially in East, Central, and Southern Africa. The economic burden is estimated at US $68 billion annually, equivalent to a ~3% reduction in the region?s agricultural GDP. While conventional solutions such as liming (e.g. calcite or dolomite) are widely used to raise pH to optimal ranges (6.5?7.5), their real-world efficacy is constrained by uncontrolled delivery?heavy rainfall or drought can wash away, over-dissolve, or limit uptake of amendments. In response, embedding dolomite microparticles within a porous, organic polymer matrix offers a route to regulated delivery, simultaneously restoring soil organic matter (SOM). This introduces a rich but unexplored soft matter physics problem. Key themes include: Moisture retention: leveraging polymer physics to link network structure, tortuosity, and water holding Ion transport & reaction: using reaction-diffusion and fluid dynamics to capture ion release, swelling, and internal reactions Soil coupling: applying granular physics and capillarity to model fluid flow, particle rearrangements, and ion transport interactions Challenge Addressed The central challenge is to control the spatial and temporal release of liming ions under realistic soil and weather conditions?minimising loss, overliming, and inefficient uptake. Current approaches rely on trial-and-error, and there is a lack of mechanistic, multi-scale understanding that spans from molecular diffusion within polymers to macro-scale interactions in heterogeneous soils. This gap constrains the development of robust, scalable, low-cost acidification remedies in SSA. Aims & Objectives We propose a physics-driven design and evaluation of composite particles (CPs): dolomite microparticles (DLP) encapsulated in a bio-polymeric matrix (BPM) derived from agrowaste. These materials are affordable, biocompatible, and locally available across Africa. Properly engineered CPs can (i) enhance crop yields by maintaining soil pH, retain moisture and nutrient balance over time; (ii) reduce waste and over liming risks; and (iii) increase soil resilience. The research is structured into 4 Work Packages, with the following objectives: · WP1: Create CPs, characterise and model ions transport and water retention as a function of composition and environment. · WP2: Quantify effects of CPs on model soil as a function of environmental conditions and density of CPs. · WP3: Investigate CP release on a range of real soil samples representative of SSA. · WP4: Build an active network enabling the testing, manufacture and deployment of CPs in SSA. Three PDRAs based in DeKUT (Kenya), Embu (Kenya), and Stellenbosch (South Africa) will carry out experimental, characterization, and modelling tasks, supervised by an international UK-Africa team. The PDRAs will spend 3-6 months in the UK for research, training and cross?team integration. Stakeholder co-design begins with a workshop in Kenya to align technical goals with user needs. Potential Applications & Benefits There are two primary beneficiaries in this project: 1. The project helps build a pan-African physics?soil network, strengthening capacity in soft matter approaches to soil challenges. 2. Smallholder farmers across acid-impacted regions in SSA, and potentially other tropical and subtropical regions with acidified soils. Integration with stakeholders such as AGRA, ACTS and local agricultural agencies fosters pathways for scale-up, manufacture, and adoption.
SMART-SIP+ - Innovative approaches to downstream energy utilisation from solar irrigation pumps in Bangladesh
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Aim of this project is to drive forward a large-scale clean energy transition in rural communities in Bangladesh through the design, development and demonstration of smart energy systems which exploit the excess electricity from Solar Irrigation Pumps (SIPs). Context: People/Place: Bangladesh is ranked 7th in the Climate Risk Index 60% of the population (c.100M people) rely on agriculture as their main income source. Intensification of irrigation practices: Allows an additional rice crop (55% of total) to be grown during the dry season (Jan-May). 6M irrigation pumps are used including 1.2M tube-wells powered by diesel engines consuming 1MT/yr imported diesel, emitting 3MT of CO2 (c.4% of Bangladesh’s annual gross emission) Replacement of diesel pumps with SIPs provides a critical route to reliable distributed clean energy. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), supported by key state organisations, propose a roadmap to deliver 45,000 SIPs replacing 200,000 diesel pumps by 2031. SIPs are sized to provide sufficient water during peak irrigation demand (100-150 days per year), so only 40 to 60% of the potential electricity generation of the panels is required for irrigation. The ADB report estimates that the 45,000 replacement SIPs will produce 480GWH/yr of surplus electricity. The current recommended method for utilisation of excess electricity is export to grid, but this often requires expensive grid extension, connection and metering. Post-harvest storage/ processing of crops: Fruit and vegetable production is c.17MT/yr, but post-harvest losses range from 25-40%, whilst farmers obtain a poor price due to surplus supply during peak seasons. Both can be alleviated by the availability of cold storage facilities; however, these are limited in Bangladesh owing to high capex/ energy costs. Additional processing of cereals, fruit and vegetables can add value and reduce losses (milling, drying, juicing), but require energy. These factors present a clear opportunity to leverage the excess electricity from SIPs and utilise it locally and smartly to support agriculture and rural communities. The challenge is that techno-economically validated