The ACE IRPM &BTD is one among twenty three Africa Centres of Excellence (ACE) established and funded by the World Bank through soft loans to eight countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique) in Eastern and Southern Africa. The ACE projects address agriculture, health, human resource development, innovations and technological challenges (including ICT) faced by communities in these countries. Each of the ACEs receives a maximum of USD 6,000, 000 through a disbursement system based on verified disbursement linked indicators and disbursement linked results. The ACEs  became effective in July/August 2017