ROUND 1 RESILIENCE INNOVATION CHALLENGE2014-2016

EASTERN AFRICA RESILIENCE INNOVATION LAB

RESILIENCE INNOVATION CHALLENGE FOR ADVERSE

CLIMATE EFFECTS

(RIC4ACE)www.grants.ranlab.org

Background

• Rationale for RAN: Although development efforts have saved lives, they have not sufficiently built resilience of target communities; the same shocks/stresses recur with similar consequences

• RAN seeks to break these negative cycles by tapping into the adaptive capacities of communities to develop solutions

Theory of Change

‘The resilience of people and systems in Africa will be strengthened by leveraging knowledge, scholarship and creativity in RAN to incubate, test, and scale innovations that target capabilities and reduce vulnerabilities identified by an evidenced-based resilience framework for sub-Saharan Africa’………

4 RILabs, 6 resilience themes

• Eastern Africa RILab: – 1. Climate variability 2. Conflict

• West Africa RILab: – 1. Food-security 2. Urbanization

• Southern Africa: – HIV/AIDS and Livelihoods

• Horn of Africa: – Drought and Displacement

Methodology and Philosophy

• Resilience can be tackled through innovations• 2 approaches to sourcing innovations:– Acceleration of existing promising ideas– Ideation of new ideas

• Design thinking and Human centred design• Failure is good; failing fast is even better

RIC4ACE

• ‘Resilience Innovation Challenge for Adverse Climate Events’

– It is a call of the RAN Eastern Africa RILab

– To fund up to eight (8) project teams in 3 phases

RIC-4-ACE Grant architecturePhase Description Projects Who RAN Grant

1 Solution Development 8 Open to public

US$15,000 – 45,000

2 Piloting: Refined optimized prototype/concept

4 Closed US$ 50,000 – 100,000

3 Phase: Scaling Phase: Business model and scale

2 Closed US$ 100,000 – 200,000

• Portfolios reaching Phase 2 will be supported to identify more resources beyond RAN’s support in a robust resource multiplication strategy

RIC4ACE: 2 Innovation Pathways

• Intervention Pathway 1: ZUKUSA! Disrupt agricultural practices and markets for resilience

• Intervention Pathway 2: I CAN - Empower me to thrive!

– Evidence based from the community voice

Pathway 1: ZUKUSA! Disrupt agricultural practices and markets for resilience

• Communities that experience adverse climate variability depend on subsistence agriculture– Agricultural yields meagre and non-diversified (UNDP, 2007)– Value addition to produce is also low– Agricultural markets largely skewed by asymmetries– The result is low income, pervasive poverty, no growth– This pathway seeks solutions that disrupt the status quo – Substantially building the agency of rural farmers

Track 1: Scaling sustainable agricultural practices

• Sub-challenge 1: Develop low cost environmentally friendly approaches and technologies to increase agricultural yield per acreage

Examples of possible projects:Models, technologies, approaches that: Increase yield while keeping the ecosystem green, prolong production in dryness, expand surfaces for production; Low cost efficient farming implements, green energy to power production, increasing yield for indigenous starches, adverse climate early warning and last mile communication

Track 1: Scaling sustainable agricultural practices

• Sub-challenge 2: Develop contextually relevant technologies or approaches for post-harvest handling of produce

Examples of possible projects:Improved locally adaptable technologies, models, or approaches for storage, drying/preservation of produce, basic processing and local value addition; efficient handling of produce from farm to market, green energy to power produce processing, local seed optimization to service local seed demand, low cost easily deployable produce storage granaries

Track 2: Agricultural markets 2.0

• Sub-challenge 3: Agricultural markets for the future that incentivize new types of networks and distribution models to catalyze enterprise and narrow the gap from farm to market.

Examples of possible projects:New and disruptive technologies/ approaches to small farmer networking for market leverage and produce stabilization, linking multiple farmer networks to create super-networks, changing farmer attitudes to farming; technology driven platforms to address market asymmetries, completely change location of agro-produce markets from ‘near the buyer’ to ‘near the farmer’; Disrupt the role of middlemen

Track 2: Agricultural markets 2.0• Sub-challenge 4: New

models to promote produce-bulking, standardization, packaging, branding and farm-to-shelf produce traceability for increased farmer leverage in the market.

