1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The Context
The thinking & Development of the Call
The Call
Objectives
Expected Deliverables
Eligibility

●●
●
●

●

In 2015,193 countries adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s)
These goals encompass a broad range of economic, social, and environmental dimensions ofsustainable development.
While signiﬁcant progress has been made, no country is currently on track to achieve all SDGs
(Sachs et al, SDSN, 2018).
According to the 2019 “Three-Year Reality Check Report” from the SDG Center for Africa, only
three of the 17 goals are likely to be achieved on the African continent by 2030 “These include:
SDG 5 Gender equality, SDG 13 Climate action and SDG 15 Life on land.
Convergence between African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda, the 2030 Agenda
needs to be a building block towards achieving Agenda 2063

.

●

●

●

●

The 17 SDGs are highly ambitious and interrelated so theirachievement requires approaches that take into accounttwo key factors.
Interdependencies between the SDGs: progress madetowards one of the goals can have, positive (co-beneﬁts,synergies) or negative (tensions, contradictions) impact on
the others
Achieving the SDGs is based on the understanding andtaking into account by decision-makers of their complex
interactions (socio-ecological systems), at various spatial
and temporal scalesThus, in making decisions on the manner in which SDGs
can be achieved, there is a clear need for approaches thatenhance synergies between SDGs, while limiting
trade-offs…

Today’s environmental and social challenges occur at multiple geographical scales andare inter- related in complex and often unseen ways. Decision makers no longer havethe luxury of tackling individual economic or social issues without accounting forenvironmental concerns and vice versa.
▪ The BF and its partners recognize that we currently lack a truly integrated,comprehensive qualitative and quantitative understanding of sustainable development
pathways▪ This call aims to support transdisciplinary networks to innovate solutions and/orsynthesize positive and negative inter-linkages between the economy, technology,
institutions and the environment, climate, biodiversity, and human well-being.
▪ support the co-design of sustainable development pathways.
▪

Only40%of the indicatorsin the Global SDG
data framework
are accompanied
by data in Africa(SDG Center for Africa)

●Approaches
PerspectivesandScenarios

Encourage the production of knowledge which contributes to theachievement of the SDGs in an integrated and cohesive manner❑••Phase 1: support for 1 to 2 year projects:
Theme 1: the creation of networks andcommunities of practice
Theme 2 - knowledge syntheses

Interactions
between 3 or more
explicitly identified
SDG’sProjects are free to prioritize the interactions to be explored, based on their own
local, national, regional, or global context as long as they address the Belmont
Challenge providing knowledge for understanding, mitigating, and adapting toglobal environmental change.
Possible scenario: SDGs 6 (Freshwater), 13 (Climate), 14(Oceans) and 15 (Biodiversity) and their interactions with othersocietal and economic SDGs…

●All proposals will be required to identify at least one project deliverable, including but notlimited to:○synthesis and scaling up place-based project outcomes○

assessment of local indicators using comparative approaches within or between regions○pathway and scenario development using participatory approaches○

interference/coherence assessment and visualization○

semantic ontology maps of data sets, archives, web services, and decision-support tools○

synthesis of potential methodological approaches for inclusive and integrated pathways○

assessment of SDGs interactions across spatial scales○

policy and management analysis documents●All proposals will be required to identify at least one project deliverable, including but notlimited to:○assessment of the applicability and transferability of prioritization
guidelines○

feasibility studies○stakeholder and project maps across various scales○○

documentation of lessons learned for developing and implementing
pathways that involve multiple SDGs
establishment of novel research collaboration networks that bring new
perspectives and identify research gaps for future competitivetransdisciplinary projects on multiple SDG’s

●Eligibility :○Consortia, supported by at least three participating partner organizations established in threedifferent countries, is mandatory
Consortium partners that are not eligible for funding from any of the participating funding agencies
can participate in the research project at their own expense, nonetheless, this type ofparticipation does not count towards the minimum of three supported partner’s criterion.

○

Transdisciplinary consortia○●●Collaborations and partnerships must be truly transdisciplinary,
thus including researchers from: a) social sciences/humanities and b)
natural sciences, as well as c) societal partners (i.e. decision-makers,managers, industry, civil society organizations, etc.)
Transdisciplinarity should be clearly demonstrated in the design,
application, allocation of responsibilities, workload anddissemination of the project outputs…

co-design,
co-development,
andco-implementation approach