Start-up and Promotion Projects 2026
Start-up and Promotion Projects
More information on the current call
Call for projects 2026
/ Call for Start-up and Promotion Projects 2026
Opening: 14 October 2025
Deadline for submitting applications to ARES: 16 January 2026 at 12 noon (Belgian time, UTC+1)
->Information for applicants: please note that your institutions may have internal deadlines that are earlier than this date.
Who can submit a project and with who?
The project must be submitted by a member of a higher education institution in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation with at least one partner in a higher education institution in one of the countries listed below and, at least for Promotion Projects, another non-governmental cooperation actor in Belgium.
Only one project per promoter, per category and per call for proposals.
Eligible countries?
- In Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal.
- In South America and Caribe: Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Peru.
- In South-East Asia: Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam.
Duration?
1 or 5 years.
Budget?
Maximum 40 000 € for 1-year projects - Maximum 80 000 € for 2-years projects.
Call details
The 2025 call for proposals is now closed, but you can download the call document for information purposes (in French).
How to submit a project?
- The project must be submitted online via GIRAF.
- You don’t have a GIRAF account ? Create an account.
- The link to create a project form is provided by the cooperation/international relations unit of of the institution of the project coordinator. The form must be opened by the coordinator of the project proposal.
- GIRAF guide for the candidate (in French only)
Project proposals must include:
- the contact details of all stakeholders;
- the completed project proposal form;
- the detailed budget outline.
These documents will be uploaded through GIRAF.
Evaluation criteria
- Alignment with the objectives of the Start-up Projects
- Relevance of the goals in the context of the project
- Uniqueness/innovativeness/originality of the proposal (in terms of concepts/method/field/institution/etc.)
- Adequacy of goals, expected results and activities
- Adequacy of resources mobilised (human and financial) in relation to the goals
- Scientific and/or educational quality (quality of method, rigour, link with state of the art, etc.)
- Balance of contributions, skills and complementarity of partners
- Prospects at the end of the project
- Alignment with the objectives of the Promotion Projects
- Relevance of the goals in the context of the project
- Uniqueness/innovativeness/originality of the proposal (in terms of concepts/method/field/institution/etc.)
- Consistency between the goals, expected results and activities
- Consistency between the resources mobilised (human and financial) and the goals
- Scientific and/or educational quality (quality of the method, rigour, link with the state of the art, etc.)
- Balance of contributions, skills and complementarity of academic and non-academic partners
- Prospects at the end of the project
Synthetic calendar
14 October 2025: Launch of the call
12 January 2026 at 4 pm (Belgian time, UTC+1): Deadline for opening a new form
16 January 2026 at 12 noon (Belgian time, UTC+1): Final deadline for project submissions
May 2026: Project selection
September 2026: Start-up of the projects
Useful documents
- The thematic CSC document (in French).
- The geographical CSC documents (in French).
MORE INFORMATION: contact ARES : a-v@ares-ac.be