INVESTOR RELATIONS:Current activity (active projects, submitted & planned) with investors and other opportunities

November 2008

INVESTOR / CURRENT & PLANNED PROPOSALS / Additional Opportunities
Investor / Opportunities for funding fellowships staff/ inkind support for MTP / Status / Proposal Title / Region/Discipline / Total $Grant
African Development Bank / Submitted/Expected / Aquaculture Development in the COMESA Region / E&S Africa / 3,200,000 / An evaluation of AfDB is currently underway. Insights into early outcomes of evaluation as it relates to opportunities and partnering useful
Likely that AfDB will increase support for SROs and FARA & so partnerships with FARA, ASARECA, CORAF, SACCAR important. ASARECA is the strongest of the SROs. Useful also to explore partnerships with WARDA & IITA given their unique standing with AFDB as African organizations.
New opportunities related to environment exist; a benefit of AfDB becoming implementing agency for GEF. AfDB has prioritized protection of coastal & marine ecosystems and projects opportunities related to improved conservation & use, governance & mgmt of fisheries should be explored. Climate change is also gaining priority
AfDB invested $30M in the delivery of NERICA to African farmers, through both loans and grant arrangements, with a strong partnership with WARDA. There are obvious parallels to NERICA and our fish breeding work, the latter potentially yielding even bigger productivity benefits.
Under Development / Sustainable Fish-Based Livelihoods to Reduce Poverty and Malnutrition in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo / W&C Africa / 1,416,660
Characterization of Nile Tilapia / Global - AQ / 133,578
Genetic Improvement of Nile Tilapia / Global - AQ / 176,421
AFD/ CIRAD/ France / * / Submitted/Expected / Cameroon-Dam Effects / W&C Africa / 749,469 / Exploring opportunities for shared positions through CIRAD/IRD could be pursued. An MOU could facilitate shared arrangements funded by France.
France has increasing emphasis on the environment. & biodiversity and sharing advantages related to genetic resources; regarding the latter they might be receptive to support initiatives that facilitate this including our policy work on alien species
Although we have received funding for work related to marine & coastal areas -- particularly coral reefs in Pacific, opportunities for funding in SSA exist
Exploring opportunities to link to their current projects on sustainable fisheries work in W Africa might be pursued
Exploring funding through the French Global Env Facility might also be explored related to work in W Africa in particular related to biodiversity, mgmt of NR, valuation studies on biodiversity etc
Europeans + Israel are moving ahead to coordinate better their tropical aquaculture focus. The partners include CIRAD/Liege/Gottingen/Wagagenin/Israel. which could be a strategic group for us to be involved in. CIRAD has also developed with Stirling a Masters program focused on research and capacity building Ultimately all of CIRADs aquaculture work is done in the context of improving small scale farming systems..
CIRADs fish work in Mekong is in Vietnam and focusing on biodiversity particular catfish. It’s focus is on identifying other species which have the potential for breed improvement. In the Mekong it is also looking at fish migration.
There seems to be a number of synergies with CIRAD and collaboration could be explored further to pursue EC grants, in particular or shared positions funded through CIRAD.
Agencia Espanola de Cooperation Internacional / * / Submitted/Expected / Improving Fishing Livelihoods and Food Security in the Democratic Republic of Congo / W&C Africa / 2,329,203 / Spain is one of the biggest investors in fisheries as a contributor to economic development & food security. Spain also places priority on sustainable F&A, environmental governance and biodiversity issues and decreasing the risk of the poor to environmental disasters
Spain takes an integrated approach to food security which largely focuses on planning at the country level & given its focus on fisheries considers role of fishing methods, access issues and control of natural resources
Proposals thus far have focused on work in Africa but Asia is also a focus but their priorities include not only countries like Senegal, Mozambique, Malawi and DRC but also Philippines, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos & East Timor.
In Asia integrated approaches which consider strengthening policies, rationalizing the artisanal fishing & promoting aquaculture as a livelihood strategy might be explored
In many respects our MTP aligns strongly to Spain’s interests & priorities in addition to above they also have a specific interest in prevalent & neglected diseases like HIV & malaria as well as other waterborne diseases which we are interested in pursuing
They are one of the few investors who not only consider gender issues but also fund specific gender equity activities targeting economic development
Spain has a strong focus on migration issues & how fishing mitigates social issues addressing migration should be of interest to them. We don't want to overload Spain with proposals & need to clarify the best mechanism to approach them for work in Asia for example
Arab investors / * / although beyond core investments from Egypt our our funding from OPECs dev fund we do not receive any funding
significant opportunities exist which are best tapped through our existing Arab partnerships or introductions that these might lead to (including through OPEC & IFAD; having the right connections is important for all investors but even more so in the case of opening doors to Arab funding)
