An international safety charity is calling on maritime organisations, community groups, non governmental organisations, and training institutions in Ghana to apply for Maritime Connected, a newly launched global grant programme designed to strengthen safety across the maritime sector by funding projects addressing challenges related to decarbonisation, digitalisation, climate impacts, and safety at sea.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation developed Maritime Connected after realizing that projects tackling similar issues often operate separately, causing vital insights to be missed, which could lead to unintended and potentially serious consequences. The programme runs until February 6, 2026, offering funding ranging from 2,000 British pounds for convening activities and smaller initiatives to up to 60,000 pounds for larger projects.
By connecting organisations and using local expertise, Maritime Connected aims to create a network where safety challenges are shared and solutions co created. The Foundation is looking to fund projects that address safety challenges relating to decarbonisation, digitalisation, the impacts of climate change, and safety at sea.
The initiative will enable a better understanding of current and future maritime challenges while providing insights and interventions that keep people safer. Africa along with the rest of the world also faces the dual pressures of contributing to and being disproportionately affected by the world’s most urgent maritime challenges, including decarbonisation and the safe transition to new fuels and the intensifying impacts of climate change.
Candace Bentil, programme manager at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, emphasized the importance of connecting different maritime stakeholders to create collaborative opportunities. “When we connect people and roles, from engineers and operators to policymakers and researchers, we create opportunities for collaboration that wouldn’t otherwise exist,” she said.
“When we integrate systems and data such as safety insights, we uncover patterns and develop solutions. This can prevent accidents before they occur. And what’s exciting is that ideas and lessons learned from Ghana and the discoveries of what works in one part of the world can strengthen safety everywhere,” Bentil added.
The Maritime Connected initiative funds projects that bring together data, people, systems, infrastructure, and the environment, encouraging ideas to help close safety gaps across the maritime system. The initiative supports activities such as knowledge sharing across countries or communities, building local safety skills, and cross organisation collaboration.
It also brings together voices typically underrepresented in global maritime discussions, including women, coastal communities, and small maritime enterprises. Priority is given to proposals addressing safety challenges within decarbonisation, digitalisation, climate impacts, and safety at sea.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation has established Ocean Centres in seven countries including Ghana as part of a pioneering partnership with the United Nations Global Compact. The centres serve as locally led, multi stakeholder platforms that address pressing safety and sustainability challenges specific to their national ocean economies.
The Ghana Ocean Centre forms part of a network that includes Brazil, Kenya, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Each centre addresses specific challenges in their maritime sectors while contributing to global maritime safety knowledge and practices.
Bentil noted that too many safety solutions remain isolated or unconnected to wider systems, particularly in Africa where coastal communities, educators, seafarers, and innovators hold deep knowledge about the realities of maritime safety yet these insights rarely make it to the global stage.
“Maritime Connected aims to bridge that gap by giving representation to unheard voices and perspectives in global audiences to actively contribute to shaping global solutions,” she stated. “Maritime Connected seeks to amplify the ideas, lived experiences, and innovations from these emerging regions.”
She emphasized that Lloyd’s Register Foundation acknowledges that global maritime safety initiatives must be built with local leadership, not simply delivered to local communities. Bentil encouraged all local organisations, no matter how big or small, to apply without delay before the February 6 deadline.
The funding opportunity is open to registered charities, non governmental organisations, academic institutions including universities and research centres, non profit organisations that reinvest profits into advancing their missions, and social enterprises with clear social or environmental purposes.
While individuals can apply, Lloyd’s Register Foundation encourages applications from organisations that can demonstrate how they will address the need for connection across maritime systems. The Foundation emphasizes collaborative approaches over individual applications to maximize impact and knowledge sharing.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, with smaller grants potentially processed more quickly than larger awards. The Foundation’s team will review all submitted proposals and decide which to take forward to contract at its sole discretion based on alignment with programme objectives.
Ghana’s maritime sector faces numerous safety challenges including climate change impacts on coastal infrastructure, sustainable transition to cleaner marine fuels, improving safety standards for small scale fishing communities, enhancing maritime worker protections against heat stress and occupational hazards, and bridging technology gaps in vessel monitoring and navigation systems.
