This document summarizes a call for proposals from the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BMEL) to fund international research consortia working on food environments for improved nutrition. The 3rd call will focus on transforming local food environments in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia to support healthy diets through approaches like examining market design and nutrition education. Eligible applicants are German research institutions that can form consortia with partners in target regions. Proposals will go through a two-step process with an initiation phase to

1. BMEL-call for proposals:
Food environments for improved nutrition
Siegfried Harrer
Federal Office for Agriculture and Food – BLE
Tropentag 18. – 20.09.2019, Kassel

2. 2
German funding agencies addressing global food security
→Challenges and opportunities of funding diversity
• BMBF
Generally funding of basic research
• BMZ
Supporting multilateral research, CGIAR centers
• BMEL
Research institutions within the scope of the BMEL
“Ressortforschung”
„Directive on the funding of international research
cooperation for global food security”

3. 3
BMEL funding instrument
→Goals:
• Establishing long-term research partnerships through inter-
regional cooperation and transboundary exchange of knowledge
• Improving local food and nutrition security
• Supporting sustainable and health-oriented food systems
• Elaborating needs-based solutions through participatory and
practice-oriented inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches
• Local capacity development

4. 4
Requirements for funding
→ International research consortia including partners from
Sub-Saharan Africa, South and/or Southeast Asia
→ Eligible to apply are German research institutions within the
scope of the BMEL, German universities or non-university
research institutes
→ Possibility to include SME‘s and start-ups from the target
regions and Germany
→ Actors outside academia may be funded for knowledge
transfer and capacity development

5. 5
Call development
→Prior to each call:
• Negotiation and scoping of the thematic focus of
each call with BMEL
• Workshop with stakeholders from the target regions
to identify needs and research gaps
• Drafting the call within the room of maneuver:
Policies, federal budget code etc.

6. 6
Focus of 1st and 2nd call along the value chain
Food
Production
Handling and
Storage
Food
Processing,
Packaging
Distribution
Marketing
and
Consumption
1st Call in 2013
Diversified Agriculture for balanced
Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa
8 consortial projects (8 Mio €)
2nd Call in 2016
Innovative approaches to process local food in
Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia
9 consortial projects (9 Mio €)

7. 7
Examples from the 1st and 2nd call
→ BAOFOOD and BAOQUALITY
• Pilot processing plant for baobab pulp and oil together with
farmers associations in Kenya  later handing over
→ UpgradePlus
• Collaboration with women groups to develop solar powered
processing units for underutilized species
→ UFISAMO
• “Researching farmers” developing good agricultural practices
adapted to urban farming - UrbanGAP

8. 8
Nutrition-Network
About 20 international research consortia and 16 projects
funded within the scope of the doctoral program. A total of 60 to
100 partner organizations in Germany and in the target regions.

9. 9
Nutrition-Network
→ Summer schools for PhD students
→ Workshop series on topics relevant for network
members
→ Planned: Nutrition-Network Wiki for knowledge
management

10. 10
Focus of 1st and 2nd call along the value chain
Food
Production
Handling and
Storage
Food
Processing,
Packaging
Distribution
Marketing
and
Consumption
1st Call in 2013
Diversified Agriculture for balanced
Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa
8 consortial projects (8 Mio €)
2nd Call in 2016
Innovative approaches to process local food
in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia
9 consortial projects (9 Mio €)
3rd Call 2019
Food Environments for Improved
Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, South-,
and Southeast Asia
Call open until 15th October

11. 11
3rd Call: Linking food systems and diets
Agricultural
production
Storage &
distribution
Processing &
packaging
Retail & markets
Food supply chains
 Food availability and physical
access (proximity)
 Economic access
(affordability)
 Promotion, advertising and
information
 Food quality and safety
Food environments
Choosing where and
what food to acquire,
prepare, cook, store
and eat (based on
price, income,
information,
preferences)
Consumer
behavior
Biophysical
environment
Innovation, technology,
infrastructure
Policies and economy Society and culture Demography
Drivers
Nutrition
and health
outcomes
Political,
Social,
economic,
environmental
impacts
quantity,
quality,
diversity,
safety
Diets
Adapted by IFPRI from HLPE (2017):
“Nutrition and Food Systems”.
Scope of 3rd call

12. 12
Focus and aims of the 3rd call
→ Sustainable transformation of local food environments to
support healthy diets
→ Health-oriented change of dietary behavior and habits
→ Target-group-specific understanding of dietary behavior and
their drivers
• Rural and urban population
• Age and gender specific and cross cutting
→ Cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination of nutrition-
sensitive policies, measures and their implementation for
healthy and nutritional diets

13. 13
Approaches
→ Research of local, culturally driven and changing dietary habits
(nutrition transition)
→ Examination and optimization of the direct sales environment
→ Influence of market design, marketing and information
→ Influence of nutrition education on consumer choices and
eating habits
→ Investigation and optimization of school feeding and out-of-
home catering

14. 14
Approaches
→ Investigation of the risks and potentials of newly
emerging food environments and markets
→ Development of healthy, safe and tasty convenience
products
→ Development of effective communication strategies for
improved nutrition and the design of decision-making
tools for consumers
→ Application of information and communication
technologies (ICT)

15. 15
Application procedure: Two-steps with initiation phase
→ 1. Step: Short proposal with concept of initiation phase
• Initiation phase to identify and involve suitable partners,
stakeholders and target groups
• Result of initiation phase: a full project proposal that is closely
coordinated with the partners in the target region
→ 2. Step: Full project proposal with initiation phase
→ Deadline:
• Submission of the short proposal, cooperation agreement and
concept for the initiation phase by 15.10.2019, 15:00 hr

16. 16
Contact
Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE)
International Cooperation and Global Food Security (Division 334)
Deichmanns Aue 29
53179 Bonn
Internet: http://www.ble.de/research-cooperation
E-Mail: welternaehrung@ble.de