the Arabs have become one of the leading funders of ODA, and given our strong priority to their interests, the fact that majority of our operations & focus are in muslim countries should help us tap Arab funding
Dubai Cares, for example, has become the leading funder of childrens issues in SSA, more specifically to our interests the Arab Authority for Agr. Investment & Development. is an investment org of 15 countries targeting food security in Arab countries.
another approach could be through AFSED, the Kuwait Fund, AGFUND etc.
there is increasing investment in capacity of Arab scientists and shared arrangements might be explored involving potentially tripartite arrangements involving co-supervision with European ARIs.
Asian Development Bank / Submitted/Expected / Tonle Sap Sustainable Livelihoods Component 2 / Mekong / 720,000 / Funds from CG RETA are limited but the next RFP for about $2M over 3 years will be announced early in 2009. Projects focused on regional issues favored.
There are significant opportunities to link to ADB priorities beyond agriculture, as the below highlights. Building awareness within ADB of the full scope of our work through a seminar at ADB in 2009 would be useful.
Not long ago we enjoyed the largest share of project funding in the CG of $2M a year, ongoing efforts to strengthen and rebuild relationships with ADB should have significant payoffs.
There are a number of areas related to ADB programming and our MTP & some relate to more broadly to social issues like human migration (& trafficking which is one of their biggest areas for investment ) & fisheries and community issues.
 Agriculture would be funded through linkage to NRM and regional cooperation and exploring opportunities under the CGIAR focused RETA should be explored.
Although ADB has moved away from a direct focus on F&A its new strategy highlights a number of areas where future opportunities can be explored namely: infrastructure, environment, climate change & regional cooperation & trade.
Developing close linkages with ADB staff who are best positioned to advise & support tapping the plethora of Trust Funds at ADB is key; namely Japans Poverty Reduction Fund; the newly replenished Poverty & Env Fund which prioritizes areas of work strongly linked to our MTP should also be pursued
Related to ADBs climate focus is integrating disaster preparedness & climate change issues working closely with countries and supporting pre-and post disaster work. Our current pitch in natural disasters, rehabilitating communities etc will hopefully be well received
Under Development / Institutionalizing Impact Assessment in Fisheries Governance Reform / Global - SS / 1,500,000
Livelihood Initiatives in Aceh / Global - NRM / 750,000
Australian Agency for International Development / Submitted/Expected / Mekong Water Flows, Climate Change and Adaptive Capacity Fisheries-Project Development / Mekong / 100,000 / AusAID, are one of the few investors who have a regional approach to funding. Getting their latest thinking on programmatic funding also useful.
Under Development / Delivering Impact of projects: A telecommunications Pilot Study / Pacific / 30,000
Mekong Water Flows, Climate Change and Adaptive Capacity Fisheries - Full Project Implementation / Mekong / 700,000
Australian Center for International Agricultural Research Center / Active / Developing Aquaculture Based Livelihoods in the Pacific Islands Region and Tropical Australia. / Pacific / 13,042 / We are doing very well on core & project funding from Australia
Exploring how we might move to the top impact group and benefit from an additional AUD250K core annually might be timely
Although we want to focus our efforts with Australia on support to our Asia & Pacific program, exploring priorities for SSA also useful as it is likely from a separate funding window, but we need to clarify this as we do not want to jeopardize our Pacific funding
Improving Resilience and Adaptive Capacity of Fisheries Dependent Communities in Solomon Islands. / Pacific / 660,000
Improving Sustainability and Profitability of Village Sea Cucumber Fisheries in Solomon Islands / Pacific / 112,986
Optimal Release Strategies for Restocking and Stock Enhancement of the Tropical Sea Cucumber, Sandfish (Holothuria Scabra) / Pacific / 67,652
Review of Sandfish Pond-Culture Progress in Vietnam / Global - NRM / 51,128
Sea Ranching and Restocking Sandfish (Holothuria scabra) in the Philippines / ESEA / 789,758
Submitted/Expected / Building of Resilience in Fisheries-Dependent Communities in Post-tsunami Aceh / ESEA / 95,000
Under Development / Senegal Lobsters / Global - NRM / 7,660
Pond-base Culture of Sandfish in Asia / Global - NRM / 540,000
Poverty-Environment Linkage in Fisheries and Aquaculture (Focus on China) / ESEA / 150,000
Socio-economic Impact of Pearl Farming in Fiji / Pacific / 28,000
Value Chain Analysis for Fisheries and Fish Based Products in Indonesia and the Philippines / ESEA / 2,000,000
Austria /
  • Although we do not have any projects or in the pipeline, there are potential opportunities but not within the CG earmarked funds. ADA (Australian Development Agency) currently focuses on 10 Centers.
  • ADA is also responsible for bilateral program and opportunities outside the CG earmarked funds might be explored. They are potentially interested in supporting projects related to built structures (this info based on a conference supported in Austria (Symposium of the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission on Hydropower and implications for Fish and Fisheries.

Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / * / Submitted/Expected / Sustainable Fish-Based Livelihoods to Reduce Poverty and Malnutrition in Central Africa / W&C Africa / 2,880,157 / Greater clarity is needed on their development priorities following the elections this year, certainly based on earlier programming it would appear that we have opportunities not only for project funding but also core
Explore with U of Lueven opportunities for partnering and shared positions to be funded by Belgium govt.
As noted in Table 2, we should explore opportunities for core funding.
Canadian International Development Agency / Active / Flexible, Low Inputs, Production Strategies and Feeds for Inland and Coastal Tilapia Aquaculture in Asia / ESEA / 43,251 / Greater clarity is needed on their new strategy and priorities (including development partners). Recent Canadian elections have no doubt slowed the process started earlier this year.
Identify timing of CG CIDA Linkages RFP usually announced end of each year.
Beyond the CG earmarked funds, CIDA has a clear preference for dealing with national and regional organizations eg FARA in SSA. Warda also strategic partner in this regard for example for funding for support of rice-fish work in SSA.
In the past, development partner countries matching WorldFish focus included Senegal, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia.
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Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farms / E&S Africa / 100,000
Under Development / Strenghtening Aquaculture and Fisheries Research in Africa (SAFIRA) / E&S Africa / 10,200,000
China / China is amongst the countries most impacted by the economic crisis so little chance of funding beyond in-kind support.
None of the big increases that CGSec was pursuing with CAAS seem to be materializing (although a big chunk of this funding was to be in in-kind funding: China would pay for Chinese scientists working for the CG and office costs for liaison offices in Beijing.
China is one of the top fish exporters & understands the importance of fish to livelihoods (but it is also key exporter for nearly all other ag commodities as well so lots of competition for Chinese support to ARD).
Being already pursued is one of the best options for additional support through a tripartite arrangement with CAAS, NEPAD & WorldFish.
Danish Development Assistance / Active / Co-management Consultancy (Vietnam - SCAFI) / Mekong / 61,146 / DANIDA allocated additional funding to support agrl activities in response to food crisis in their priority countries -- useful to explore opportunities

DANIDA a strong promoter of gender equality & they are about to launch program supporting women in economic dev in SSA

Although Denmark prioritizes F&A with a focus on only 2 countries - Vietnam & Bangladesh, we have been able to tap limited funding thus far

2/3 of future funding to target SSA and we need to access their recent strategy on SSA to fully explore opportunities specifically with target countries including Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda & Zambia

There are opportunities through DANIDA's environment focus the most relevant targeting funding to specific countries: in Vietnam to promote sustainable livelihoods around MPAs; and in SSA related to integrated water mgmt in S Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique ( specifically for the latter what opportunities are there to build capacity for the Center for Sustainable Dev of Coastal Zones?)

