Deadline: 03-Nov-2022

Do you have a startup with the potential to tackle the global food crises? If so, the World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Challenge 2022 is now open for applications.

The WFP Innovation Challenge is in search of game-changing innovations addressing the Global Food Crisis. This Accelerator sources, supports and scales bold new solutions to disrupt global hunger and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

They are specifically looking for low and high tech solutions including digital tools. They also encourage strong “wildcard ideas” to apply. Together with the brightest and best minds globally, they will be able to end hunger. WFP’s current innovation priorities are listed below:

• Innovative solutions to mitigate the rising cost of inputs and food.
• Innovative solutions to strengthen productivity and outcomes along food value chains.
• Innovative solutions to build resilient communities through livelihood creation and youth engagement.

What they Offer?

• Selected teams will be invited to participate in an intensive week-long WFP Innovation Bootcamp in February 2023.
• Selected projects will be able to apply for the WFP Sprint Programme, a six-month acceleration programme providing up to US$ 100,000 in equity-free funding, mentorship, and access to WFP’s global network of partners and field operations across more than 120 countries and territories.
• Scaling innovations that have proven their concepts and value for social impact may qualify for further funding and support.
• The WFP Innovation Accelerator has a track record of organizing 45 flagship innovation bootcamps to date, supporting over 395 teams to rapidly refine their innovations, field testing over 100 projects within WFP operations, and bringing 16 disruptive innovations to scale, reaching 9 million people in 2021 alone.

What they are looking for?

• For this edition of the Innovation Challenge, they are specifically looking for low and high tech solutions including digital tools. They also encourage strong “wildcard ideas” to apply. Together with the brightest and best minds globally, they will be able to end hunger. WFP’s current innovation priorities are listed below:
  • Innovative solutions to mitigate the rising cost of inputs and food.
  • They are specifically looking for low and high tech solutions including digital tools to:
    • identify the most suitable alternatives to enhance soil fertility, water retention and soil structure for a given area, using locally available resources and reducing expenditure and reliance on chemical inputs;
    • Enable last-mile delivery of food and agricultural commodities to areas that are hard to reach due to floods and disasters;
    • Improve the efficiency of farming methods and practices (modern or adopted from ancestral or traditional methods), leading to savings and environmental benefits (e.g. increasing the affordability and availability of fertilizers, compost, pesticides and fertilizer-based products, reducing the water usage, etc.);
    • Support farmers in accessing agricultural inputs and equipment, post-harvest insurance, climate risk insurance, risk financing tools, especially women farmers.
    • Innovative solutions to strengthen productivity and outcomes along food value chains
  • Thus they are specifically looking for low and high tech solutions including digital tools to:
    • Detect and prevent leakages at every step of food value chains;
    • Decrease food waste and crop damages due to post-harvest management issues, limited agro processing capacity and decreasing rainfall;
    • Enable farmers to tackle water scarcity due to rain shortages, salinity or limited access to irrigation;
    • Prevent cost effective solutions for aflatoxin prevention and management;
    • Increase yields of staple crops and resist climate shock;
    • Forecast and monitor food prices for commodity planning to improve and democratize decision making processes at all levels during emergencies and in supporting the government;
    • Be able to automate food inventories in schools.
    • Innovative solutions to build resilient communities through livelihood creation and youth engagement
• They are specifically looking for low and high tech training, education and employment solutions including digital tools to:
  • Support youth engagement and foster livelihood creation;
  • monitor and assess the outcomes, generate evidence and ensure quality control of school; based programmes such as drop-out, retention, graduation and enrollment rates;
  • Be able to operate in rural areas with low to no connection to strengthen public school systems and national social protection systems, especially during periods of insecurity, conflict, or natural disasters;
  • Support young people to develop agriculture skills (e.g. training on the maintenance of solar water pumps, soil analysis, compost making, etc.);
  • Enable remittance with innovative delivery models to tackle exchange rates fluctuation and hyper-inflation.

Eligibility Criteria

Applications will be scored according to a standard set of criteria set by the WFP Innovation Accelerator, including:

• Alignment with WFP operational priorities and the impact towards the Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger.
• The level of innovation the solution brings to WFP and the humanitarian sector at large.
• Indicators that the solution can be feasibly integrated and financed in the long-term, including the team qualifications.

If you are a start-up:

• Your start-up must be incorporated at the time of application. It can be for profit or not-for-profit.
• Your innovation must at least be at the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage. Proof-of-concept and initial traction is preferred.
• Your solution should be financially viable.
• Your proposal must show how working with WFP will serve your long-term strategy.

For more information, visit https://innovation.wfp.org/apply

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