Agricultural Innovator? Apply to Receive $150,000 in WFP’s AICR Accelerator Programme

The World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator has opened applications for agricultural experts to take part in the Agricultural Innovation for Climate Resilience Programme (AICR).

In partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), and its Fund for the Promotion of Innovation in Agriculture (i4Ag), the programme seeks to support farmers and other agriculture stakeholders in building capabilities that would mitigate effects of climate change on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The WFP Innovation Accelerator was launched in 2015 to pilot new solutions and scale promising innovations to eliminate hunger.

So far, it has supported 52 innovation projects at various levels of maturity – sprint and scale-up – and positively impacted the lives of 9 million people across 67 countries in 2021. WFP received over 1,350 applications from 125 countries around the world, showing the reach and value its innovation programmes offer.

Benefits

Selected applicants will be invited to participate in a 4-day fully virtual WFP Innovation Bootcamp in July 2023 and will be able to apply for the WFP Sprint Programme, which is a 6-to 9-month acceleration program with access to:

• $150,000 in equity-free funding for the implementation of a proposed growth plan
• Support from the WFP Innovation Accelerator and relevant partners through the duration of their Sprints
• Mentorship and access to a global network of relevant stakeholders in the humanitarian, business and international development cooperation space

Solutions that have proven their concepts, scale, and value for social impact could qualify for further funding and support in future programmes or events in WFP’s alumni community. 

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Agricultural Innovation for Climate Resilience Programme, you should meet the following criteria:

• Your solution should be part of an established legal entity in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and Madagascar (for-profit or social enterprise)
• Your organization must have a presence and be locally rooted in the country of implementation: country office or other permanent presence
• Your innovation clearly addresses one or more of the priority topics related to building climate resilience in agriculture and the food sector in any of the target countries
• Your innovation must be at least at the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage; or Proof of concept with a validated prototype
• Your innovation should have a verified potential commercial value and impact
• Solution should have a committed founding team with at least 5 full-time employees
• You should be able to provide evidence of user/customer validation of the value proposition
• Ventures should be in the process of developing a clear path to commercial viability (business model fit)
• Solutions should have a potential plan to implement as part of the 6- to 9-month Sprint program
• Innovations should change existing or establish new routines and have a positive impact on one or more of the following aspects: food security, employment and income generation and/or climate resilience and natural resource protection
• The beneficiaries of the innovative solutions should be small-scale farmers, food processing companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, consumers, youth and/or women
• Ventures should demonstrate they have a diverse, non-discriminatory, gender-balanced venture with demonstrated leadership and entrepreneurial mindset and what the vision of the team is
• We prioritize ventures that focus on promoting gender equality and empowering women, either through their beneficiaries, job creation or by having a high representation of women in leadership positions
• These solutions should be focused on one or more of the priority topics: Space-efficient Innovations, Soil-Saving Innovations, Water-Saving Innovations and Renewable Energy Solutions

How to apply

Are you an innovative agricultural company building climate-resilient solutions? Do you meet the above criteria? Then apply before the deadline on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.