Resilience Innovation Challenge for Food Security and Improved Income Generation (RIC4FIG)
Are you working towards strengthening the resilience of target communities by building their agency to promote life and entrepreneurship skills, diversify to profitable enterprises, and improve farming skills while taking more control of the agricultural value chain in ways that are sustainable and expand financial inclusion? Then the ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) Resilience Innovation Challenge 4 Food Security and Improved Income Generation (RIC4FIG) grants are for you. Submit your concept note now! The call runs from December 1, 2014 to January 30, 2015 at exactly 5:00pm CAT.
The Southern Africa RILab will identify and fund projects in three priority intervention pathways for resilience building around improved life and entrepreneurship skills, diversified local economy for resilience and transformed agricultural practices and markets for resilience.
Grant Amounts range from US$ 15,000 to US$ 35,000 in Phase 1, US$35,000 to US$ 65,000 for Phase 2 and US$ 75,000 to US$ 125,000 in Phase 3.
The grants will support development of innovative approaches and technologies for;
1. Promoting life, entrepreneurship skills and developing contextually responsive models for launching highly profitable businesses that would reduce vulnerability to food insecurity and promote opportunities for income generation taking account of specific contexts in target communities in South Africa and Malawi.
2. Developing low cost environmentally friendly approaches and technologies to increase agricultural yield per acreage.
3. Developing models or approaches for agricultural markets of the future that promote new types of networks and distribution methods to catalyse enterprise and narrow the gap from farm to market.
Summary of Phase I Application Process
| Start Date | December 1, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Concept note application deadline | January 30, 2015 |
| Concept note evaluation and Invitation to submit full application | March 3, 2015 |
| Full Application submission deadline | March 31, 2015 |
| Date for notification of award for Phase 1 | May 1, 2015 |
Download the complete RIC4FIG RFA Document
support.sarilab@ranlab.org or call 
+27 12 420 6884
RAN’s Theory of Change states: ‘The resilience of people and systems in Africa will be strengthened by leveraging the knowledge, scholarship and creativity that exists across the Resilient Africa Network to incubate, test, and scale innovations that target people and/or communities’ capabilities and reduce their vulnerabilities as identified by a scientific, data-driven, and evidenced-based resilience framework for sub-Saharan Africa’.
The vision of the Southern Africa RILab is to have African communities that are resilient to the shocks and stresses affecting their livelihoods, making use of innovative solutions to their context specific resilience challenges. The SA RILab envisions resourceful people in target communities that effectively harness individual and community agency, local adaptive capabilities, and innovative solutions to diversify their livelihoods in a manner that guarantees food security and sustainable income generation, and thus cushioning themselves from climate-related shocks and high burden of HIV/AIDS.
The Southern Africa RILab will contribute to strengthening the resilience of communities by nurturing and scaling innovations with the highest transformative potential. It has applied a data driven methodology to identify resilience priorities in target communities and select intervention pathways with the highest potential on communities. 
RAN will tap into the massive capacity of university scholars and other innovator communities to ideate and co-create solutions to development challenges in local communities. The SA RILab will also partner with target communities and professional innovators to provide solutions to these challenges using science and technology. Throughout the intervention process, the RILab will use a recipient people-centered design approach that takes into account the local application of proposed solutions. Given the complexities of resilience challenges of target communities, RAN and the SA RILab in particular will apply a systems approach to developing interventions in which critical change levers in the system are used as the basis for identifying the most potentially impactful intervention pathways. The ultimate aim of these interventions is to strengthen resilience to food insecurity and limited opportunities to generate income in target communities, particularly those communities burdened by high prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
The SA RILab focuses on mitigating the effects of HIV, as a cause and consequence of weak resilience to livelihood disturbances related to ecological and socio-economic stressors. This thematic area of focus was identified through an extensive baseline literature review that focused on identifying resilience issues that affect the largest section of the population in the SA RILab network countries. This was a crucial step in RAN’s resilience framework.
This round of Resilience Innovation Challenge is being hosted by the Southern Africa RILab that is based at the School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Partner universities constituting the SA RILab include Universities of Pretoria and Limpopo (South Africa), University of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), and the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi.
Objective:
Develop models and approaches or technologies for promoting life and entrepreneurship skills that would reduce vulnerability to food insecurity and promote opportunities for income generation taking into account specific contexts in target communities in South Africa and Malawi.
Rationale:
Entrepreneurship is important to the economic and social development of a community. Through innovation, entrepreneurs create new, competitive markets and businesses which lead to job creation and have a multiplying effect on the economy. Potential entrepreneurs in the Southern African communities are constrained by the lack of entrepreneurial skills and the limited access to finance/start-up capital. The few existing entrepreneurship programs are not always well-tailored to their needs. Upgrading skills can be a key channel to improve productivity and incomes in the informal economy and open opportunities to link with the formal economy. The majority of our communities have limited entrepreneurial skills, the effect of which is exacerbated by lack of supportive life skills. According to the WHO, life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. This intervention pathway seeks solutions to develop models and approaches or technology for promoting life and entrepreneurship skills in target communities in South Africa and Malawi. This is to remove the pervasive sense of entitlement and hopelessness, while creating innovative approaches to promoting entrepreneurship. It is hoped that any such interventions would engage community by leveraging on existing traditional platforms for community engagement.
Community Contexts:
We are targeting two focus communities in South Africa - Pyramid in Pretoria and Dikgale in Limpopo. The main economic activity within both communities is agriculture. In both communities, most people are farm laborers because there is limited skills and lack of productive land ownership which limits those who wish to practice agriculture. Large proportions of adults in both communities are migrant workers, or work as domestic workers in nearby towns. Most of the members of the two communities lack sustainable livelihood opportunities. There is low level of education and lack of skills which lead to high unemployment rates, particularly for the youth. Communities are over reliant on government social grants for income and this has been associated with high teenage pregnancy.
