Deadline: 7-Jun-21
The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched the WFP Innovation Challenge 2021 in search of game-changing ideas to build stronger, more sustainable food systems addressing hunger, and in preparation for the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit.
WFP is looking for disruptive innovations for fighting hunger in areas such as resilience to shocks and stress; access to safe and nutritious food; and advancing equitable livelihoods for all.
Priorities
WFP’s current innovation priorities are listed here. They also encourage strong “wildcard ideas” to apply.
- Resilient Food Systems: Improving the resilience of food systems is key to eradicating hunger. They are looking for solutions that enable communities to better resist and recover from the effects of conflict, natural hazards, pandemics, political instability and other shocks and stressors that drive food security in the long term. These solutions should have the potential to:
- Enable home grown school feeding initiatives that will improve the nutrition of schoolchildren and boost local economies;
- Enhance the resilience in shock-prone areas by helping stabilize prices, build safety nets for temporary assistance, and boost national social protection systems;
- Enable preventative actions for compounded risks and multiple shocks through early warning systems;
- Accelerate the rural transformation and reach households at the last mile leveraging e-commerce ecosystems;
- Promote women’s tenure rights to own and control assets;
- Enable smallholder farmers’ access to credit with climate risk profiling (e.g. using artificial intelligence to predict weather patterns, agricultural best practice, etc.) to de-risk credit guarantee schemes;
- Enable sustainable water management solutions to maximise the value of water for agricultural use;
- Foster clean energy technologies to power value chains;
- Increase private sector investment in sustainable development, including through blended financing mechanisms to support small projects.
- Safe and Nutritious Food Systems: To end hunger and all forms of malnutrition, they need food systems that bring affordable and safe food products to all people. They are looking for solutions that increase the availability of nutritious food, making food more affordable and accessible. These solutions should have the potential to:
- Enable and expand the coverage of nutritious-sensitive social protection systems for food-insecure communities;
- Address micronutrients deficiencies in women and children;
- Enable biofortified crops such as naturally bred staple crops that have higher vitamin and mineral content than standard staples;
- Promote the implementation of comprehensive school food programmes (e.g. web-based school menu tools, artificial intelligence-powered tools to predict the attendance of students at school to ensure every child receives the food they need, etc.);
- Enhance nutrient intake of households by helping them plan their meals based on the availability of food in local markets, price constraints, dietary preferences, local food culture;
- Employ new affordable finished foods (that are not patented or subject to proprietary restrictions) that afford a balanced nutritional profile covering multiple vitamins and minerals, a shelf life of 12 months, and are stable at 30 C / 65% RH.
- Inclusive Food Systems: Building food systems where no one is left behind will bring them a step closer to a world free from hunger. They are looking to support solutions that promote equitable livelihoods for all by empowering smallholder farmers and local producers and bringing food and income-generating activities to communities at the last mile. These solutions should have the potential to:
- Promote women-led enterprises to grow and sell nutritious crops;
- Support small-scale farmers to raise productivity;
- Bridge the digital divide and increase access to information and services for smallholder farmers;
- Facilitate and promote local food production;
- Enable financial inclusion for vulnerable communities in rural areas;
- Streamline social protection mechanisms across agri-food systems and related sectors;
- Generate and promote living incomes and wages in value chains for small-scale farmers and agricultural workers.
Benefits
- Funding: Apply to receive up to $100,000 in equity-free funding, with further funding dependent upon progress and measurable achievement of key targets.
- Access to WFP Operations: Successful teams will work with WFP units on the ground to further develop and refine their solutions.
- Hands-On Support: You’ll have the chance to work with technical and industry mentors who will provide guidance and accelerate your progress.
- Networking: Teams will be able to tap into and leverage the strong network of public, private, and government partners to accelerate implementation.
Eligibility Criteria
- 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.
- If you are a WFP employee:
- Your team must have evidence of Country Office support and management buy-in.
- You are encouraged to apply, regardless of your contract type or function.
- They accept project applications from WFP employees who are collaborating with NGOs, government or private sectors.
For more information, visit https://innovation.wfp.org/apply