Round 4 call for innovations competition officially open - applications accepted August 15 – October 10

Are you a scientist, entrepreneur, or a passionate problem solver interested in helping produce more food with less water in developing countries? Do you have a piloted innovation that you seek to share with others, highlight before experts, publicize, and accelerate? The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Foreign Ministry of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Government of South Africa has officially opened the Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development 4th Global Call for Innovation.

Individual awards are expected to be between $100,000 USD and $2 million USD depending on the type of funding requested. The period of performance for individual awards is up to three years; the actual period of performance for each award will be determined at the time of award. We are seeking applications that:

• Promote user-centered design, not technology for the sake of technology.
• Build sustainability into the fabric of the program. All innovations must be sustainable (financial, institutional, environmental, technological, and social).
• Innovations supported by this program must demonstrate direct or strong indirect benefits for the poor and women.
• Securing Water for Food welcomes and encourages high quality applications, especially from women-owned/women-led enterprises and developing country entrepreneurs.
• Have a local presence and develop market-driven partnerships.

This funding competition sources and accelerates innovations that will enable the production of more food with less water or make more water available for food production, processing, and distribution. The three areas that are deemed critical to reducing water scarcity in the food value chain are listed as:

• Improving water efficiency and reusing agricultural wastewater to significantly extend the productivity of limited water resources.
• Effective water capture and storage systems for extending temporal availability of water supply in regions where precipitation is seasonal.
• Management of salinity in water supplies, as it is a major threat to food production.

You can apply here. Good luck!