Deadline Date: July 05, 2026
The BioSustainability Design Programme in Rwanda is requesting applications to support innovative, research-based solutions that address key challenges within food systems and school feeding programmes.
The focus areas include climate-smart food production, nutritious and locally sourced school meals, and clean cooking solutions for schools, along with innovation in agricultural finance, digital traceability systems, food safety, supply chain coordination, procurement planning, menu optimization, and sustainable energy use in institutional cooking systems.
The programme targets critical barriers faced in Rwanda’s food systems, particularly those affecting smallholder farmers, school feeding operations, and institutional cooking practices. In climate-smart food production, challenges include limited access to finance, weak extension services, land constraints, declining soil fertility, and climate variability, which together reduce productivity and resilience. In school feeding systems, issues include difficulties in tracking food commodities, storing perishable goods, and coordinating supply chains with local producers. In clean cooking, schools face high costs, limited technical capacity, and reliance on traditional cooking methods, affecting efficiency and sustainability.
The programme encourages solutions such as affordable access to climate-smart inputs and equipment, bundled financial products linked to agricultural services, and improved access to localized farming knowledge. It also supports digital systems for tracking food supply chains, data-driven procurement tools, and platforms that connect farmers with schools. For clean cooking, it promotes access to appropriate technologies, financing models for capital and operational costs, training for school staff, maintenance systems, and circular economy approaches for waste management.
Eligible applicants include research-based innovators with solutions addressing at least one of the programme’s challenges in Rwanda. Teams must have at least two members based in Rwanda, demonstrate multidisciplinary expertise, and show commitment to developing scalable, market-ready solutions for low-income and rural communities. Applicants must also be available for training, field testing, and programme activities conducted both in-person and online throughout the entrepreneurship programme.
For more information, visit Novo Nordisk Foundation.
