Social Enterprises Invited for Water, Energy & Food Grand Challenge for Development

27 January 2022

A consortium of international funding agencies have announced the launch of Water, Energy & Food (WE4F) Grand Challenge for Development for social enterprises based in South and Southeast Asia. WE4F is a second-generation Grand Challenge for Development that capitalizes on the learnings from the Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development.

WE4F is looking for matured social enterprises and nonprofit organizations with a for-profit program based in South and Southeast Asia, who have innovative water-food, energy-food, and water-energy-food solutions. Social organizations with a track record of successful sales who intend to expand their businesses commercially, using a sustainable model are suitable for this grant. The WE4F grant funding can also be used as a catalyst to attract investors and improve/expand their business.

WE4F hopes to expand the scale of innovations that impact the sectors food and water, food and energy or all three sectors of the nexus (water, energy & food) to increase the sustainability of agricultural food value chains, improve climate resilient agriculture and sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity in developing countries, with a particular focus on the poor and women.

WE4F aims to provide organizations with the technical assistance needed to sustainably scale solutions to meet the challenges in the WE4F nexus. It is looking for organizations with scalable products or services that address the below themes:

  • 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 farms
  • THEME 4: Energy innovations for food processing, and/or logistics
  • THEME 5: Food production with efficient energy use
  • THEME 6: Leveraging food waste for energy

This is the second and final call under the Water, Energy for Food program, and we are seeking concept notes from eligible organizations that address the water-energy-food nexus challenges. The deadline for submission is 19 November 2021 Apply now at WE4F S/SEA RIH: Call for Innovations.