Examples of possible projects for this community context include but are not limited to:
- New approaches that will remove the sense of entitlement and hopelessness.
- New approaches that will give entrepreneurship and business skills with life skills as an integral component.
- Models that will make use of existing business potential, low cost small business ideas and marketing skills.
- Models that will encourage attitudinal change and disseminate information on opportunities for business and employment.
- Youth friendly and gender sensitive approaches
Chikwawa community is a drought and flood prone community. These bring about hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in the households and community. For the majority of the households, the main way of addressing the food insecurity is through the sale of household labour to either wealthier members of the communities (i.e. through working in other people’s farms in other communities). The need to get employed fuels HIV and AIDS in the community as some women exchange sexual favours in order to be employed as daily labourers in some local sugar estates, thereby putting them at an increased risk of contracting HIV.
Examples of desirable solutions for this community context include but are not limited to:
- Novel platforms for effective entrepreneurship and life skills training
- Models that will create novel non-monetary incentives for community life skills education, including learning to take responsibility for own health
Objective:
Develop contextually responsive models for launching highly profitable businesses that would reduce vulnerability to food insecurity and promote opportunities for income generation in target communities in South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Rationale:
Although prone to climatic hazards, such as drought and floods, the main economic activity within our communities is agriculture in the form of small scale subsistence farming. Many subsistence farmers have a large number of cattle, but cattle are regarded as status symbol and decision to dispose of them even when in need is often difficult to make. A large proportion of adults particularly in target communities in South Africa and Zimbabwe are migrant workers, while others work as farm laborers or as commercial sex workers. The unemployment rates in all these target communities are high and people are reliant on social grants or social safety nets provided by governmental and non-governmental organizations to keep food on the table. Despite these vulnerabilities, some people have taken advantage of community savings and credit schemes (stokvels, ‘merry-go-round’) to create new businesses. This intervention pathway seeks solutions that disrupt the status quo of overdependence on rain-fed agriculture by diversifying their livelihoods using simple but highly profitable farm and non-farm businesses and solutions that also create better financial inclusion through savings and access to credit. This intervention pathway specifically takes into account the context in the three countries in which our target communities are located.
Community Contexts:
Dikgale and Pyramid communities rely on farming either subsistence farming or working on large farms as farm labourers. In Dikgale, most people keep livestock, such as cattle and goats which are used to cope in times of need. Lack of diversification in the communities is driven by either a lack of trade skills to try non-agricultural businesses or a pervasive fear of risk taking due to lack of entrepreneurial skills. Over reliance on social grants as an income source is another problem of non-diversification. Potential solutions could include but are not limited to
- Approaches to creating service related markets e.g. spaza shops, recycling
- Models to strengthen stokvels to mobilize resources for small businesses and savings
- Models for empowering small livestock farmers to create profitable companies from goat milk production (value addition).
- Models for private sector sponsored local business projects.
Apart from drought and floods which are rationales for livelihood diversification in Malawi, rising population which puts pressure on land for cultivation is another motivation. As a major livestock producing area of Malawi, pests and diseases are problems facing the livestock subsector of agriculture. The main problem within livestock is the frequent occurrence of foot and mouth disease. As the main livelihood source, the negative effect of drought and floods on agriculture is increased levels of food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition. Increasing land pressure is an important source of vulnerability since declining farm sizes has not been accompanied by agricultural diversification or intensification.4 The purpose of this call is to create viable defaults for livelihood diversification for this community so as to reduce their dependence on subsistence farming and to increase their incomes. We are looking for innovations that are highly attractive, with faster returns but lower negative consequences for households in the community.
Examples include but are not limited to:
- Technology mediated service oriented business enterprises
- Models, approaches, or platforms for outsourcing business for rural youth
- Profitable business from green energy
- Profitable drought independent small-scale enterprise defaults
- Create a business around a community based remote sensing and early warning of floods
- Responsive mobile based financial services and products
- Innovations or platforms to facilitate saving in households
- Models that channel savings directly to pre-determined low risk investment
- Novel approaches to make water from flooding available during drought
Frequent droughts in Beitbridge are a cause of low agricultural production, food insecurity and poverty in this district. The dry environment does not promote crop production hence food shortages are a common feature. The dry environment promotes mopane, marula and baobab trees from which the community derives livelihoods. From these trees the community harvests mopane worms, baobab and marula fruit for consumption and sale. Harvesting and selling of mopane worms is mostly done by women and children. High unemployment levels in Beitbridge partly due to lack of industries has resulted in people occupying themselves at the border offering services such as clearing goods and other service jobs.
Potential solutions could include but are not limited to:
- Novel approaches that will harness natural resource products e.g. mopani worms, baobab fruit, watermelons
- Models, approaches, or platforms for outsourcing business for the youth
- Organised marketing
Objective:
Develop low cost environmentally friendly approaches and technologies to increase agricultural yield per acreage.
Rationale:
Communities that experience shocks and stresses arising from drought and sometimes flooding are largely dependent on subsistence farming. Small farm sizes, low technology, low capitalization, and low value addition tend to increase vulnerability to food insecurity. This challenge seeks solutions that empower rural farmers to increase agricultural production and enhance food security.
Community Contexts:
The community relies heavily on rain-fed subsistence agriculture which makes the majority of households vulnerable to erratic rainfall. Unpredictable and erratic rainfall exposes farmers to the risk of drought or flooding each year, negatively affecting their agricultural productivity.
Examples of possible projects applicable for this context include but not limited to:
- New approaches for increasing yield of drought tolerant agro-forestry- Innovative approaches for drought and flood early warnings
-Low cost farming implements that make production more efficient
- Technologies or approaches that will increase surface irrigation for small scale farming
- Technologies that improve post-harvest processing
Beitbridge is characterized by semi-arid conditions and droughts. There is low agricultural production owing to drought hence there is widespread production of livestock, particularly cattle and goat production. People in the area own large herds of cattle, goats and donkeys and liquidate their livestock and other assets to support urgent household needs. However, cattle are a status symbol in the district. As a result, some households find it hard to make a decision to dispose of cattle to access important services, even when they are in need.