Examples of possible projects:Novel approaches to produce-bulking, motivation of cooperatives around marketing, Farmer driven approaches to produce-standardization, quality triaging and pricing, Branding of local produce, produce traceability, produce-size forecasting and supply stabilization in rural farmer networks, Bringing traditional foods back to the dinner table

Intervention Pathway 2: I CAN - Empower me to thrive!

• Communities affected by adverse climates lack diversification– Dependent on mono-cropping hence low income– Non-diversification is caused by: lack of viable options, low financial

inclusion– This pathway seeks interventions that empower communities to

diversify beyond agriculture– To disrupt the status quo in rural business, savings and access to credit

Track 1: Livelihood diversification• Sub-challenge 5:

Develop gender and age responsive models or platforms for launching highly profitable non-agricultural businesses in rural communities

Examples of possible projects:Models, approaches, platforms for outsourcing of micro-work for rural youth; How to profit from emerging industries like telecommunications, petroleum, transport and education; Highly profitable cottage businesses defaults for women and youth, rural family franchises; Businesses built around green energy; Technologies/ approaches for involving farmers in health promotion to prevent deadly diseases, Incentivizing voluntary work, Easy to use accurate primary care level diagnostics and sensors for common deadly diseases

Track 1: Livelihood diversification• Sub-challenge 6:

Develop complementary ‘pendulum’ businesses that oscillate adaptively between dry and rainy seasons to sustain rural household incomes

Examples of possible projects:Coupled businesses in which farmers can switch from one trade to another between seasons; Models in which waste from one business can be an input for another; Low cost optimized toilet solution for flood prone/high water table areas and creating a viable business around it; Low cost landslide resilient housing; Businesses out of early warning; Coupled businesses that synergize off-farm

Track 2: Financial Engagement and Inclusion

• Sub-challenge 7: Develop new models or approaches to increase household savings to power investment or mitigate production related risks

Examples of possible projects:Novel technologies, approaches or platforms to facilitate rural saving, simplify saving in commercial and/or rural banks for rural farmers, channel savings directly to pre-determined low risk investments; New and disruptive forms of currency that can be channeled into savings, models for risk mitigation/risk transfer, accessible, Credit ‘circles’ for the future

Track 2: Financial Engagement and Inclusion

• Sub-challenge 8: Develop new models or approaches that disrupt current rural micro-finance to substantially increase access to credit for development among rural households.

Examples of possible projects:Disruptive mechanisms for overcoming traditional barriers to accessing credit in rural communities; New and disruptive forms of currency that can be channeled into credit payments, solutions for non-compliance to credit

You need to know….• Innovations are not limited to technologies but

could be approaches, concepts, or models• An idea may not be new – the innovation could

be in its social application• We are particularly in the look out for:– Paradigm changers that transcend business-as-usual– Platform projects that can launch many other synergies– Innovations with high transformative potential and

scalability

EligibilityWho is eligible Requirements

University based teams of individuals (Students/Faculty/Student-Faculty)

Letter of support from an academic faculty member in an EARILab University (Makerere, Gulu, Muhimbili, Rwanda, Kinshasa)

Registered organisations (NGOs, businesses, faith based organisations, CBOs)

Within the region: Evidence of registration/incorporation

Outside the region: Evidence of registration/incorporation; Letter of support from an academic faculty member in a RAN university

Non-university based teams of individuals

Letter of support from an academic faculty member in an EARILab University

Submission of applications

• Application form available at http://www.grants.ranlab.org

• Indicate specific sub-challenge applied for• Support to include: Q&As, FAQs, Webinar

Judging

• All applications to be assessed• 2 stage judging• Criteria:– Technical plausibility and alignment to theory of change– Human capacity development and agency– Contribution to conservation of the environment– Utility, business model and scalability

Timeline

Call goes live 4th August 2014Application Deadline 21st September 2014

Phase 1 28/10/14 – 28/04/15Phase 2 28/05/15 – 28/01/16Phase 3 07/03/16 – 07/03/17

Innovator support

• Skills trainings (Resilience, Design Thinking, other team specific needs)

• Mentor matching and technical advice• Ideation and rapid prototyping support• Linkage to communities, referral

Your ideas are welcome into the RIC4ACE!!!!

“No Problem can be solved by the same level of energy that caused it”

Anonymous