What is the Fast EO co-Financing Facility (FFF)?

The Fast EO co-Financing Facility (FFF) is a key activity within ESA’s Global Development Assistance (GDA) programme. It is designed to provide rapid, co-financed support for the application of Earth Observation (EO) technologies in global development projects. The FFF focuses on short-term, pre-operational development of services and tools, typically around three months in duration. The FFF is managed by a consortium of 13 partners across 8 member states, ensuring flexibility and the ability to respond quickly to Requests for Proposals (RfPs) and implement Work Orders (WOs). The program was kicked off in October 2023 and aims to reduce the time to value on the ground in various thematic areas in 11 thematic groups listed below.

Product portfolio

Our product portfolio covers a variety of Thematic Groups:

What are Complementary Activities?

The mobilisation of support through the FFF is conditional on the alignment of these complementary activities. This means that partner institutions, typically International Financial Institutions (IFIs), must allocate part of their funding to these activities to ensure co-financing and alignment with the FFF objectives. Complementary activities are additional actions that are aligned with the primary support provided by the FFF. These activities are crucial for ensuring the broader and longer-term impact of the FFF projects. There are two main types of complementary activities:

Geospatial Analytics Activities: These activities extend, complement, or replicate the EO support provided by the ESA GDA program.
Capacity Building or Skills Transfer Activities: These focus on transferring knowledge on the use of EO technologies to stakeholders in developing countries.

List of Engagements

The engagement process with the FFF involves several key steps:

Initial Project Call: Discussion of technical details, timeline, and complementary activities.
ESA Internal Assessment: An alignment questionnaire is sent to the IFI partner for completion.
Review of Pre-filled RfP: The IFI partner reviews and adjusts the Request for Proposal.
Finalisation: The consortium implementing team is chosen, and technical and financial proposals are finalised before the engagement kick-off.

Several IFI requests are currently in the implementation phase:

Strengthening Food Systems, Water Management, and Climate Adaptation in Afghanistan (World Bank)
Wastewater Treatment Impact Assessment in Panama (EIB)
Emergency Response and Resilience in the Dominican Republic (World Bank)
Erosion Control in Madagascar (KfW)
Coastal Carbon and Fishery Assessment in Madagascar and Comoros (World Bank)
Air Quality and Traffic Monitoring in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (EBRD)
Enhanced Land Cover and Land Use Classification in Hanoi, Vietnam (ADB)
Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Assessment for the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (WB)