Examples of possible projects include but not limited to:
- New approaches for increasing livestock value addition e.g. milk products- New approaches for increasing yield of drought tolerant agro-forestry for fodder
- Alternative energy
- Technologies or approaches for rain water harvesting and efficient use of the water, including harnessing water from the Limpopo basin to support vegetable, gardens and small livestock
- Technologies that improve post-harvest processing
Objective:
Develop models or approaches for agricultural markets of the future that promote new types of networks and distribution methods to catalyze enterprise and narrow the gap from farm to market
Rationale:
Communities that experience shocks and stresses arising from drought and sometimes flooding are largely dependent on subsistence farming. Small farm sizes, low technology, low capitalization, and low value addition tend to increase vulnerability to food insecurity. Lack of direct access to buyers, and low price leverage all affect farmer incomes from produce. This challenge seeks solutions that disrupt the status quo by substantially building the agency of rural farmers to take more control of agricultural markets.Community Contexts:
Smallholder farmers in Chikwawa produce low volumes of agricultural produce and face seasonality in production. The volumes produced by smallholder farmers are usually too small to attract meaningful demand. On the other hand, reliance on rain-fed agriculture confines farmers to seasonal production due to the unimodal rainfall pattern experienced in the country. Seasonality in production contributes to fluctuations in supply making it impossible for farmers to sustain supply as demanded by most buyers. Farmers often do not comply with grades and standards as required by the markets. The non-compliance to grades and standards results in low prices offered to farmers. Some of the challenges are related to poor transport and storage infrastructure, poor market information system, low literacy level and poor business skills, scattered and disorganised production and marketing arrangements, poor access to extension services, unregulated contract farming, policy incoherence related to for example export licenses for agricultural exports. There are also gendered issues related to access of markets by women farmers relating to women’s access to inputs, bargaining power in trade and access to better markets that are further away.
Examples of Possible projects include but not limited to:
- Introduce farmer business schools within the communities to train farmers on how to take farming as a business.- New approaches to subsistence farmer networking to multiply capacity for price leverage and produce stabilization in markets.
- New and transformative platforms that completely change the location of agro-produce markets from ‘near the buyer’ to ‘near the farmer’.
Livestock production is the main type of agriculture practiced in Beitbridge. The main challenges however are to establish improved livestock marketing facilities and coordinated sales in rural areas and to disseminate information on prices and market requirements to small scale producers.
Examples of possible projects include but not limited to:
- Introduce farmer business schools within the communities to train farmers on how to take farming as a business.- New approaches to subsistence farmer networking to multiply capacity for price leverage and produce stabilization in markets.
- New and distruptive platforms that completely change the location of agro-produce markets from ‘near the buyer’ to ‘near the farmer.’
RIC4FIG anticipates identifying and funding up to six (6) project teams addressing any of the challenges described under the intervention pathways in sub-section 3.2 of this call. Teams will be selected based on the quality of their applications which will be evaluated to ascertain resilience building potential, potential for transformative impact, scalability, feasibility, and viability. Each successful team will receive a RIC4FIG grant to support the development of their proposed idea dependent on their current status and progress. The RIC4FIG grants are structured into three distinct and progressive phases where each phase has specific implementation requirements and funding levels:
• The first phase is the ‘Solution Development’(prototyping Phase);
• The second phase is the ‘Piloting’ Phase; and
• The third and final phase is the ‘Scaling’ Phase.
Progressing from one phase to the next will be competitive and will be incumbent on successfully meeting the requirements of the previous phase based on set evaluation criteria as detailed in Section 6 of this call. Out of the 6 teams that are anticipated to receive Phase 1 funding, it is anticipated that only the best three (3) will be selected to receive Phase 2 funding, and only the best two of these three are anticipated to be selected to receive Phase 3 funding. Additionally, to be selected, teams will have to demonstrate the extent to which human capacity development aspects have been mainstreamed into their activities for increased individual and community level agency, as well as green technologies and approaches where appropriate. This requirement underscores RAN’s belief in the power and agency of the individual community member as a critical aspect of resilience building and sustainability. By mainstreaming human capacity development and increased agency we mean proposed solutions should contain a component for understanding and promoting the community’s ‘know-how’ to apply the solution, empowering them to manage their affairs without necessarily always relying on external support, and ensuring access by marginalized groups like women and youth.
By ‘green technologies and approaches’ we mean solutions that on the whole are eco-friendly and contribute to better protection of the environment and conservation.
Note that all selected projects will also be subject to internal USAID environmental review before Awards are made at each phase.
Competition for Phase 1 shall be open to all eligible individuals or entities. The call will be opened on the 1st of December 2014. A panel of judges will select up to six finalists based on the merit of their applications (Evaluation criteria provided in Section 6). The 6 finalists will each receive a Phase 1 grant. Participants will use this grant to develop a ‘proof of concept’ or a ‘preliminary prototype’ of the proposed solution. The concept should demonstrate technical feasibility and viability of the proposed solution, either with a physical simple prototype (for technology based ideas), a viable unit process (for physical processes), or a viable concept (for conceptual approaches).
Phase 2 grants will only be awarded to a sub-set of winners of Phase 1 grants upon verification of the prototype plausibility, functionality and potential for adoption (awardees will provide visual, video or text-based evidence of results depending on the type of idea). A subset of up to 3 grantees are anticipated to be selected for award of a Phase 2 grant, based on projects that demonstrate clear potential for resilience building from Phase 1. Participants will use this grant to develop a refined optimized prototype that is ready for deployment on a larger scale. They should pilot it on a smaller scale and optimize it further to a level that is viable for multiplicative use and scale.
Note that respondents to the general call cannot apply directly for this set of grants. These grants will be competed for by Phase 1 grantees only, upon satisfactory completion of deliverables for Phase 1.
