Call for proposals: NORHED II 2021-2026

Norad invites North-South-South university partnerships to submit proposals for projects on capacity development in higher education and research, through NORHED II. The Norwegian higher education institution, the potential grant recipient, shall have the overall responsibility of the application.

Norad calls for university partnerships to submit applications for funding of joint projects for North-South or North-South-South academic collaboration that will contribute to the NORHED programme’s intended impact and outcomes, as outlined in the NORHED Programme Document. The programme period is 2021-2026.

The NORHED programme aims to strengthen higher education institutions in developing countries to educate better qualified candidates through quality, relevant and inclusive education, and to produce more and better research conducted by the countries’ own researchers.

Higher education and research are priority areas of Norway’s development cooperation policy. Sound, strategic investments in higher education and research lay the foundation for development of countries’ intellectual resources, competent workforces, visionary leaders, gender equality, human rights and democracy. Higher education institutions play an important role in ensuring evidence-based policies and practices, which are key for the structural transformation required to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the 2030 Agenda).

Objective and target group

Programme intended impact: The intended impacts of the NORHED programme are:

• Better qualified workforce
• Applied sustainable solutions and practices
• Evidence-based policies
• Enhanced gender equality and inclusion

Interventions under the NORHED programme are expected to enable partner institutions in developing countries to provide:

• Higher-quality graduates
• More and higher-quality research
• More inclusive higher education

Thematic areas:

NORHED is organised in thematic sub-programmes that reflect important priorities of Norwegian development policies and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Projects within the following thematic sub-programme areas may be supported:

1. Education and Teacher Training
2. Health
3. Climate Change and Natural Resources
4. Political and Economic Governance
5. Humanities and Social Sciences
6. Energy

Country priorities:

Projects with capacity development activities in the following countries (Partner countries in Norway’s development policy) will be prioritised:

• Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Palestine, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

Norway also gives priority to other Least Developed Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Regional South-South collaboration is strongly encouraged. Collaboration with academic institutions in other developing countries than the prioritised countries is welcome, when justified based on a South-South capacity building objective.

Project interventions that may be supported:

As part of the NORHED holistic approach, key components of higher education institutional capacity are framed as six broad project outcomes under which project-specific interventions should be combined in the best way possible to achieve programme outcomes and impacts.

Intended capacity development outcomes are:

• Programmes and methods: strengthened quality and relevance of education and research programmes and methods
• Systems: strengthened education and research systems
• People: increased capacity and competence of staff and students
• Gender and equity: improved gender equality and inclusion of marginalised groups, in education and research
• Infrastructure: improved institutional small-scale infrastructure and equipment for education and research
• Outreach: increased engagement with relevant stakeholders, and dissemination of knowledge.

Cross cutting issues

The following four mandatory cross-cutting issues must be taken properly into account in all projects:

• Human rights, with a particular focus on participation, accountability and non-discrimination
• Women’s rights and gender equality
• Climate change and the environment
• Anti-corruption

Grant recipients must identify material risk factors that may have a negative impact on the four cross-cutting issues, and must analyse and manage these risks throughout the project cycle. Norad will consider whether the grant recipient’s risk assessment and risk management are sufficient to avoid unintended negative effects.