Between January and May 2025, more than 2,200 new tenders and grants for the Central African region were published on www.developmentaid.org, which hosts two of the world’s largest development databases. As tenders and grants are universal instruments of aid disbursement, the ability to track, analyze, and understand these represents an excellent source of intelligence for organizations working in the aid sector. In this article, we analyze the funding trends per sector over this period to help you to refine your fundraising or business strategy.
Key takeaways
- Since January 2025, 2,253 tenders and grants for the Central Africa region have been published.
- IT & engineering was the sector with the most tenders and grants, although the number of new calls varied up and down in the period.
- Environment ranked second, with the number of opportunities steadily increasing, with the exception of May.
- Food production & security was the sector with the third most funding, with the number of new tenders and grants increasing since March.
General overview
As an information provider specializing in international development, we at DevelopmentAid are uniquely positioned to provide in-depth and exclusive analysis on funding trends across the globe based on our unique databases. For this article, we examined the funding trends in the Central African region by extracting data from our tenders and grants (T&G) databases, focusing on the period between January and May 2025.
In total, 2,253 T&G entries that focus on the Central African region were published by DevelopmentAid during this period. Most of these calls – 92% to be precise – are now closed, although a few are still at the early intelligence stage or forecasted to open soon. April was a particularly fruitful month, with 588 new opportunities being published, the monthly highest during this timeframe.
IT & Engineering
IT & engineering was the sector with the most T&G, but the number of opportunities has been up and down since January.
Number of tenders and grants, in the IT & engineering sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Environment
Environment closed the analyzed period as the second most funded sector, with 77 T&G published during May. Environmental-related calls enjoyed an upward trend from January to April before dropping in May. However, there were more funding opportunities published in May than in January.
Number of tenders and grants, in the environment sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Food Production & Security
From March onwards, T&G related to food production and security increased in number, culminating in 48 calls being published in May, making this the third most funded sector.
Number of tenders and grants, in the food production & security sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Health
Health is a sector that also received a great deal of attention from funding agencies. The number of new monthly opportunities has either increased or remained the same since January, revealing a slow upward trend.
Number of tenders and grants, in the health sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The symbols indicate an increased, decreased or unchanged number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Human Rights & Law
From January to April, the number of new calls in this sector has more than doubled. However, this upward trend seems to have halted in May, when the number of T&G decreased by 25%.
Number of tenders and grants, in the human rights & law sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Research
The data for research-related T&G does not show a clear funding trend. Although this sector has consistently seen 20+ new calls per month, this number has changed from month to month since the beginning of the year.
Number of tenders and grants, in the research sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The symbols indicate an increased, decreased or unchanged number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Education
Funding opportunities in education have also oscillated a great deal during this timeframe, with the lowest number being 33 calls in February and the highest being 56 calls in April.
Number of tenders and grants, in the education sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Transportation
The number of T&G in transportation has been slightly increasing since April. However, the highest number of published calls was registered in February.
Number of tenders and grants, in the transportation sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Finances
After two months of a significant increase, the number of T&G in financial areas decreased by 58% in May.
Number of tenders and grants, in the finance sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Development
(including local, rural, urban and social development)
The number of T&G in this sector peaked in April, with 52 new calls being published, but this drastically decreased the following month. No clear trends were visible in the analyzed period.
Number of tenders and grants, in local, rural, urban & social development, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Project Management
(including administration and procurement)
The funding opportunities for project management followed an upward trend after February, but declined once again in May.
Number of tenders and grants, in the project management sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Marketing & Communications
Since early 2025, the marketing and communications sector has generally followed a downward trend. March was the exception to this when the number of calls posted increased by over 140%.
Number of tenders and grants, in the marketing & communications sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Conflict, Disaster & Security
The number of opportunities related to conflict, disaster, and security steadily increased since the beginning of the year but experienced an abrupt fall in May, from 46 to 14 new T&G in one month.
Number of tenders and grants, in the conflict, disaster & security sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Energy
The energy sector has seen ups and downs when it comes to funding, but overall, this is a sector with little variation, with the number of new calls in a month never surpassing the 20 mark T&G during this time period.
Number of tenders and grants, in the energy sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Youth
Youth is also a sector that has very few funding opportunities from T&G. And, just like energy, no discernible trends were identified during the timeframe analyzed.
Number of tenders and grants, in the youth sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Fundraising
Fundraising sits at the bottom of the T&G ranks, with only 5 calls open at its peak. However, the number of new opportunities has slowly increased since January.
Number of tenders and grants, in the fundraising sector, published monthly on DevelopmentAid between January and May 2025. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the number of opportunities compared to the previous month.
Note: 530 T&G were classified as “other sectors” and, given the huge diversity in this category, trend analysis would not be informative. Please also note that some T&G were attributed to more than one sector. This is why the total number of T&Gs is different from all the T&Gs in the datasets added together.
Final thoughts
Keeping up with funding trends is a must to better plan your fundraising or business strategy for the next quarter.
Is demand in your sector increasing or decreasing? Should you be looking for alternative revenue or funding sources for the next quarter?
These are just two questions that funding trends can help you to answer, enabling you to make better, data-driven decisions for your organization.
At DevelopmentAid, we keep you in the loop. In July, we published an exclusive analysis of Official Development Assistance flows per sector, and in May, we released a global analysis of tender trends. In August, we will publish an exclusive analysis of donor engagement and funding trends in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This is why every organization working in the aid sector should consider becoming a member to take advantage of our advanced filtering tools for tenders and grants. You can also subscribe to our news digest to stay up-to-date with the latest sector news and trends.
