Opening Date: 
Monday, 18 May, 2020

Closing Date: 
Wednesday, 17 June, 2020

South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) in partnership with the Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI), South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQ), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Newton Fund, and SGCI participating councils across 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are pleased to announce the COVID-19 Africa Rapid Grant Fund. The Rapid Grant Fund seeks to contribute to the African regional and continental response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This call covers three strands: i) research, ii) science engagement: call to science and health journalists and communicators, and iii) science engagement: call to science advisers.

Researchers and science engagement practitioners from the following countries are eligible to apply:  Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and in the context of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Nigeria and South Africa. For the research strand and applicable only to Nigeria and South Africa, only ARUA member universities will be eligible to participate. For the two strands on science engagement, practitioners across all the countries, including Nigeria and South Africa may apply.

Applications from women applicants, people living with disabilities and first responders to COVID-19, as principal investigators are encouraged. In addition, diversity, including sex and gender differences, exist across all COVID-19 dimensions. Research and science engagement proposals must demonstrate considerations of diversity, including sex as a biological variable and gender as a socio-cultural factor in research projects and in science engagement approaches.
Applications must be submitted on the NRF Online Submission System: https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za. Applications should be submitted in English or French. Incomplete applications and applications received after the closing date (Wednesday, 17 June 2020, 24:00 Central Africa Time (CAT) will not be considered for reviews and evaluation.

The framework and application guidelines, application templates, and additional call documents are available under Documents of this page.
For enquiries, applicants are encouraged to contact the person (s) below:  

For programme/content related queries:
Thabo Dikgale
Email: thabo.dikgale@nrf.ac.za
Kholofelo Mampeule
Email: kholofelo.mampeule@nrf.ac.za
For technical and granting queries:
Mr Jan Phalane
Email: jan.phalane@nrf.ac.za
Mpho Baloyi
Email: mpho.baloyi@nrf.ac.za
Additional country contact details for Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are included in the framework and application guidelines.