Funding Opportunities

The Australian Embassy in Addis Ababa is accepting Expressions of Interest for its 2026–27 Direct Aid Program, offering grants of up to AUD 60,000 for practical, community-led development projects in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Djibouti and the Central African Republic. Priority areas include agriculture and food security, climate resilience, health and education, gender equality and disability inclusion, governance, peacebuilding and human rights.

NARO is inviting research proposals under Uganda’s Climate Smart Agricultural Transformation Project to develop climate-resilient and sustainable interventions across selected crop, fisheries and cross-cutting value chains. The call will support seven projects, with up to US$100,000 available per project for up to two years, targeting coffee, capture fisheries, beneficial insects and commodity-based agri-climate advisory models.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism provides grants to support high-quality, nonpartisan investigative reporting. The September 2026 cycle offers regular grants of up to US$10,000 for full investigations and seed grants of US$1,000–2,500 for preliminary reporting. Funding may cover reporting time, travel, research, records fees, document collection and other investigation-related expenses.

The Peg Johnston Innovation Fund supports bold and creative ideas that expand how people experience, understand and make meaning of abortion. Abortion Conversation Projects is offering US$5,000 Emerging Visionary Awards and US$10,000 Innovation Awards to individuals, grassroots innovators, researchers, artists, doulas, nonprofits and organisations worldwide developing new approaches to abortion support, care, counselling, storytelling, education, accompaniment and meaning-making.

WHO AFRO and TDR are offering grants of up to US$15,000 for public health-oriented implementation research addressing regional priorities in the African Region. The call supports research that strengthens health systems, improves delivery of health interventions, generates actionable evidence and addresses emerging challenges including digital transformation, climate change, One Health and infectious diseases of poverty.

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) has opened its 9th Call for Proposals for Country-led Projects, making approximately US$163 million in grant resources available to eligible low-income countries. The call supports country-owned investments that strengthen agriculture and food systems, improve rural livelihoods and food security, build climate resilience, improve nutrition and empower women and girls.

WHO AFRO and TDR are inviting applications for small implementation-research grants addressing major health-system and infectious-disease priorities in the WHO African Region. Eligible African institutions, including NGOs, universities, research institutes and health programmes, may request up to US$15,000 for projects lasting up to 12 months that generate practical evidence to improve health services, strengthen systems and influence policy or programme implementation.

The GEF SGP CSO Challenge Program is offering grants of up to US$300,000 to civil society organisations seeking to replicate or scale proven environmental solutions. The current call covers eligible GEF recipient countries across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific and Oceania, including Uganda. Projects may run for up to 24 months and must align with at least one of the programme's five environmental priority areas.

The United Nations Environment Programme is inviting registered local civil-society and community-based organisations working directly with mountain communities in East Africa and the South Caucasus to propose locally led climate-adaptation solutions. Grants of up to US$30,000 will support practical ecosystem-based and nature-based interventions that strengthen community resilience, livelihoods, food security and natural-resource protection.

Equality Fund’s CONNECT funding stream supports collaborations between feminist organisations and allied movements working together to advance gender equality, social justice and collective power in the Global South and East. Selected collaborations can receive CAD 500,000–1,000,000 per year, initially for two years, to strengthen cross-movement organising and coordinated responses to anti-rights, anti-democracy, anti-gender and authoritarian forces.

The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) is offering Data to Evidence Grants of US$30,000–50,000 to researchers and institutions in low- and middle-income countries to conduct secondary analysis of existing ethically sourced data on violence against women and child sexual violence. The programme aims to generate new evidence that can strengthen policy, practice and the broader evidence base while building LMIC research capacity in secondary data analysis.

AAUW International Fellowships support academically outstanding women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents and are pursuing their first Master's or doctoral degree in an eligible STEM field. For 2027–2028, selected Master's students receive US$20,000 and doctoral students receive US$25,000 to support full-time graduate study, primarily at accredited institutions in the United States.

The Goethe-Institut, under the EU-funded Africa-Europe Partnerships for Culture: West Africa programme, is inviting medium-sized festivals in 15 West African countries to apply for grants of up to €50,000. The programme will support 42 festivals across cinema, audiovisual and animation, heritage, literature, music, performing arts and visual arts, strengthening regional cooperation, internationalisation, artist mobility and partnerships between African and European festivals.