International Consultancy Services on Facilitation of Workshop on Co-management Implementation / Mekong / 3,941
Submitted/Expected / Co-Management Consultancy (Vietnam-SCAFI) Phase 2 / Mekong / 130,000
Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation / Submitted/Expected / Egyptian Aquaculture Strategy (Implementation) + Core / WANA / 5,000,000 / 
Egyptian Aquaculture Strategy (Preparation) / WANA / 82,443
European Commission / * / Active / Cohort Development for HIV Vaccine Trials in Fishing Communities / E&S Africa / 15,171 / EC plans to double funding to ARD targeting food security to nearly €65M
Although we have lots of activity underway & in the pipeline with EC funding, with the exception of work in the Pacific, very little of it relates to one of EC s key area of focus --- markets & trade
Opportunities here relate to empowering women, maximizing poverty reduction potential of trade. In SSA specifically: strengthening capabilities regarding rules and standards, quality control, market access info, diversifying exports
There are also additional opportunities related to their environment focus which has a strong biodiversity component notably: conservation of biodiversity & sustainable mgmt of fisheries; including integrated coastal mgmt as it relates to sustainable fisheries resources
Building capacity of relevant organizations related to their priorities is also a focus
The EC strategy for Africa targets the sustainable use of fish stocks & mitigating harmful effects of overfishing
Overlaying many of their environment related priorities is linkage to climate change
New opportunities in the Pacific may exist given that Pacific countries have asked EC for greater support to manage their coastal resources
EC contributes over €50 M annually to climate change & so there are opportunities here also but most likely funds will flow through the new CP - Climate change
Much of their funding targets food security & many of the calls are through the EC mission in target countries. SA, Pac and E&S Africa have been successful at tapping such opportunities but there are also opportunities for other regions (some recent opportunities have been communicated)
EC has significant emergency funding related to natural disasters & disaster mitigation -- however, they favor partnering with FAO to address & so strengthened partnerships with FAO will be important in order to tap
EC priorities many social issues and puts much focus on gender equality as a cross-cutting issue targeting broad areas of intervention like capacity building for advancement of gender equity, but most support is through project proposals
Migration issues are also a big focus & further opportunities are outlined by the Africa-EU partnership on migration.

Child labor & more generally child labor is a cross -cutting areas for the EC (as it is with many investors) & possibly our best option for specific funding as it relates to child labor & fishing is through a study/review funded by the ILO ?

In addition to the above, vast opportunities exist through the 7th Framework, for example, a current relevant call is FP7-KBBE-2009-3 under Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, & Biotech Activity 2.1: Sustainable production and management of biological resources including aquatic environments. Several elements relate to F&A
In addition to all these opportunities more effort to recruit scientists from the EC through EC-INCO funding should be considered
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Distributed colLaboratories Infrastructure on Grid ENabled Technology 4 Science / Global - NRM / 220,709
Fisheries and Aquaculture Enterprise Development for the Adivasi (Tribal) Communities in the North and Northwest Regions of Bangladesh (Proposal Addressing Food security 2003-Sustainable Escape from Ultra Poverty (STEP-UP) (Euro 1.1238M) / SA / 1,489,715
Genetic Improvement and Breeding: West Asia and North Africa Regional Project / Global - AQ / 137,554
WANA / 137,554
Improving the Technological Foundation for Sustainable Aquaculture - Asia / Global - AQ / 166,380
Improving the Technological Foundation for Sustainable Aquaculture - MEDA / Global - AQ / 94,329
Improving the Technological Foundation for Sustainable Aquaculture - Sub-Sahara / Global - AQ / 368,763
New Rural Livelihoods Through Pearl Farming in Solomon Islands / Pacific / 425,700
Oxfam Southern Malawi Livelihood Diversification and Improved Post Harvest Crop Management. / E&S Africa / 339,542
Sponge Aquaculture as a Livelihood Option for Remote Communities / Pacific / 19,375
Sustainable Aquaculture Resarch Network in Sub Saharan Africa / Global - AQ / 284,382