FONDS NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE ET DE L'INNOVATION POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT

Their core work

FO.N.R.I.D. is Burkina Faso's national research and innovation fund, responsible for financing and coordinating research activities that address food security and agricultural development in West Africa. Within H2020, the organization channels funding into EU-Africa joint research initiatives focused on food and nutrition security, sustainable agriculture, and climate adaptation for African agrofood systems. Their role is primarily institutional — acting as the national funding body that co-finances and manages Burkina Faso's participation in international research partnerships on food systems resilience.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

FO.N.R.I.D.'s early H2020 involvement (2016-2018) focused on building the foundational EU-Africa research partnership for food security and sustainable agriculture through LEAP-AGRI and its support action LEAP4FNSSA. By 2019, their focus broadened to include explicit climate change dimensions through the FOSC project, which examines food systems across Africa, America, and Europe. The trajectory shows a shift from partnership-building toward applied research on climate resilience in food systems.

Moving from institutional partnership frameworks toward applied climate-food nexus research, suggesting growing capacity for multi-continent food resilience projects.

How they like to work

FO.N.R.I.D. participates exclusively as a partner, never as a coordinator — consistent with their role as a national funding agency supporting Burkina Faso's involvement in large international consortia. With 68 unique partners across 32 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in very large networks (averaging 23+ partners per consortium). This makes them an accessible entry point for anyone needing a West African funding partner for food security research.

Despite only 3 projects, FO.N.R.I.D. connects to 68 partners across 32 countries — reflecting the massive, multi-continent consortia typical of EU-Africa ERA-NET initiatives. Their network spans both European and African research and funding organizations.

What sets them apart

FO.N.R.I.D. is one of very few West African national research funding bodies active in H2020, making them a rare bridge between European research funding and Burkina Faso's agricultural research ecosystem. For consortium builders targeting Africa — especially Francophone West Africa — they bring institutional legitimacy and the ability to co-finance national researchers. Their value is not technical expertise but rather access: they unlock Burkinabè participation in international food security research.

Highlights from their portfolio

• LEAP-AGRI
  Flagship EU-Africa partnership on food security and sustainable agriculture, and FO.N.R.I.D.'s largest funded project at EUR 109,066.
• FOSC
  Multi-continent project (Africa, America, Europe) assessing climate change impacts on food security — their most thematically ambitious participation, running until 2025.