Phase 3 grants will only be awarded to a sub-set of winners of phase 2 grants upon verification of a refined optimized prototype (for technology based solutions) or a refined technically plausible concept(for solutions in form of approaches or models) that is scalable and with clear transformative potential. A subset of 2 grantees are anticipated to be selected for this award, based on projects that demonstrate clear scalability and transformative potential from phase 2 development. Participants will use this grant to implement their business model, test their prototype or approach on a wider scale and position it for resource multiplied scaling for transformative impact.
Note that respondents to the general call cannot apply directly for this set of grants. These grants will be competed for by Phase 2 grantees only, upon satisfactory completion of deliverables for Phase 2.
Phase I (Concept Note) |
||
Evaluation Criteria |
Evaluation Aspects |
Maximum Score |
Alignment to RIC4FIG pathways and RAN’s theory of change for strengthening resilience |
Does the proposed solution address the desired resilience outcomes for the selected challenge? |
20% |
Technical Approach and Methodology |
Is the proposed solution innovative? Does it have the potential to disrupt/transform current practices and approaches? Does it constitute a paradigm shift? |
50% |
Viability and applicability to local communities |
Is it viable for local communities? Can it be replicated in similar contexts? |
20% |
Environmental sensitivity |
Are proposed approaches and technologies (where appropriate) green and pro-natural resource conservation? |
10% |
Phase I (Full Application) |
||
Evaluation Criteria |
Evaluation Aspects |
Maximum Score |
Alignment to RIC4FIG pathways and RAN’s theory of change for strengthening resilience |
Does the proposed solution address the desired resilience outcomes for each innovation challenge? |
20% |
Technical Approach and Methodology |
Is the proposed solution innovative? Does it have the potential to disrupt/transform current practices and approaches? Does it constitute a paradigm shift? |
40% |
Viability and applicability to local communities |
Is it viable for local communities? Can it be replicated in similar contexts? |
25% |
Environmental sensitivity |
Are proposed approaches and technologies (where appropriate) green and pro-natural resource conservation? |
15% |
Evaluation Criteria |
Evaluation Aspects |
Maximum Score |
Technical feasibility |
Is the approach or technology technically feasible? Is the solution cost-effective and innovative compared to existing alternatives? Does it have transformative potential? Has it been optimized for efficiency? Have unintended consequences been identified and strategies to amplify or mitigate these been put in place? |
40% |
Business model and Market viability |
Have market assessments been done? Has the business model been refined to reflect the market trends? Is the refined diffusion strategy sufficiently plausible? |
30% |
People (user) aspects |
Is the solution user-friendly? Is it easily adoptable? Is it acceptable given the socio-cultural dynamics? Have aspects that require human behavior change been addressed? Has the desired behavior been adequately cultivated? Have agency aspects been promoted? |
30% |
Evaluation Criteria |
Evaluation Aspects |
Maximum Score |
Technical Feasibility |
Has the technical approach been optimized? [By optimization, we mean that the prototype or concept is developed to a model with acceptable or better efficiency than the existing technical standard (e.g. 75% validity for screening tests, 75% efficiency for engines, sufficiently acceptable aesthetics, dexterity and ergonomics (for technology based prototypes) or sufficiently proven cause-effect linkages, input and process considerations and clearly established potential confounders (for a conceptual approach based solution)] |
15% |
Evidence of adoption |
Have a critical number of users adopted and continued to use the solution? Does the solution demonstrate additional positive spin-offs and/or a paradigmatic shift? |
25% |
Market viability assessment |
Is the solution viable given the operational context? Has the business model been refined to maximize scaling potential? |
25% |
Awareness of and strategies to address/comply with policy and regulatory requirements |
Does the team demonstrate sufficient actionable knowledge on the policy and regulatory environment that could impede or catapult scaling of the innovation? Have appropriate strategies to address policy or regulatory impediments been designed? |
10% |
Stakeholder buy-in |
Have critical partnerships for implementation and scale been identified? Has commitment to participate been sought and received favorable response? |
25% |
1) RAN reserves the right to change the projected award amounts, or the number of anticipated awards, at any time. The release of this call does not obligate the RAN to make any awards.
2) All currency quotations for this call should be in US Dollars (US$).
3) Awardee teams shall be responsible for costs of all research and development, prototyping, travel, and shipping expenses that exceed the grant amount awarded in this call. Grant money and other reimbursement amounts will be paid through an agreement with the RAN and are subject to the availability of funds. RAN reserves the right to determine the grant amount awarded to a particular team and to vary grant amounts among selected finalists based on RAN’s analysis of the proposed project budget and the availability of funds. The Judging Panel, RAN and USAID reserve the right to reassess the technical requirements and performance evaluation criteria, or to cancel the availability of the grants at any time.
However, RAN is fully cognizant of the fact that bringing successful interventions to full scale may in some projects require much more resources than can be provided by the RAN. As part of the mentorship process, RAN will provide support to grantees in Phase 2 and 3 on development of viable business models and mobilization of external funding from interested agencies, especially for interventions that are clearly impactful on the communities.
4) RAN bears no responsibility for any transmission errors associated with electronic submissions.
5) If no application meets the required threshold to receive a grant, the call may be reopened at the sole discretion of RAN, the SA RILab, and USAID.
6) Liability: Participants agree to assume any and all risks, and waive claims against RAN and its related entities and partners for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from their participation in this innovation challenge.
7) The RAN Resilience Innovation Challenge seeks applications that have an operational focus in low-income and middle-income countries, as defined by the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications/country-and-lending-groups). The implementation of the project including pilot and testing will be done in the countries covered by the Southern Africa RILab –South Africa, Malawi
8) Teams will agree to participate in periodic reporting up to 2 years following the conclusion of their award period. RAN will require Teams to report activities related to the technology developed for the grant including, but not limited to: outputs/outcomes, fundraising, partnerships, investments in the technology, commercialization, market entry and growth. The purpose of the reporting is to allow RAN to:
a) Determine the extent to which solutions have moved to scale,
b) Determine the extent to which adopted solutions have resulted in a measurable impact on the problem (improvement through greater efficiency, cost-effectiveness, or more people reached), and
c) report relevant and required information to USAID.
