scholarship

CGIAR/WFP Stability-and-Peace Accelerator Program 2024 ($30,000 equity-free grant)

February 10, 2024

Application Deadline: February 16, 2024

CGIAR/WFP Stability-and-Peace Accelerator Program 2024 ($30,000 equity-free grant)

In fragile and conflict-affected areas (FCAs), where over 1.5 billion people face unprecedented challenges to their food security and livelihoods, the global crisis of hunger and malnutrition is felt most keenly.

The “Stability-and-Peace Accelerator Programme” is being launched by the CGIAR in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator. Its goal is to identify and expand high-impact innovations that support food, land, and water systems (FLWS) in these vulnerable areas.

We are putting out a call to innovators, entrepreneurs, and change agents to propose ground-breaking solutions that help strengthen communities weakened by violence and fragility, guarantee food and nutrition security, improve climate adaption, and foster social cohesion and sustainability.

CGIAR/WFP Stability-and-Peace Accelerator Program 2024 ($30,000 equity-free grant)

Selected teams will get support from the WFP Innovation Accelerator and CGIAR through an extensive program meant to quicken the development of potential solutions and get them ready for scalability. This comprises scientific advice in addition to financial, technical, and business support, to enhance the innovator’s capacity to have a sustainable effect that changes people’s lives. Our goal is to identify and support creative solutions that can bring about long-lasting improvement in some of the most difficult settings on the planet. These solutions must also be sustainable, scalable, and inventive.

We invite organizations to submit their creative ideas to end hunger, protect communities from unforeseen shocks, guarantee reliable access to wholesome food, promote inclusive economic opportunities, involve young people, and strengthen food systems’ resilience in the face of climate change.

What does this Scholarship Offer

A noteworthy convergence of activities has occurred with this partnership between the CGIAR and the WFP Innovation Accelerator, particularly through the CGIAR Initiative on Fragility, Conflict, and Migration. With its proven track record of running 55 innovation boot camps, assisting 487 teams, and field testing over 100 solutions, the WFP Innovation Accelerator has already had a significant impact on 37 million people in 2022 alone. By combining this with the CGIAR’s focused research agenda, we will improve social inclusion, gender equity, and climate resilience by delivering knowledge and innovation that advances the transformation of food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. By working together, we hope to solve the many issues related to the climate catastrophe and offer long-term solutions to the most vulnerable groups of people.

What we provide to encourage innovation:

A six-month sprint acceleration program that combines science-based technical support from the WFP Innovation Accelerator with business-focused training and mentorship.
Access to the CGIAR research network, the most publicly supported R&D organization in the world.
Workshop on national strategy to begin implementation.
Each of the winning inventions with a validated sustainable business model and growth strategy will receive a US$30,000 equity-free prize.
Exposure to funders both domestically and internationally.
After-acceleration assistance.

Eligibility Criteria for CGIAR/WFP Stability-and-Peace Accelerator Program 2024

Your organization (for-profit, not-for-profit, social enterprise, NGO, INGO) needs to be a recognized legal entity.
Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, or Yemen are the four nations of implementation where your organization should be present or willing to have a presence. This could be in the form of partnerships, long-term operations, subsidiaries, national offices, or other permanent presence.
Your invention tackles one or more of the top innovative areas associated with urgent problems encountered in the humanitarian sector in the nation where it is implemented.
Your idea ought to be ready for mass production at this point, having achieved the minimal viable product stage.
Your idea should have a feasible implementation strategy that can be carried out during the six-month Sprint using the available funds, as well as a clear route to scale.
It is anticipated applicants that will make a concerted effort to establish connections with CGIAR country offices, work with pertinent humanitarian players, and engage with innovation ecosystems.

Evaluation Standards for CGIAR/WFP Stability-and-Peace Accelerator Program 2024

The following criteria will be used to evaluate your application:

Level of innovation/innovativeness: The solution is new, inventive, and significantly impacts society about the subjects indicated.
Relevance to the context: The solution gives end users/target beneficiaries tangible solutions while addressing at least one of the priority areas and fitting into at least one of the four national contexts.
Scalability and sustainability of the solution: The solution offers a sustainable revenue stream as well as a defined business plan.
The team’s qualities include demonstrated skill, technical coherence, dedication, drive, an entrepreneurial mentality, and a varied and inclusive membership.
Clearly stated needs: The solution has room for enhancement or expansion, which can be fully realized through R&D, venture capital, and capacity building.

Requirements

CGIAR and the WFP Innovation Accelerator are searching for low-tech and high-tech solutions that are expressly designed to address the unique difficulties found in FCAs (fragile and conflict-affected settings), particularly in Yemen, Kenya, Jordan, and Nigeria.
WFP also promotes “wildcard” entries that are strong. Our goal is to find and fund outstanding global inventions that have the potential to significantly solve these issues.