The DURAS Project (Promotion du Développement Durable dans les Systèmes de Recherche Agricole du Sud) is a joint GFAR-Agropolis competitive grant scheme to encourage and promote innovation, to scale up innovative practices developed in the south and to enhance scientific capacity of southern partners through partnerships. It’s a three-year project funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is a Type 2 Initiative under the World Summit for Sustainable Development, referred to as Partnerships for Sustainable Development. Type 2 Initiatives are voluntary multi-stakeholder partnerships programmes which contribute to the implementation of inter-governmental commitments in Agenda 21, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Thus, through the DURAS project, stakeholders in agricultural research are able to contribute concretely to the outcomes of the WSSD and other international agreements in furthering sustainable development.