Since 2015, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Foreign, Commonweath and Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom have been supporting WAVE in its efforts to mitigate the spread of root and tuber crops viral diseases in Central and West Africa. During the program’s phase 1 (from 2015 to 2019), BMGF and FCDO granted WAVE with $9 million to conduct research & development activities in 7 sub-Saharan countries. Following the positive outcomes of WAVE Phase 1, BMGF and FCDO renewed they financial support with a new grant of $16,7 million for 4 more years. With Phase 2, WAVE extended its activities to 3 other countries and broadened its regional scope.
Given the functional and effective surveillance and diagnostic as well as early warning abilities WAVE developed in the past 6 years, the European Union granted WAVE and its partner, the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (WECARD/CORAF), with a €1.5M 5-year project “Anticipate and Manage Biological Risks to Strengthen Farmers’ Resilience to Climate Change in West and Central Africa – BIORISKS”, to be conducted in the 10 WAVE implementing countries.