The country’s growing blue economy requires investments in safety infrastructure, training programmes, regulatory frameworks, and collaborative initiatives that connect stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and civil society. Maritime Connected offers opportunities for Ghanaian organisations to address these challenges through funded projects.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation is an independent global charity that supports engineering related education, training, and research. The Foundation’s mission focuses on engineering a safer world through evidence, influence, and change, working across safer maritime systems, safer sustainable infrastructure, and skilled people for safer engineering.
The Foundation operates through multiple funding programmes including the Global Safety Evidence Centre, which invites proposals for research projects addressing occupational safety and health evidence gaps with grants between 100,000 and 250,000 pounds over two years. However, Maritime Connected specifically targets smaller scale connectivity and collaboration projects.
Recent Lloyd’s Register Foundation initiatives in Ghana and other Ocean Centre countries include supporting the International Maritime Law Institute, which builds local legal expertise in maritime safety regulations, funding research on heat stress among maritime workers, supporting infrastructure risk assessments in coastal areas, and developing safety governance frameworks for emerging ocean economies.
The Foundation encourages applications that demonstrate how projects will create connections that prevent accidents, build local capacity, share knowledge across borders, amplify underrepresented voices, address emerging safety risks, and contribute evidence to global safety knowledge.
Successful applications typically include clear problem statements identifying specific safety gaps, proposed solutions that involve connecting people, systems, or knowledge, evidence of local leadership and community engagement, realistic budgets and timelines, and plans for sharing learnings with broader maritime communities.
Bentil emphasized that applications from smaller organisations and community groups are welcome alongside proposals from larger institutions. The Foundation values grassroots perspectives and lived experiences that can inform global maritime safety approaches.
For maritime organisations in Ghana seeking to address safety challenges through collaborative projects, the Maritime Connected programme offers opportunities to access international funding, connect with global maritime safety networks, amplify local knowledge to international audiences, build organisational capacity in safety management, and contribute to shaping global maritime safety standards.
Interested organisations with ideas to connect people, knowledge, and systems to improve maritime safety are encouraged to apply to the Maritime Connected grant by February 6, 2026. Applications must be submitted through the Lloyd’s Register Foundation online grant application system Flexigrant portal accessible via the Foundation’s website.
Applicants need to create an account on Flexigrant to begin the application process. Once registered, users receive an email to verify their account. The Foundation emphasizes ensuring all organisational and contact details are accurate when creating accounts to facilitate communication throughout the review process.
The Foundation adheres to principles ensuring grants to non charitable organisations align with its charitable mission, fund only activities serving public benefit, require recipients to adhere to purpose related restrictions, provide no personal benefit to individuals involved, and ensure funds are used for stated purposes benefiting organisations or the public rather than generating profit.
Ghana’s maritime industry encompasses commercial shipping, fishing, offshore oil and gas operations, port services, shipbuilding and repair, marine tourism, and coastal management. Each subsector faces unique safety challenges that could be addressed through Maritime Connected funded projects.
Small scale fishing communities, which employ significant numbers of Ghanaians, face particular safety challenges including aging vessel fleets, limited access to weather information, inadequate safety equipment, insufficient training in emergency procedures, and climate change impacts on fishing grounds and sea conditions.
Port workers encounter occupational hazards including cargo handling accidents, exposure to hazardous materials, heat stress in tropical conditions, inadequate personal protective equipment, and risks from aging infrastructure. Projects addressing these challenges through systematic approaches could significantly improve worker safety.
The deadline of February 6, 2026, provides limited time for interested organisations to develop proposals. The Foundation encourages early applications and offers resources on its website to support proposal development including detailed guidance on application requirements, examples of successful projects, and information about evaluation criteria.
For more information about Maritime Connected and to apply, interested organisations should visit the Lloyd’s Register Foundation website at www.lrfoundation.org.uk/maritime connected funding offer. Questions about eligibility or application procedures can be directed to the Foundation through contact information provided on the website.