pathways to seize this opportunity are currently not available to potential users (farmers), operators, investors and policymakers. To meet this challenge our project has the following objectives: Capture demand and supply requirements around SIP locations and their local communities into a structured knowledge base. Address key questions surrounding the design, sizing, and smart operation of farm-based microgrids powered by SIP systems. Tailor system solutions to unique local conditions. Provide socio-technical, techno-economic and Life Cycle Assessments of proposed solutions. Build Decision Support Systems and physical field testing and demonstration sites to enable investors/ decision makers to explore the nature and scale of the opportunity and drive strategic innovation, investment, and policy. Build capacity, capability, and resilience within rural communities by co-creating and co-delivering solutions that ensure equitable access to energy and economic development opportunities. Ayrton Challenges – Super Efficient Demand/ Smart Delivery/ Smart Energy Systems/ Sustainable Cooling/ Inclusive Energy Applications/ Benefits: Results/lessons from this work will also inform solarisation of the >10M diesel irrigation pumps that are currently operated in other Southern Asian countries. Bangladesh is categorised as a ‘Least Developed Country’. By improving access to local reliable and affordable clean energy this project will promote socio-economic development by enhancing business performance and stimulating growth; and reduce poverty and inequality of farming communities (particularly for women), increasing income and employment opportunities and building capacity and capability.
(UK-GAP: diSMART) UK-Ghana Agrophysics Partnership: deepening insight into Soil Moisture dynAmics for pRecision irrigaTion
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Agriculture is vital to Ghana?s rural communities and economy, supporting half the population and contributing significantly to its GDP. However, the Ghanaian agricultural sector faces severe threats from climate change, particularly frequent droughts and unpredictable rainfall. To strengthen climate resilience, the Ghanaian Government is promoting a shift to reliable irrigated farming?with pulse surface drip irrigation (PSDI) as a key strategy. Yet, current PSDI systems perform poorly in semi-arid regions due to a limited understanding of soil moisture dynamics?a complex, multiscale process influenced by strong couplings between soil, water, plants, and microclimate. This project, UK-GAP: diSMART (UK-Ghana Agrophysics Partnership: deepening insight into Soil Moisture dynAmics for pRecision irrigaTion), aims to transform precision irrigation by deepening physical insight into these processes and co-developing a novel decision-support tool. By integrating lab experiments, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), machine learning (ML), and data fusion (DF), the research will create a first-of-its-kind physics-artificial intelligence (AI) hybrid framework capable of accurately predicting soil moisture dynamics in semi-arid agriculture. The team consists of researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU-UK), Cranfield University (Cranfield-UK) , and University for Development Studies (UDS-Ghana). The team?s complementary research expertise and resources forms the foundation of this project. Supported by local partners, such as the World Bank-funded West African Center for Water, Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture (WACWISA), the project is uniquely positioned to deliver broad impact across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Expected outcomes include improved crop yields and income stability for smallholders, enhanced water-use efficiency, strengthened climate resilience, and expanded African research capability in agrophysics. Through equitable UK?Ghana collaboration, the project will also advance gender-inclusive practices and establish a sustainable Africa?UK network for agrophysics research, directly supporting regional food security and climate adaptation.
Fleming Fund
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The Fleming Fund is an Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded programme from the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). It helps fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the burden of drug-resistant infection is greater. Information about individual Fleming Fund projects and contracts can be found under the ‘child activities linked to this activity. The Fleming Fund aims to: (1) Support the development of National Action Plans for AMR; (2) Develop and support the implementation of protocols and guidance for AMR surveillance and antimicrobial use; (3) Build sustainable laboratory capacity for AMR sensitivity testing and diagnosis; (4) Build sustainable drug resistance surveillance capacity and networks; (5) Enable the sharing of drug resistance data locally, regionally and nationally; (6) Facilitate the increased use of drug resistance data to monitor and address resistance as it evolves; and (7) Advocate for the application of data to promote the rational use of antimicrobials for human health, animal health and agriculture.
India: Infrastructure Equity Fund - Investment in small infrastructure projects in India's poorest states
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To improve access to better quality transport, clean energy and basic urban services for households and businesses, by investing in equity to private sector-led infrastructure projects. This will benefit an estimated 280,000 people with improved infrastructure services.
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