The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has launched a call for proposals to select a recipient or consortium of recipients to implement the initiative “Leveraging IFAD’s Rural Sector Performance Assessment for Policy and Investment,” with financing of up to US$1.2 million, according to a press release issued by IFAD. The initiative seeks to strengthen policy assessment as a lever for rural development. It targets improvements in the country-level policy and investment environment.
IFAD has identified enhanced policy assessment as a priority area for support to improve the country-level policy and investment environment for rural development. The details of this priority are outlined in the Grant Identification Note attached to the call. The document sets out the scope, objectives, and thematic focus that applicants must address. It serves as the reference framework for proposal preparation. Applicants are required to align their submissions with its parameters.
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. For 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. Applicants must confirm their eligibility using the self-certification templates provided with the call.
To apply, candidates must send their documents to RSPAgrant@ifad.org with “CFP RSPA Grant application” in the subject line. Mandatory submissions include a project proposal using the Grant Concept Note Template, an indicative budget using the activity-based budget template, a bidders’ self-certification of eligibility, and a brief institutional profile detailing experience in the priority area and specific theme outlined in the Grant Concept Note. Applicants must read and accept the Grant Design Document template, which will be developed by the selected organization at a later stage. An online Q&A session is scheduled for 21 July 2026, from 14:00 to 15:00 (CET), via Zoom. The RSPA Grant team will respond to queries sent to the dedicated email address.
Detailed guidance is available in the “Resources for Applying” section, along with a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document. Applicants should consult the Grant Identification Note, the evaluation methodology, the financial management guide, and the general provisions applicable to IFAD grant agreements. The full set of templates and reference documents supports proposal preparation. Submissions received after 4 September 2026 at 12:00 (CET) will not be considered. IFAD invites eligible institutions to submit compliant proposals within the deadline.
