Funding safety in Africa

£15 million fund to support organisations focused on improving safety

Applicants from across Africa have until 10 January 2025 to apply for up to £1 million in funding for projects and initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety of life and property through the development of standards and education.  

Called the ‘Engineering a safer world’ fund, the charity wants to use the money to help make a difference in the places where improved safety can make the biggest impact.

The funding supports the delivery of Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s new five-year strategy, which focuses on improving safety, globally, across three interconnected priority areas.

Applicants can apply for up to £1 million to fund their project or initiative and the charity will prioritise funding initiatives that align to the work it is doing in each of these areas: 

Safer maritime systems: Funding initiatives that help ensure everyone across the maritime system is motivated to work together towards an ocean economy that keeps people safer on land and at sea. 

Safe, sustainable infrastructure: Funding projects that develop new technologies and methodologies that are used safely within broader engineering practices, without causing harm elsewhere, or projects that ensure critical infrastructure is resilient and fit for purpose to meet the changing needs of society and a changing climate. 

Skilled people for safer engineering: Funding projects and initiatives that develop skills for safety, safety knowledge, leadership, and safer processes where they are most needed. Or projects that increase the number and diversity of engineers, and those in engineering-related professions, especially in sectors and geographies where Lloyd’s Register Foundation can have the most impact. 

Tim Slingsby, Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s Director of Skills and Education, explains: “Our mission as a global charity is to engineer a safer world. Protecting people from harm, ensuring infrastructure is safer and more resilient, and supporting initiatives that build capacity, capability and understanding in the engineering workforce remain the driving force behind everything we do. 

“This new funding call matches the scale and ambition of our new five-year strategy. It gives us the opportunity to form new partnerships and coalitions with local organisations, government bodies, NGOs, and academic institutions and drive impact on a truly global scale.” 

To apply for funding from Lloyd’s Register Foundation, an initial expression of interest should be submitted by 10 January 2025. On 31 January, successful first-stage applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal which the Foundation must receive by midnight (GMT) on 28 February 2025.

 Lloyd’s Register Foundation has a long history of working across Africa, helping upskill and increase the numbers of engineers in the region and build partnerships to help create a safer and more sustainable ocean economy. For example, the charity funded the Fire Engineering Education for Africa (FEEFA) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa to provide fire safety engineering courses for trainee fire safety consultants – the first official degree programme of its kind on the African continent.  

The charity also partners with global NGOs to collectively drive safer outcomes for communities across the continent. This includes funding a Regional Maritime Associate in The Climate Champions team to support a just and equitable transition to zero-carbon shipping in Africa, supporting ICLEI Africa in a groundbreaking urban resilience project in Zambia, Ghana and Mauritius, and taking action to end the unsafe burning of waste in collaboration with Engineering X.  

In addition, the charity also helped establish the International Fund for Fishing Safety (IFFS) which funds practical safety improvements for smaller-scale fishers in South Africa, Ghana and Kenya. 

Lepanto report will lead to further investigations