USAID: Development Innovation Ventures Annual Program Statement

Deadline extended till October 31, 2021.

The United States Agency of International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for its Development Innovation Ventures Annual Program Statement to improve the lives of people living in poverty in the developing world.

DIV provides tiered funding to pilot, test, and transition to scale those innovations that demonstrate evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and the potential to scale.

DIV accepts applications from anyone, including businesses, not-for-profit organizations, researchers, faith-based entities, and governments. DIV supports innovations across all countries and development sectors in which USAID operates, including health, education, water, energy, economic development, and other sectors.

Funding Information

• The amount of resources made available under this APS will depend on the applications received and the availability of funds. DIV awards are typically grants with a maximum of three (3) years in length.
• They accept proposals for funding at the following stages:
  • STAGE 1: Pilot (up to $200,000)
  • STAGE 2: Testing and Positioning for Scale (up to $1,500,000)
  • STAGE 3: Transitioning to Scale (up to $15,000,000)
  • Evidence Generation (up to $1,500,000)

What DIV might fund?

DIV recognizes that innovation can take multiple forms. Some examples of development innovations that DIV may support include the following:

• New technologies;
• New ways of delivering or financing goods or services;
• More cost-effective adaptations to existing solutions;
• New ways of increasing uptake of existing proven solutions and scaling to new geographies;
• Policy changes or shifts based on insights from behavioral economics;
• Social or behavioral innovations; and
• Data collection and rigorous evaluation to measure the social impacts of promising innovations.

What DIV typically does not fund?

There are some types of projects that are not a good fit for DIV’s objectives. These include but are not limited to the following:

• Innovations at the idea stage that have not yet been created (i.e., that are in the ideation phase);
• Projects with limited potential to scale or minimal potential to demonstrate impact and cost-effectiveness (e.g., a jewelry business or construction of immobile physical infrastructure, including schools, power plants or lines, and factories);
• Basic scientific research (e.g., laboratory research of a prototype with no field testing);
• Expansion of businesses that are unlikely to lead to significant development impacts (e.g., businesses that lack a base-of-the-pyramid customer focus);
• Planning, diagnostic, and other tools that are difficult to link directly to measurable development impacts for people living in poverty and that reach millions of people only indirectly (e.g., a stand-alone monitoring or evaluation platform);
• Innovations that are applicable only in very limited contexts that will limit scale potential (e.g., projects that target a very rare disease);
• Pure research or research that will provide evidence of impact but will not assess cost-effectiveness or scalability; and
• Intermediaries with an indirect impact on development outcomes (e.g., incubators, accelerators, start-up boot camps, and other conveners).

Eligibility Criteria

• DIV will make awards under this APS to successful applicants on the basis of their ability to further USAID’s goal of dramatically improving or saving the lives of the poor in developing countries, as well as their ability to adhere to DIV’s core principles and provide excellent value to the U.S. government to substantially contribute to these objectives. DIV welcomes applications from individuals; public, private, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations; institutions of higher education; faith-based organizations; public international organizations; non-governmental organizations; U.S. and non-U.S. governmental organizations; multilateral and international donor organizations. To be eligible under this APS, applicants must be responsive to this APS and must be sufficiently responsible to perform or participate in the final award.
• Awards are also contingent on DIV’s ability to obtain concurrence from the responsible USAID Mission. Applicants that are organizational entities must be legally recognized under applicable law. Local organizations are eligible and encouraged to apply, as well as consortia of local organizations. Participation of foreign government entities is possible only through an approved sub award agreement with a prime recipient.
• USAID encourages applications from new partners. Awards to new partners may require USAID to undertake necessary pre-award reviews of these organizations to determine “responsibility” with respect to fiduciary and other oversight responsibilities of the award.

For more information, visit https://www.usaid.gov/div/apply