IFAD Announces US$1.2 Million Grant Call for Proposals to Strengthen Rural Development Policies Worldwide

<p class="isSelectedEnd">Organizations working in rural development, policy research, and agricultural investment now have an exciting opportunity to secure funding through the <strong>International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)</strong>. IFAD has launched a <strong>Call for Proposals</strong> for a grant of up to <strong>US$1.2 million</strong> to implement the initiative <strong>&#8220;Leveraging IFAD&#8217;s Rural Sector Performance Assessment (RSPA) for Policy and Investment.&#8221;</strong></p> <p class="isSelectedEnd">The initiative aims to strengthen rural policy assessment and improve the policy and investment environment for sustainable rural development across IFAD partner countries.</p> <h2>Grant Overview</h2> <ul data-spread="false"> <li><strong>Funding Amount:</strong> Up to <strong>US$1.2 million</strong></li> <li><strong>Funding Organization:</strong> International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)</li> <li><strong>Programme:</strong> Leveraging IFAD&#8217;s Rural Sector Performance Assessment (RSPA) for Policy and Investment</li> <li><strong>Application Deadline:</strong> <strong>4 September 2026 (12:00 CET)</strong></li> <li><strong>Expression of Interest Deadline (Optional):</strong> <strong>31 July 2026</strong></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="container section-text-single-column"> <div class="row section-text-single-column-content"> <div class="col-md-12"> <p>This call for proposals is to select a recipient or consortium of recipients to receive an IFAD grant financing to implement the initiative: <strong>L</strong><strong>everaging IFAD’s Rural Sector Performance Assessment for Policy and Investment</strong> for a total amount of up to US$1.2 million.</p> <p>IFAD has identified enhanced policy assessment as a priority area for support to improve the country-level policy and investment environment for rural development (see attached Grant Identification Note for details).</p> <p>The competitively selected recipient can be a non-profit organization, private sector company, university, think tank or research institute. The selected grant recipient will be required to provide a counterpart contribution of no less than 20% of the IFAD grant amount. In the case of private sector institutions, the counterpart contribution shall be no less than 25% of the IFAD grant amount. In-kind contributions may be taken into consideration.</p> <p><strong>Potential applicants are encouraged to send Expressions of interest</strong> to<strong> </strong><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&amp;fs=1&amp;tf=1&amp;to=RSPAgrant@ifad.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RSPAgrant@ifad.org</a> by 31 July 2026. These are not mandatory and non-binding. <strong>The deadline to receive proposals is 4 September 2026, 12:00 (CET)</strong></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container section-text-single-column"> <div class="row section-text-single-column-header"> <div class="col-md-12"> <h2>How to submit a proposal</h2> </div> </div> <div class="row section-text-single-column-content"> <div class="col-md-12"> <p>Send the following documents to <a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&amp;fs=1&amp;tf=1&amp;to=RSPAgrant@ifad.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RSPAgrant@ifad.org</a> with “CFP RSPA Grant application” in the subject. All are mandatory for the proposal to be evaluated.</p> <ol> <li>Project proposal using the Grant Concept Note Template (item 2). The proposal must be aligned with the Grant Identification Note (item 1), specifying the objectives, scope of work, deliverables, and indicative financial envelope.</li> <li>Indicative budget using the activity-based budget template (item 6).</li> <li>Bidders&#8217; self-certification of eligibility for IFAD grant financing using the template in item 3 (3-1 or 3-2). For this, applicants must read and accept the Grant Design Document template (item 10). The Grant Design Document will be developed by the selected organization at a later stage.</li> <li>Brief institutional profile, detailing experience in the priority area and specific theme outlined in the Grant Concept Note, and in the region/country(ies) where the grant would be implemented – as detailed in the Grant Identification Note</li> </ol> <p>Please refer to the “Resources for Applying” section for detailed information and consult the <strong>Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</strong> document for additional guidance.</p> <h2><strong>Deadline to receive proposals is 4 September 2026, 12:00 hours (CET).</strong></h2> <p><em>The RSPA Grant team will respond to queries sent to </em><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&amp;fs=1&amp;tf=1&amp;to=RSPAgrant@ifad.