Any Intellectual property that shall be created or generated jointly by the parties shall be jointly owned by the parties in accordance with their inventive contribution to such Intellectual Property. All awardee teams shall grant to Southern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab (SA RILab) and its affiliates (these include USAID, Makerere University and partner universities) a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use any resultant or derived intellectual property (e.g. product, service, or technology) that will be developed using the RIC4FIG grants, for development work.
Each Team must clearly delineate any intellectual property included in the application that was previously developed by the Team, to which the Team wishes to protect as proprietary data. Such intellectual Property must be clearly marked as proprietary data and it is the duty and obligation of the Team to protect such proprietary data.
All proceeds accruing from commercialization of IP generated via RIC4FIG grants following the conclusion of the grant period, will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis amongst the parties, but in line with existing IP policies of the SA RILab partner universities.
A “Team” refers to a group of individuals working on a particular RIC4FIG challenge. Each Team must select a designated Team Leader who will serve as the primary point of contact for this team on all matters related to implementation of the grant, and correspondence. The Team Leader should be the individual responsible for day to day project management and should be reasonably accessible to respond to different tasks related to implementation in case the team is awarded. He/she should be an adult (at least 18 years of age) in sound mental state.
If invited to submit full applications, teams must submit a Letter of Commitment from each team member as part of their submission documents. In this letter, each organization or individual must submit in writing their commitment to participate in project activities, specifying their exact role in the project. Further, the letter should specify the nationality of each individual. For individual organizations or affiliate organizations the country where they are incorporated should be specified.
Teams of university students, faculty and student-faculty collaborations from established universities worldwide are eligible to apply.
Organizations are also eligible to apply. Potential applicant organizations may include foundations, NGOs, faith-based organizations, private businesses, business and trade associations, colleges and universities, community based organizations and civic groups. All applicants in this category must be legally recognized entities, formally registered under applicable law.
Teams of individuals that are not university students are also eligible to apply
All applicants for the concept note are advised to take necessary steps to ensure that they meet the 'full application' eligibility requirements should they be shortlisted to proceed to the 'full application stage'.
The following eligibility requirements will apply to only those teams that are shortlisted after the concept note stage and invited to submit full applications:
In addition to meeting the requirements set out in the Concept note stage, Organizations will be required to attach formal documentation as evidence of their legal registration status.
Entities that are ineligible to apply include: Government agencies (local and foreign), non-incorporated entities (informal organizations), and individuals not affiliated with any legally recognized entity. Individuals interested in applying for the RIC4FIG challenge are encouraged to form teams. Other entities ineligible to apply include any individuals or organizations participating in, linked to, or sponsoring subversive activities including criminal acts, terrorism or related activities. A background check will be conducted on all teams applying for the grants for their status regarding USG blacklisted individuals and entities and for the legal nature of their affiliate organisation.
Colleges, universities, and research facilities that are funded by, and/or affiliated with, a foreign government are not considered a foreign government
Grants may not be awarded to an organization from, or with a principal place of business in, a country subject to trade and economic sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of Treasury or to any individual or entity subject to targeted trade and economic sanctions administered by OFAC. For more information see OFAC website: www.ustreas.gov/ofac. The current list of OFAC restricted countries includes Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan. However, the list of countries subject to OFAC restrictions may change, and RAN will conduct a final eligibility determination prior to award. All USAID restrictions pertaining to US Government funding apply.
Judging phases
The RIC4FIG grant is a 3-phased grant where teams advance from one phase to the next based on expert evaluation. Each stage focuses on different aspects within the innovation development timeline and as such, different evaluation criteria will be used for the different stages.
Judging panel
The Judging Panel is responsible for evaluating applications for alignment with RAN’s theory of change with respect to strengthening resilience to shocks and stresses arising out of climate variability and climate change. The Judging Panel is comprised of highly qualified and impartial judges with expertise in the technical domains in which the intervention pathways lie (i.e. agriculture, development, markets, behavior change, engineering, financial services etc.), resilience building, development programming, business modeling, and user-centered design approaches. The Judging Panel is also drawn from various sectors including academia, civil society organizations, the private sector, public sector, development partners and USAID national and regional representatives.
All members of the Judging Panel will sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, as well as statements acknowledging that they make no personal claim to the intellectual property developed by Teams or relevant partners.
Selection of Finalists
Once the application period closes, the judging panel will assess all submitted applications using the evaluation criteria given in this section. Incomplete applications will excluded from the evaluation process. The evaluation process will proceed in multiple stages:
Concept Note Stage
• The reviewers will assess all submitted concept notes in line with the evaluation criteria given, and identify an initial shortlist across the different innovation challenges, selecting the top tier applications per innovation challenge. These teams will be invited to submit full applications.
Full Application Stage
• Stage 1: The reviewers will assess all submitted concept notes in line with the evaluation criteria and shortlist the top tier applications per innovation challenge.
• Stage 2: The shortlisted teams will make a live pitch to the judges and respond to various questions posed to them by the judges. These questions will have arisen out of their written submissions and will include any issues flagged for clarification by the reviewers, as well as any ad-hoc questions arising from the live pitch. The pitch sessions will be conducted either face-to-face or using appropriate communication technologies.
• Stage 3: RAN will consult with relevant technical and geographic experts within USAID and final selection decisions will be made.
RAN and USAID retain the sole and absolute discretion to declare the finalists and award all grants in this call. Any such decision may not be challenged by any entrant.
Notification of Award
Successful Teams will be notified by e-mail and telephone to their designated point of contact. Successful teams and their affiliate organizations will also be profiled on the this website (grants.ranlab.org).
