The Fund for Internet Research and Education (FIRE Africa) Programme

FIRE Africa is AFRINIC's flagship grants and awards programme. It's designed to encourage and support the development of solutions to the region's unique information and communication needs by supporting projects and initiatives that emphasize the role of the Internet in social and economical development for the benefit of Africa. The programme plays a key role in AFRINIC's commitment to supporting the development of the Internet and Internet infrastructure and improving technical capacity building throughout Africa.

FIRE Awards
Awards of up to US$ 3,000 are granted to initiatives that are in the final stages of implementation or already have finalised activities. Find out more about FIRE Awards.

FIRE Grants
Grants of between US$ 7,500 to $30,000 are given to project proposals with an implementation time-frame of 6-12 months. Find out more about FIRE Grants.

Workshops and Training
The FIRE Programme also provides free training and workshops for FIRE grantees and FIRE award winners to faciliate project development and implementation.

Collaboration
The FIRE Programme was set-up in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). AFRINIC also collaborates with the Seed Alliance and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

Funding Partnership and Sponsorship Opportunities

Leading organisations support us in our objective to foster innovation and socio-economic development. Partners and sponsors offer their experience, advice and regional vision so we are constantly aware of innovation initiatives that will benefit from FIRE program funding. Organisations and individuals are welcome to support the program through partnership and a variety of sponsorship packages.

FIRE program offers flexibility to allocate contributions, allowing partners and sponsors to define how their contributions will be used, across a wide range of development projects, geographical areas and activities:

• Grants: to local groups and organizations to design and test technical solutions to local issues.
• Awards: to acknowledge the contributions to Internet development made by ongoing initiatives.
• Mentoring: to prospective applicants throughout the entire application process to prepare better submissions.
• Networking: to enable these fledgling projects to share information and experiences during the funding period and beyond.

AFRINIC is actively seeking partners and sponsors to support innovation in Africa. For information about how to participate, please contact us at fireprogram(at)afrinic.net 

More Information
Find out more about the FIRE Africa Programme on the dedicated FIRE Africa website. You can also follow developments on the AFRINIC Twitter account, using the #FIREafrica hashtag, and @fireafrica twitter account. You can also like the FIRE Africa Facebook page