The AU-EU Youth Action Lab Entrepreneurship Grants provide €31,500 to youth-led organisations in 12 African countries to strengthen economic opportunities for young people. In the third and final 2026 call, the grants focus specifically on advocacy for an enabling environment where young entrepreneurs can start and grow their businesses. Projects will run for 12 months from January to December 2027.

The AU–EU Youth Action Lab Innovation Grants provide €42,000 to youth-led organisations in 12 African countries to design, test, adapt, scale or improve innovative solutions addressing global challenges. Selected organisations will implement their projects for 12 months and receive mentorship, capacity development and opportunities to connect with peers and decision-makers across Africa and Europe.

The AU–EU Youth Action Lab is offering 13 Innovation Grants of EUR 42,000 each to eligible youth-led nonprofit organisations in 12 African countries, including Uganda. The grants support young people to design, test, adapt, improve or scale innovative solutions to global challenges while creating tangible local impact and longer-term systems, policy or practice change. Projects will run for 12 months from January to December 2027.

Africa No Filter, in partnership with Comic Relief, is inviting African journalists, content creators and other storytellers from 10 eligible countries, including Uganda, to participate in Voices for Climate Justice. Selected storytellers will receive grants of up to US$4,000, training, mentorship and content amplification to produce compelling stories connecting climate justice with gender, debt and fossil fuels in Africa.

The Science Granting Councils Initiative is inviting multi-country African research consortia to submit Expressions of Interest for major collaborative research projects supporting STISA-2034. Projects may focus on agriculture, health, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, energy or environment, with funding of approximately CAD 50,000–CAD 300,000 per participating consortium member for projects lasting up to 36 months.

MTN Uganda and WWF Uganda are inviting young Ugandan innovators, entrepreneurs, students and youth-led SMEs to apply for the 2026 PachiPanda Innovation Challenge under the theme “Nature Meets Innovation: Unlocking Africa’s Green Economy.” The challenge supports commercially viable solutions that combine nature, technology and entrepreneurship to address environmental challenges while creating jobs and sustainable livelihoods.

The SHARPER Consortium is inviting applications for its 2026 Catalyst Grants, offering US$15,000 in seed funding to early-career African researchers developing innovative ideas in epidemic and pandemic sciences. Up to eight grants will support six-month projects that strengthen Africa’s preparedness and response to epidemics and pandemics.

The International AIDS Society’s CIPHER Research Grant Programme supports early-stage investigators from low- and middle-income countries to lead research addressing critical gaps in paediatric and adolescent HIV. Grants of up to US$140,000 over two years are available for studies focused on HIV prevention and co-morbidities, while helping emerging investigators build research leadership and compete for larger future funding opportunities.

SENSE Foundation Brussels is accepting applications from eligible nonprofit organisations worldwide for projects addressing health, nutrition, the environment, sustainable development, scientific research and related social needs. Grants generally range from EUR 5,000 to EUR 25,000, but SENSE funding may cover no more than 25% of the project's total annual cost. Projects benefiting women, minorities and other underrepresented populations receive particular attention.

UNESCO and the Government of Japan are offering 10 research fellowships of up to US$10,000 to young researchers from eligible countries, including Uganda and 46 other African countries. Fellows will undertake postgraduate research for three to nine months at a Japanese university or research institution in areas related to heritage conservation, sustainable development and artificial intelligence.

The African Centre for School Leadership is offering research grants to African researchers conducting practical, policy-relevant research on school leadership. Funding supports single-context and comparative studies that can strengthen leadership practice, education policy, learning outcomes and inclusive education systems across Africa.

The African Union Commission is selecting 100 youth- and women-led African enterprises for a 12-month business-acceleration fellowship. Participants will receive structured training, mentorship, intellectual-property support, AfCFTA market intelligence and market-entry assistance designed to strengthen cross-border growth and investment readiness.

The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) is inviting applications under its 29th Call for Proposals from established enterprises, cooperatives, social enterprises, NGOs and other eligible entities developing commercially viable commodity-sector projects that improve smallholder livelihoods, strengthen local value chains and generate environmental and social impact. Regular projects may access up to US$1.5 million in impact financing, while Fast-Track projects may access up to US$300,000.