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>RSPAgrant@ifad.org</em></a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container section-text-single-column"> <div class="row section-text-single-column-header"> <div class="col-md-12"> <h2>Online Q&amp;A session</h2> </div> </div> <div class="row section-text-single-column-content"> <div class="col-md-12"> <p>The session objective is to address any queries related to this Call for Proposal</p> <ul> <li>Date: 21 July 2026</li> <li>Time: 14:00 to 15:00 (CET)</li> <li>Where: <a href="https://ifad.zoom.us/j/88525901308?pwd=LAYdgc4DBeoedR09abLpnuraJoEN9b.1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Join here</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container section-text-single-column"> <div class="row section-text-single-column-header"> <div class="col-md-12"> <h2>Resources for applying</h2> </div> </div> <div class="row section-text-single-column-content"> <div class="col-md-12"> <ul> <li>Item 1. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-1-rspa-grant-identification-note" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Grant Identification Note</a></li> <li>Item 2. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-2-grant-concept-note-template" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grant Concept Note &#8211; Template</a></li> <li>Item 3.1 <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-3-1-self-cert-non-un-entities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Self certification of eligibility for IFAD grant financing non-UN entities</a></li> <li>Item 3.2 <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-3-2-self-cert-un-entities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Self certification of eligibility for IFAD grant financing UN entities</a></li> <li>Item 4. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-4-general-provisions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Provisions Applicable to IFAD Grant Agreements</a></li> <li>Item 5. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-5-evaluation-methodology-and-criteria-for-reviewing-submissions_clean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evaluation methodology and criteria for the review of the submissions</a></li> <li>Item 6. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-6-grant_detailed-activity-based-budget-template" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Detailed Activity-based Budget – Template</a></li> <li>Item 7. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-7-financial-management-guide-for-grant-recipients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Management Guide for grant recipients</a></li> <li>Item 8. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-8-guidance-on-eligible-expenditure-and-budget-preparation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guidance on eligible expenditure and budget preparation for grant-financed projects</a></li> <li>Item 9. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-9-ifad-13-priority-reple-commitments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IFAD13 priority replenishment commitments to be addressed through financing from the regular grants programme</a></li> <li>Item 10. <a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/item-10-grant-design-document-template" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grant Design Document – Template</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container section-text-single-column"> <div class="row section-text-single-column-header"> <div class="col-md-12"> <h2>Additional Resources</h2> </div> </div> <div class="row section-text-single-column-content"> <div class="col-md-12"> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/ar-1-ifad15-rspa-terms-of-reference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IFAD15 RSPA Terms of Reference</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/ar-2-ifad-regular-grants-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IFAD’s Regular Grants Policy</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/ar-3-ifad-knowledge-strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IFAD Knowledge Management Strategy</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/d/new-ifad.org/ar-4-faqs-rspa-grant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</a></li> </ul> </div> <p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="https://www.ifad.org/en/w/calls-for-proposal/call-for-proposals-ifad-grant-to-implement-the-initiative-leveraging-ifad-s-rural-sector-performance-assessment-for-policy-and-investment-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.ifad.org/en/w/calls-for-proposal/call-for-proposals-ifad-grant-to-implement-the-initiative-leveraging-ifad-s-rural-sector-performance-assessment-for-policy-and-investment-</a></p> </div> </div> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://opportunitiesforyouth.org/2026/07/14/ifad-announces-us1-2-million-grant-call-for-proposals-to-strengthen-rural-development-policies-worldwide/">IFAD Announces US$1.2 Million Grant Call for Proposals to Strengthen Rural Development Policies Worldwide</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://opportunitiesforyouth.org">Opportunities for Youth</a>.</p>