Call for Proposals: Town or City Specific Water, Sanitation and/or Hygiene Solutions in Zimbabwe

 Objectives

• This call aims to strengthen capacity of town or city specific WASH systems for the improvement of wash services to the country through further upscaling activities after the completion of the research projects. The call intends to support the exploration of solutions to the improvement or recalibrate city wide water supply networks and sewage disposal systems; establish systems for the identification and/or maintenance of water sources; heritage-based and sustainable purification of water for the production of portable water for national supply.
• The National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) emphasizes that the health and wellbeing of the country’s citizens is directly proportional to the state of the nation’s WASH situation. Proper use of research and technology will improve the systems and implementation strategies of water supply, sewage disposal, water source maintenance and water purification.
• Government through RCZ considers the matter of high national priority and wishes to address the problem by supporting research projects that can achieve cost effective and sustainable solutions for WASH at city level. These project results must allow for upscaling to national level. Therefore, RCZ invites all eligible and competent researchers from Higher Learning and R&D Institutions to apply for this call.

Theme and Sub Themes

• Main theme: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Sustainable Development.
• The sub themes for the proposed research should focus on:
  • Water Supply Networks and Systems,
  • Sewage Disposal Systems, and
  • Heritage-based water purification for establishing portable water.

Budget

• Funding is provided as per research budget proposals, subject to verification of the transparency, rationality and justifiability of costing of the research processes and deliverables. Funding will be disbursed in USD.

Eligibility Criteria

All applicants should adhere to the following set of criteria:

• Must be researchers who are citizens of the Republic of Zimbabwe;
• The Principal Investigator (PI) must be an active researcher with minimum of PhD degree, working as employee in higher learning Institutions/University or Research and Development Institutions (R&D institutions);
• The PI must demonstrate a strong and realistic practical linkage between intended research idea to practical implementation and project sustainability, and indicate how specific cities or towns WASH systems are likely to improve; and
• The PI is eligible to submit one application only.

Requirements

Project proposals shall meet the following criteria:

• Must be written in English;
• Must be in line with the call theme;
• Must demonstrate great impact on the achievement of the objectives of the call;
• Must indicate future market opportunities with a competitive advantage;
• Must be an upgrade of research outputs from previously completed projects in the Republic of Zimbabwe;
• Must include the capacity building components (e.g. MSc and/or partial PhD support);
• Must articulate clearly Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) plans and how will it be handled;
• Must include evidence of collaboration with other HLIs and or R&DIs in project phases or in the project team;
• Must include an official endorsement letter(s) from the PI’s institution of affiliation and/or implementing institution; and
• Must articulate clearly on how the research ethical issues will be addressed, if possible, to provide an ethical clearance certificate from relevant bodies or authorities as need required.

For more information, visit RCZ.