• Complete RIC4FIG RFA Document
• Useful Definitions
• Understanding RIC4FIG Resilience Dimensions
• The Southern Africa Resilience Challenge
• A Systems View to understanding the RIC4FIG challenges
- Cycle of Poverty
- Food Insecurity
- HIV/AIDS as a cause and effect of lack of resilience
- Low Income Generation
• M-Kits (Short Videos): Highlights of key discussions from the RIC4FIG intervetion strategy workshop
1. Overview of RAN and the SA RILab
2. RIC4FIG Resilience Outcomes
3. A Systems View to the Resilience Challenge
4. Stakeholder Analysis
5. Understanding the RIC4FIG Community Contexts
1) Begin by carefully reading the information detailing the RIC4FIG innovation challenges, noting the particular pathway, challenge and community context that you are interested in. See more at Innovation Challenges tab
2) Register as an applicant by creating an account
3) Fill out your concept note, providing all requested information. Note that some fields in the concept note application form have a maximum allowable number of words, and you will be required to adhere to this limit as indicated on the form.
4) When done filling out the concept note application form, you have two options depending on whether you wish to save a draft version of your application pending further review, or if you are satisfied with your application and wish to immediately submit it for consideration as your final RIC4FIG submission:
5) If you wish to view all your RIC4FIG submissions, you can do so at 'My Applications'. Here, you have the option to select a draft submission and edit it, or choose to submit it if you do not wish to make any further edits. You can also view an already submitted application.
6) Note that you can choose to withdraw any application (draft or submitted) by clicking on the delete application button that is displayed at the end of each individual application
1) All submitted applications must in the English language.
2) Applications must be submitted via the web-based platform at grants.ranlab.org/. Those submitted via regular mail, facsimile, or email will not be accepted.
3)Complete concept note applications must be submitted by the RIC4FIG call Concept Note submission deadline (5:00 pm South Africa Time on January 30, 2015) using the online platform (grants.ranlab.org/). No additions or modifications to the applications will be accepted after this submission deadline.
4)Full applications must be submitted by the RIC4FIG Full Application submission deadline (5:00 pm South Africa Time on March 31, 2015 ) using the online platform (grants.ranlab.org/). No additions or modifications to the applications will be accepted after this submission deadline. This deadline applies to only those applicants who are invited to submit full applications after the concept notes are evaluated.
5)RAN bears no responsibility for any transmission errors associated with electronic submissions.
6)If no application meets the required threshold to receive a grant, the call may be reopened at the sole discretion of RAN, the SA RILab, and USAID.
7)Liability: Participants agree to assume any and all risks, and waive claims against RAN and its related entities and partners for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from their participation in this innovation challenge.
8)Teams can submit more than one application. In such instances, each of the different projects will be submitted and reviewed separately.
| 1. What is RAN? |
| 2. Which target communities does the SA RILab work with? |
| 3. What is the objective of this resilience innovation challenge ? |
The RIC4FIG Grants Call provides a unique opportunity for sourcing, development and scaling of innovative technologies and approaches that will strengthen resilience to food insecurity and limited opportunities for income generation in target communities, including those communities affected by the high burden of HIV/AIDS. In particular, SA RILab is looking to select and incentivize the development of solutions that will impact on entrepreneurial and life skills, agricultural production and access to markets, as well as promote livelihood diversification while ensuring improved financial inclusion and community engagement.
| 4. What are the levels of seed funding available under this call? |
Grants ranging between US$15,000 to US$125,000 will be awarded under this call to support the development of innovative approaches and technologies that will strengthen resilience to food insecurity and limited opportunities for income generation within the Southern African Region. For more information please click Grant Structure
| 5. How can I learn more about Food Security and Improved Income Generation? |
Links to useful online resources that provide background information on SA RILab thematic focus and the resilience dimensions for the SA RILab region are available at SARILab
Applications for the RIC4FIG Grants Call will be accepted from December 1, 2014 until January 30, 2015 (by 5:00 pm Central African Time (CAT)). Details are on Timelines
| 6. Who is eligible to apply for the Challenge? |
Applications will be open to any group/team or organization that wants to submit an entry as outlined here
| 7. How do teams form? |
Teams form around a team leader. The leader has four responsibilities:
• Incorporate team members based on their expertise and experience and provide a short profile of each one.
• Act as the point of contact for RAN
• Coordinating the team members to respond to the challenge and project implementation upon award
| 8. Can I get together with anyone to create a team, or do teams have to be students from the same University? |
No, teams do not have to be students from the same University. A team can be a set of people working together on the same innovation irrespective of their affiliation and discipline.
| 9. What type of team do I belong if part of my members are in university and others are in an organisation? |
It is dependent on the affiliation of the team leader.
| 10. Can I apply for more than one challenge in the same pathway and under the same context? |
Yes. There are no restrictions on the number of applications
| 11. What happens once I have submitted my application? |
All applications undergo a robust assessment process by a selected team of experts. The grants website will contain information on the status of the applications at the different stages. However, tracking of any application will be provided for the entire batch of applications and not for individual applications.
| 12. Is there any kind of documentation needed for this call? |
The following documents MUST be submitted with the application:
• Teams applying as organizations that are registered legal entities should indicate the name of organization and include the country where the organization is incorporated/registered. Such teams will be required to upload documentary evidence of official incorporation.
