Due Diligence Fund

Competitive Fund for the Promotion of Due Diligence

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains Initiative (SASI) are promoting promising approaches to fulfilling corporate due diligence with a funding competition. The third call for proposals for the Due Diligence Fund (DDF) started in October 2024. The deadline for application was December 20, 2024.

The next call for proposals will be published in the beginning of April 2025.

Until then, you find information on previous rounds on this website. Please note that the competition documents are still to be adjusted for the next call. Q&A sessions will be communicated with the start of the new call.

Funding through the Due Diligence Fund

Here you can find the Terms & Conditions, Application Documents, and Further Information from the previous round to guide you:

Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH promotes the implementation of corporate due diligence on human rights and the environment (HREDD) in global agricultural supply chains. Considering recent supply chain legislation, such as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD) and the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR), GIZ implements the Due Diligence Fund (DDF) as part of the Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chain Initiative (SASI).

The aim of the DDF is to identify innovative approaches for the implementation of corporate HREDD processes. Companies in the agri-food sector, pairing up with public-benefit partners and/or suppliers in producing countries, can apply for funding for their project ideas, focusing on people and the environment upstream their supply chain. The DDF financially supports the best project proposals in their practical adoption on the ground and disseminates information on implementation to the public. A particular focus is on fostering engagement with all stakeholders – including the potentially or directly affected rightsholders - and to incentivize modes of “shared responsibility” along supply chains. The DDF thus develops solutions to meet the challenges of complying with corporate HREDD obligations in agricultural supply chains, as well as provides actual improvements regarding the living conditions of producers in partner countries.

We want to identify and financially support promising, practical and innovative approaches to corporate due diligence. Our previous projects demonstrate that compliance with the LkSG, EUDR, and CSDDD is achievable—even beyond the minimum standards required.

The focus is on both human rights and environmental due diligence on the ground in the partner countries. Potentially affected groups, such as smallholder farmers and plantation workers, will be actively involved in the project's design and implementation and will benefit from the measures taken.

Companies should be supported by the DDF to establish and continuously implement sustainable processes in accordance with the regulations. Through monitoring and evaluation of the pilot projects and a public presentation of the results, added value is generated for companies. In this way, good practices or piloted approaches are created, which they can adapt for other or their own supply chains. 

The DDFs competition is conducted in a multi-stage process.

First, the partnership submits a short proposal, which includes a concept note and information on the applicant partnership. Interested parties are encouraged to submit an initial project idea at an earlier stage.
The eligible applications that best meet the overall objectives of the DDF will be shortlisted and invited to submit a long proposal, in which the project proposal should be further developed.
From the long proposals submitted, GIZ and BMZ select the most promising project proposals on the basis of predefined evaluation criteria. These are then financially supported by GIZ within the framework of financing agreements and supported in terms of content.

Which projects are to be funded?

Projects

that meet the guiding principles of corporate due diligence to a considerable degree and that go beyond the minimum legal requirements;
whose methodological approach is suitable for scalability adaptation by other companies in the agricultural and food sector;
which have a particularly high potential to mitigate human rights and environmental risks effectively and sustainably;
which embed the planned measures in a process-oriented implementation logic and do not only achieve selective effects;
which promote gender equality through targeted measures.