Open Call for Innovations: Water and Energy for Food – A Grand Challenge for Development

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) invite eligible organizations to respond to the Open Call for Innovation (O-CFI) Water and Energy for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development (WE4F) Call for Innovations.

This Open Call for Innovation (O-CFI) is designed to address barriers to enable the production of more food with efficient and sustainable usage of water and energy along the value chain from farming to end-users, and to impact food security, gender, and poverty reduction in an environmentally sustainable way. Individual awards are expected to range between 25,000 US Dollars and 250,000 US Dollars depending on the type of funding requested with the awardee expected to bring in a minimum 1-1 matching amount themselves. The period of performance for individual awards is up to two years; the actual period of performance for each award will be determined at the time of award.

By tackling matters related to business growth, technical aspects, environmental and social impact, and access to finance together with MENA RIH experts, organizations such as yours will receive tailored and intense support to help you rapidly grow through:

• developing your strategic growth plan
• redesigning your business model for growth and impact
• overcoming your cashflow problems
• strengthening your financial management foundations
• optimizing your production processes and organizational structure
• receiving more than 20 other growth support services such as export readiness, technical, and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects.

The MENA RIH will also help you in

• building your network across the MENA region
• becoming investment ready to access needed debt and/or equity funding
• developing partnerships with financial institutions for end user finance
• raising the right type of capital needed through the best mix of debt and equity
• receiving cash grants of up to 200,000 USD (reimbursement basis).

Thematic Areas

• The WE4F Founding Partners have identified priority thematic areas in which innovation is urgently needed as mentioned. Innovations supported by Water and Energy for Food Could Include, But Are Not Limited To, the themes mentioned:
  • Theme 1: Innovations in food production to reduce water usage
  • Theme 2: Efficient use of water resources for food production
  • Theme 3: Sustainable use of energy and water on farm
  • Theme 4: Energy innovations for food processing & logistics
  • Theme 5: Food production with efficient energy use
  • Theme 6: Leveraging food/agriculture waste for energy

Priority Organizations and Innovations

• The WE4F Founding Partners have identified priority types of organizations and Innovations. Innovations prioritized by Water and Energy for Food Could Include, But Are Not Limited To:
  • Energy- Agricultural processing: This includes Innovations which use renewable energy or aim to improve the energy efficiency of value-added food processing including the transformation of raw agricultural goods to food stuffs or the changing of food stuffs to other more valuable forms.
  • Digital solutions: This includes Innovations which are digital in nature and improve the water and/or energy efficiency of agricultural processes but cannot be defined by one single other Innovation type listed.
  • Financial solutions: This includes Innovations which improve the financial access or financial resources of actors within the food value chain including food producers, food processors, and direct end-users of agricultural goods.
  • Women-led, managed, or owned organizations or organizations with a track record of serving at least thousands of female-end users in agriculture and food value chains.
  • Organizations which demonstrate strong capabilities to monitor and document key programmatic KPIs such as the end-users benefitting from the Innovation and the impact on water and/or energy savings (e.g., through CRM systems, data loggers, etc.).
  • Organizations that have a clear positive environmental impact and impact on Base of the Pyramid (BoP) and vulnerable communities through the provision their Innovation to end-users and/or in their value chains.
  • While the program is targeting organizations established or operating in the MENA countries in – Eligible Countries of Implementation, priority countries include Yemen, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Why apply?

• Join a Network of Innovative Game-Changing Entrepreneurs
  • Winners will be part of an extensive network and introduced to various partners, mentors, and service providers to help them achieve their expansion goals.
  • They will also have access to an exclusive learning community where they can exchange ideas with their cohort peers in the cohort and other Regional Innovation Hubs through regular workshops and meetings.
  • Receive Technical Support and Investment Facilitation
• Receive support to expand the business to other geographies, products, or services
  • Attract and secure external investors by working with MENA RIH’s Brokering Unit.
  • Examples of support categories:
  • Investment readiness
  • Commercial expansion
  • Marketing and communication
  • Digitalization and technology enhancement

Funding Information

• Select organizations may qualify for grants to help achieve scaling goals, funding size ranges from $25,000 to $250,000 USD.

Location: The MENA RIH supports innovators from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen. Applicants must be legally registered in at least one of these countries. If expansion into a new country is a key part of an applicant’s business plan, they must demonstrate that they already have partners in place in that country to be considered.

Eligibility Criteria

• WE4F is looking for mid- to late-stage enterprises, nonprofits with a for-profit program, and other organizations based in the Middle East and North Africa, who have innovative water-food, energy-food, and water-energy-food solutions. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements outlined to participate in this call for innovation.
• Women-owned and women-led organizations are encouraged to apply.
• WE4F is open to legally incorporated/registered for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations or academic institutions with a proven business model, recurring sales, an existing customer base, and the ability to generate revenue and maintain a self-sustaining operational budget.
• WE4F is open to all relevant organizations/companies which are ready to scale. They encourage applications from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

For more information, visit WE4F.