• Short profiles of key team members highlighting their expertise and experience
Full Application phase
• In addition to their full application, successful applicants must submit a project budget indicating activities to be undertaken to provide necessary deliverables for Phase 1 funding.
| 14. How do I register to apply for the RIC4FIG Grants Call? |
| 15. How do I apply? |
The RIC4FIG grant is a 3-phased grant where teams advance from one phase to the next based on expert evaluation. Each stage focuses on different aspects within the innovation development timeline and as such, different evaluation criteria will be used for the different stages.
| 17. When will my concept be evaluated to move to the full application stage? |
| 18. How will the sub-challenges be judged? |
The Expert Panel will recommend to RAN and thereafter to USAID the selected teams for funding. Six (6) teams will be selected by a Panel of Judges to receive phase 1 funding, only the best three (3) will later be selected to receive phase 2 funding and only the best two of these three will be selected to receive phase 3 funding. Phase 1 grants will be announced in May 2015, Phase 2 grants in December 2015, and Phase 3 grants will be announced in October 2016.
| 19. My innovation lies in Phase 2, do I have to apply to Phase 1 first? |
| 20. My team already has a refined prototype and is ready to scale, what would be our deliverable for Phase 1 and 2? |
| 21. My innovation cuts across almost all the pathways, which particular one do i select? |
| 22. Does it mean I cannot apply for the call if I have an innovation under a particular challenge but is not in the context listed? |
| 23. I cannot access the application form, please help |
It is also important to check for the confirmatory email in your spam folder.
| 24. Can I edit my application form before and after submission? |
| 25. How can I retrieve a saved draft application for further editing? |
| 26. Can I view my application after I have submitted it? |
| 27. Can I submit another application to replace the one already submitted (if the first one was submitted in error?) |
| 28. I have accidentally reset my form, can my work be recovered? |
Southern African countries including South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe have suffered many stresses in recent years which have exposed people to various vulnerabilities. The multiple stresses have risen from current climatic hazards, poverty and unequal access to resources, food insecurity, globalization trends (including impact of global financial crisis), social and political conflicts and incidences of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS. Many of these shocks and stresses are knit in close and complex ways, as some of them are consequences of the vulnerabilities they have created. HIV/AIDS has been a major source of stress to communities in Southern Africa with South Africa having the highest prevalence in the world (Prevalence among adults 15-49 years is 18.8%), Zimbabwe has more than 14% of women and men aged 15-49 years infected with HIV and the national adult HIV prevalence in Malawi is 11%.
HIV/AIDS is responsible for reversing decades of economic and social development and causing rural disintegration.2 AIDS-related deaths of the most economically valuable members of communities – young adults – contribute to economic and social disruptions that can affect agricultural activities, land use, and land tenure. AIDS-related mortality and morbidity can negatively impact on household income and exacerbate pre-existing poverty. In particular, people living with HIV face impaired productivity, declining income, and increasingly difficult choices among essential but competing expenses, such as food versus health care. HIV-related morbidity and mortality reduce labour resources, increase the care burden for affected households which may limit ability to evacuate assets during floods, reduce dependency patterns, and simultaneously increase dependency ratios within households.
When a household loses a productive member to HIV, the household may have less income which subsequently leads to food insecurity. Food security is the capacity of households to procure a stable and sustainable basket of adequate food. It cannot be understood in isolation from social protection, sources of income, rural and urban development, nutritional knowledge, education, access to land, water and electricity as well as changing household structures. HIV/AIDS affects food security through its negative effect on human capital, financial capital and social capital. Nonetheless, even without HIV/AIDS, lower household earning potential, less education and fewer assets can affect food security. Rather than take control of their destiny, many people have been reported to be solely dependent on social grants and social safety nets and thus developing a pervasive sense of ‘entitlement’ that is associated with weakened resilience.
While some people eventually succumb to these complex vulnerabilities of living in poorly-resourced environments exposed to the hazards of climate variability in addition to existing high burden of HIV/AIDS, others recover from the shocks/stresses and learn from the situation, such that they are able to maintain their livelihoods and increase their well-being. Understanding this adaptive capacity or resilience in target communities is important to promoting the well-being of not only those affected by HIV/AIDS, but of those living in poverty in general. Such an understanding gained from a series of community consultations and expert consultations have particularly helped in informing the potential intervention pathways that are detailed in this call as being able to strengthen resilience in the target communities.
Vulnerable communities, where people are unable to buffer themselves from hazards for a number of reasons, have a low ability to cope with short-term shocks (such as drought and flooding) and to mitigate chronic stressors (such as HIV/AIDS, unemployment), which in turn means that the negative impacts on livelihoods resulting from inadequate coping strategies are significantly high. A detailed content analysis of data generated from community consultations in these regions resulted in the identification of the following resilience dimensions that would inform the SA RILab’s resilience challenge call.
The issues affecting the Southern Africa region and local adaptive capabilities have been summarized into 9 resilience dimensions:
1) Wealth
2) Social capital
3) Human capital
4) Infrastructure
5) Psychosocial well-being
6) Security
7) Governance
8) Health
9) Environment.
This RIC4FIG call serves as a catalyst for filling the identified resilience gaps so as to reduce vulnerabilities and enhance well-being in target communities.
Beitbridge district is one of the three major urban settlements of Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe. The district is plagued with recurring drought making rain fed agriculture unprofitable. Many people have therefore diversified out of agriculture into harvesting forest products for both subsistence and commercial purposes. The people mainly grow drought tolerant crops such as millet and sorghum. The recurrent droughts have drastically reduced their contribution to household income, as herds are continually lost due to the decline in pastures. Other livestock such as goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs and chicken are also raised for sale and domestic consumption.
Wage employment within the district is low with most of the people in wage employment employed as migrant workers outside the district within or outside the country such as South Africa and Botswana. Most of the migrant labourers are men, leaving the women as heads of households. The remittances from migrant labour constitute an important source of household income. Other livelihoods include the sale of amacimbi (mopane worms) home brewed beer and crafts. Some engage in cross border trading. However, the major livelihood is cattle ranching.
Frequent droughts in Beitbridge are a cause of low agricultural production, food insecurity and poverty in this district. The dry environment does not promote crop production hence food shortages are a common feature. The dry environment promotes mopane, marula and baobab trees from which the community derives livelihoods. From these trees the community harvests mopane worms, baobab and marula fruit for consumption and sale. Harvesting and selling of mopane worms is mostly done by women and children. High unemployment levels in Beitbridge partly due to lack of industries has resulted in people occupying themselves at the border offering services such as clearing goods and other service jobs. As a result of these high levels of poverty, unemployment and low agricultural productivity which lead to sex trade, Beitbridge has one of the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe.
