Call for JIF Circularity Africa–EU Circular Business Partnerships

Donor Name: GIZ

Reference URL:https://project-spark.africa/joint-innovation-facility-circularity-call/

The Joint Innovation Facility (JIF) Circularity Call, implemented by GIZ and Expertise France through Project SPARK and SWITCH-2-CE, offers catalytic grant support to African and European businesses partnering to introduce or scale commercially viable circular-economy activities in plastic packaging and e-waste value chains.

Project SPARK strengthens African innovation ecosystems, while SWITCH-2-CE in East and Southern Africa promotes circular business models to improve resource efficiency and create economic opportunities. The facility brings together these approaches to support cooperation between African and European businesses.

The call covers plastic packaging and plastic waste, as well as electronics and e-waste. Eligible activities include circular design and production, reuse and repair, value recovery through recycling and material recovery, and enabling digital tools, applications, marketplaces, and data solutions. Proposals may address upstream, midstream, or downstream activities, with particular interest in upstream and midstream approaches.

Projects are expected to demonstrate a clear contribution to circularity in their chosen value chain and explain how impact will be measured. Partnerships should introduce circular business activities or develop and scale existing business models with commercial viability, revenue generation, and potential for regional growth and replication.

The call combines catalytic funding with technical expertise, business partnerships, and market connections. Applicants should demonstrate a need for strategic funding and contribute their own resources to the project.

Consortia must have two or three partners working across eligible countries in Eastern or Southern Africa and the European Union. The lead must be a for-profit company registered in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, or Zambia, with at least three years of operation. Each consortium must include a for-profit company registered in one of the 27 EU Member States. A third partner may be an applied research organisation, nonprofit organisation, public sector entity, or another eligible for-profit company from Africa or the EU.

Partnerships should have a shared long-term commercial vision, capable teams with relevant technical and operational capacity, and an ambition to sustain the business relationship beyond the grant period. Gender responsiveness is also a priority.

For more information, visit GIZ.

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