Deadline for questions: 5/28/24
Funding:
$50,000,000USD Lower: $1USD
This “research for development” is neither an abstract
quest for fundamental knowledge and improvement of scientific theories, nor is
it the straightforward delivery of goods and services associated with
development work. Rather, research for development is a unique enterprise
requiring the rigor, discipline, awareness of local context, and building of
relationships associated with global development. Research for development
generates knowledge and new or improved technologies and practices, but it does
not stop there. Effective research for development puts information and innovations
in the hands of stakeholders, where impacts may be achieved. Indeed, the
agricultural research investments supported by USAID are designed by
considering “impact pathways,” which map out the connections between research
outputs and development outcomes.
Project Purpose
The ultimate purpose of the CRSI is to conduct integrated
research that minimizes tradeoffs and maximizes synergies across productivity,
environment, economic, human and social outcomes to drive agriculture-led
growth through a research and capacity building approach that: - Develops and adapts keystone technologies and approaches
that maximize systems benefits and minimize tradeoffs across food production,
environment, economic, human and social outcome
Generates evidence on agronomic technologies and
approaches that increase resilience and climate adaptation and where
appropriate mitigation; including both biophysical and socioeconomic
technologies and approaches
Development of “leapfrog” technologies that enable
tailored scaling
Building related institutional and human capacity CRSI’s
purpose and approach is designed to reflect the results
Overview
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilient
Sustainable Intensification (CRSI) will be a five-year Leader with Associates
(LWA) Cooperative Agreement, awarded to an eligible U.S. university to develop
a global portfolio of research for development activities to conduct integrated
research. As described below in Section B.I, the award’s Total Estimated Amount
(TEA) allows a maximum award ceiling of up to $50 million structured as
follows:
- A $25 million Leader Award will support the successful
U.S. university Applicant to act as the Management Entity (ME) of the CRSI. In
this capacity, the Awardee’s primary responsibility will be to develop, select,
and manage a portfolio of research and capacity development activities focused
on integrated approaches that minimizes tradeoffs and maximizes synergies
across productivity, environment, economic, human and social outcomes to drive
agriculture-led growth. The Leader Award is intended to support ME costs
associated with managing and implementing the portfolio of CRSI activities,
with a majority of Leader Award funds to be allocated to subawarded (or
subcontracted) research and capacity development activities. These subawards
are expected to include a mix of competitively procured activities and may
include commissioned (i.e. non-competed) activities with proper justification.
$25 million of potential additional funding, through
buy-ins (up to $13 million) and associate awards (up to $12 million), may be
awarded noncompetitively by USAID Missions or other Offices to support
additional activities that fall within the technical scope of the award.
Integrated research approaches that minimize tradeoffs
and maximize synergies across productivity, environment, economic, human and
social outcomes are essential for agriculture-led growth. Production system
intensification is critical, but must not occur at the cost of the environment
and must also support a broader set of livelihood outcomes including economic
growth, nutritious diets, and equity. In sub-Saharan Africa, growth in
agricultural production has primarily been driven by the expansion of
cultivated land, not by improvements to productivity. Alternatively, countries
that made investments in adaptive research, development, and extension to
increase productivity growth saw economic transformation and significant
improvements in quality of life, including higher incomes, life expectancies,
and educational attainment. Optimal integration of these multiple dimensions, called
Sustainable Intensification (SI), is the guiding principle of the U.S.
Government’s Global Food Security Research Strategy.
This activity will focus on key production crop and
livestock agronomic systems on the large ‘foodbaskets’ of the world that
support large populations at risk of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition and where
improved agricultural productivity can significantly reduce these risks. The
primary objective of this activity is to conduct integrated research on the
development and adaptation of SI technologies and research on enabling
approaches for scaling SI technologies out to the field level. Integrated research
could include research on crop, soil, and water technologies in cereal-based
and mixed cropping systems to develop and enhance the utility of these tools,
for inclusive agriculture-led growth,
nutrition, and resilience.
CRSI will design, lead, and implement a research and
capacity building program focused on integrated research that minimizes
tradeoffs and maximizes synergies across productivity, environment, economic,
human and social outcomes to drive agriculture-led growth. The Innovation Lab
will also serve as a resource to USAID Missions and their partners in their
efforts to accelerate the scale and impact of agronomic technologies and
approaches. CRSI is broadly expected to help implement and communicate impact
pathways from agronomic research to development outcomes through partnerships
with USAID Mission-supported programs, national partners, private companies, community-based
organizations, and other donors and their programs.
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