Chikwawa District is located in the Southern Region of Malawi and borders Blantyre (to the north east), Mwanza (to the north), Thyolo (to the east), Nsanje (to the south) and Mozambique (to the west). Agriculture is the mainstay of the local economy of Chikwawa, with over 80 percent of the population working as smallholder farmers, with an average landholding size of 0.8 Ha per farm family. The major types of food crops grown include maize, rice, sorghum and millet. In terms of cash crops, Chikwawa is a leading producer of sugar, pigeonpeas, cotton, cowpeas and groundnuts.
On a yearly-basis Chikwawa District experiences the flooding of the Shire River, as rains from the Shire Highlands and the Thyolo Escarpments move down the Shire River, displacing communities that reside close to the Shire River, which is an important source of livelihood. Apart from floods, Chikwawa also experiences prolonged dry spells every year. The persistent floods and dry spells have made the households in the district to suffer from chronic food insecurity; hunger and malnutrition in the households and community. For the majority of the households, the main way of addressing the food insecurity is through the sale of household labour to other wealthier members of the communities (i.e. through working in other people’s farms in other communities). The need to get employed fuels HIV and AIDS in the community as some women exchange sexual favours to get employed as daily labourers in some local sugar estates.
Dikgale Community is under Polokwane Municipality in the Limpopo Province. The Dikgale community comprises 23 villages, with an estimated population of more than 90000 people and a population density of 116 per square km. Although drought-prone, the main economic activity within Dikgale is agriculture in the form of livestock farming. A large proportion of adults are migrant workers, while others work as farm labourers on neighbouring farms, or as domestic workers in nearby towns. Many are also pensioners. The unemployment rate in the area is high, particularly amongst the youth. A few households have water taps within their homes, but most must fetch water from taps situated at strategic points around the villages. Most households have a pit latrine within their yards but there is no organized waste disposal. Infrastructure in the villages is poor and few of the roads are tarred. Both infectious, including HIV/AIDS, and non-infectious diseases are prevalent in the area. Most of the deaths in the 15-49 year age group in Dikgale to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Under nutrition is common and a large proportion of children are stunted. Despite the identified vulnerabilities in this community, a large number of community members are resilient and have good health status and reasonable quality of life.
Pyramid is predominantly a farming area situated along the Old Warm Baths Road and it is approximately 22 km north of Pretoria, South Africa. Most of the land is used for commercial farming or light industrial activity on plots. It has a population of 31 150 people with 9372 households (Stas SA projections in 2013 based on 2011 census). The community is comprised mostly of makeshift houses known as shacks, and single rooms with poor ventilation and sanitation. Most of these make-shift houses are occupied by the farm workers and plot workers. It is a community with a high prevalence of HIV and AIDS and high rate of prostitution. There is high level of poor educational attainment with most of the adult population without a high school qualification. Many residents do not have identity documents which makes accessing grants difficult. There are a number of foreigners living in the area who are prepared to work for very low wages. There is also a high level of unemployment. All these contribute to a high level of poverty in the community.
HIV/AIDS burdened Southern African communities that experience recurrent shocks and intermittent stresses such as drought and flooding are largely dependent on subsistence agriculture and face the challenge of non-diversification. The SA RILab Resilience Innovation Challenge Grants are designed to achieve the following objectives:
General Objective:
To strengthen resilience of target communities by building their agency to promote life and entrepreneurship skills, diversify to profitable enterprises, and to improve farming skills and take more control of the agricultural value chain in ways that are sustainable and expands financial inclusion.
The specific objectives of the SA RILab call are:
1. To transform the communities so as to have a vibrant local economy driven by skilled and positive-minded people who are capable of creating opportunities for themselves and their communities.
2. To strengthen local economy by introducing diverse approaches and strategies for a sustainable living.
3. To transform agricultural processes in order to increase agricultural production and access to high value markets.
4. To improve access of poor communities to financial services.
The RIC4FIG organizers and partners strive to provide a round of grants that lead to resilience building around these five objectives.
Through this RIC4FIG call, the Southern Africa RILab will fund projects in three priority intervention pathways (areas) for building resilience to food insecurity and limited opportunities for income generation in target communities, including those communities affected by high burden of HIV/AIDS:
Applicable community contexts:
| i. Context 1 (South Africa): |
| ii. Context 2 (Malawi): |
The target communities are highly dependent on rain-fed subsistence farming that is vulnerable to adverse effects of climate variability. Nonetheless, the communities have a lot of potential to thrive under this natural resource limitation. This is evident from years of positive adaptation and coping strategies. However, adaptation is constrained by limited livelihoods options and limited financial inclusion and engagement. We are looking for solutions that will substantially empower target communities by diversifying their livelihoods using simple but highly profitable farm and non-farm businesses and solutions that also create opportunities for better financial inclusion through savings and access to credit.
Applicable community contexts:
| i. Context 1 (South Africa): |
Semi-arid areas, lack of skills, high burden of HIV/AIDS, unemployment, poverty, substance and alcohol abuse, high crime rate, high dependence on government-sponsored social grants, relatively high teenage pregnancy, lack of infrastructure and poor sanitation and water services.
| ii. Context 2 (Malawi): |
Persistent drought and floods, high burden of HIV/AIDS, heavy dependence on agriculture and limited employment opportunities.
| iii. Context 3 (Zimbabwe): |
Semi-arid, persistent droughts, border community with inefficient customs services, cash proceeds from cattle sale pens attracts commercial sex workers to point of sales, high burden of HIV/AIDS, large number of female-headed households and limited livelihood options.
Applicable community contexts:
| i. Context 1 (Malawi): |
| ii. Context 2 (Zimbabwe): |
