Funding Friday...
Develop Impact - Issue 130
Good morning, Develop Impact readers!
I hope you have had a productive and fruitful week.
This week, we are sharing another nine funding opportunities with you to support your #tech4good work in developing and implementing technological solutions to address critical challenges and help build a more sustainable and inclusive world.
Please let me know if you have anything you’d like to share with this community, I would love to hear from you!
Enjoy reading!
Jesse
What’s funding this week…
The Climate Story Fund is now open for Storytellers
The Climate Story Fund prioritizes climate stories centering on the most affected, the unengaged, and the underrepresented, and puts them at the center of the story. The Fund also prioritizes storytellers working in and from those communities, sharing narratives that resonate deeply with new and unengaged audiences, and bringing them into critical conversations around climate justice.
The selection process will be guided by such principles. In addition, it will give preference to projects that embody inclusion and diversity across team and subject matter, and exercise responsible practices when engaging story participants and communities.
They are looking for creative nonfiction projects including long-form, short, or episodic documentaries as well as podcasts and radio documentaries, that can complete production in 2023 with support from the Climate Story Fund. The Fund also supports completed creative nonfiction and fiction projects of any medium looking to pilot an impact campaign in 2023 to engage audiences who are not typically included in the climate conversation.
Front Line Defenders 2023 Award – Human Rights Defenders at Risk
The nomination process is open for anyone to submit a nomination of a human rights defender, collective, organization, or community working on any human rights issue and facing significant risk due to their work or operating in an environment that itself is characterized as insecure. The purpose of the Award is to give visibility to HRDs who are not normally acknowledged or recognized at the international level. At the same time, the Award should not bring the additional risk for which the HRD is not prepared. In addition to the Award, winners will receive:
a modest financial prize;
a security grant to improve their security measures;
collaboration with Front Line Defenders for media work in recognition of the Award;
advocacy by Front Line Defenders related to the Award and the work of the winners;
an event co-organized by the HRD, local partners, and Front Line Defenders to give visibility to the Award in the winners’ countries (as determined and guided by the winners);
the Global Laureates will attend a ceremony in Dublin at a date to be determined;
ongoing security consultation with Front Line Defenders
For each region of the world (Africa; Americas; Asia-Pacific; Europe & Central Asia; and Middle East & North Africa) there will be one winner selected and Front Line Defenders will recognize all five as the 2023 Front Line Defenders Award Laureates.
Wild Animal Initiative Fellowship Program
Wild Animal Initiative is inviting early-career scientists to apply to join their fellowship program. Fellowships are offered to individuals to conduct wild animal welfare research that is explicitly focused on combining animal welfare and the study of wild animals.
They offer a stipend of up to $60,000 USD per year for salary and living expenses. Eligible candidates can request an additional allowance of up to $25,000 USD per year for field work, consumables, and other research-related costs.
Accelerator Program: Calling Founders Creating Financial Solutions for Migrants
Financial Solutions for Migrants is an accelerator for impact-driven startups developing bold solutions that have the potential to increase the financial inclusion of migrants, including refugees, and especially targeting women. This program is funded by the Impact-Linked Fund for Gender Inclusive Fintechs (ILF for GIF) and managed by the Impact-Linked Finance Fund. The ILF for GIF provides Impact-Linked Finance and technical assistance to fintechs to incentivize a stronger focus on gender transformative outcomes.
The program will:
Define: Develop and refine an in-depth, contextualized understanding of financial inclusion challenges for migrant and particularly migrant women across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Results will be shared in a public-facing report;
Accelerate: Identify and scale 30+ startups addressing those challenges through a combination of intensive in-person and virtual investment readiness training and platform-based long-term support. The acceleration will contribute to improving the ability of the products and services represented to fit the needs of migrant women; and
Convene: Build and develop partnerships that drive broad awareness of the challenges and opportunities in this space, catalyzing investment, storytelling, and other essential support for these solutions.
MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific 2023 Accelerator Program
If you are a medical technology (MedTech) startup looking to enter the Asia Pacific market or region, the applications for the premier annual accelerator Program for 2023 are open.
Shortlisted startups will be invited to pitch across our various in-person and virtual pitch events, in front of their corporate and strategic partners, which are great for those who are looking for more exposure to notable players in the industry.
After which, they will be selecting 20 brilliant startups to join the Cohort for their annual MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific Accelerator Program which includes the opportunity to be matched with highly-qualified mentors in accordance with your startup’s needs as well as a chance to win the US $175,000 in non-dilutive cash Grand Prize.
Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program
The Australia-ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP) is an Australian Government initiative and a flagship program for the Australia-ASEAN Council (AAC), curated and run by Social Good Outpost.
Over three months, A2ELP brings together the next generation of young social entrepreneurs from across Southeast Asia and Australia to build business skills and networks for social impact.
Bringing the region’s leading young social entrepreneurs together from March-May 2023, participants will:
build knowledge of scalable and sustainable business models to achieve long-term change
develop skills to engage a range of stakeholders
receive training in cultural intelligence and innovative startup and social enterprise methodologies
participate in networking events and cultural activities, and pitch at a finale gala event
discuss the latest thinking and ideas in social impact with academic experts and industry leaders
develop connections through peer mentoring and alumni engagement
receive professional photography, meet angel investors and industry leaders,
travel to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, for a week-long in-person intensive from 26 April – 3 May 2023
2023 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award
The Swiss Re Foundation aims to make basic healthcare accessible to at least 1 million more people by 2024. This call for applications is an invitation to social entrepreneurs working in LMICs to make healthcare financially more accessible in low-income communities. The 2023 Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award focuses on innovative, market-based solutions that increase financial access to healthcare in low-income communities, and that:
increase household resources available for healthcare (e.g. through savings, payment, and credit solutions)
reduce health shocks that can lead to poverty or economic vulnerability after a disease or an accident (e.g. through microinsurance or other “safety nets”)
The three finalists will be awarded funding up to USD 700 000 and non-financial support from experts across Swiss Re and beyond.
Singapore Blockchain Innovation Challenge 2022
Web 3.0 is the third and next generation of the Internet that does not yet have a canonical, universally accepted definition. It will have a strong emphasis on decentralized applications and make extensive use of blockchain-based technologies as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence to help empower more intelligent and adaptive applications. As Web 3.0 is currently being defined and developed, therein lies challenges and potential for innovation and creativity.
For this hackathon, teams are to propose innovative and creative Web 3.0 solutions or tools using the blockchain as the underlying technology stack. Solutions may cover all relevant Web 3.0 topics or concepts and teams may layer other non-blockchain technologies for their projects. There is no limitation on which blockchain to deploy on. The aim of the Singapore Blockchain Innovation Challenge 2022 is to unleash one’s innovation and creativity so go crazy with your ideas!
ThinkSwiss Research Scholarships: Asia-Pacific
ThinkSwiss Research Scholarships is a program that opens doors for students from India, Singapore, and Australia to the world of Swiss academia, that combines high-quality curriculum with innovative thinking. The scholarship accepts students who have completed their 2nd year of under graduation or are currently enrolled in a post-graduation (Master's) program. The students need to be enrolled in an Indian, Singaporean, or Australian university. Please note that Ph.D. students are not eligible to apply.
ThinkSwiss Research Scholarship program Asia-Pacific is funded by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and is supported by Swissnex in India and the Embassies of Switzerland in Singapore and in Australia. The aim of the program is to promote research opportunities in Switzerland for Indian, Australian, and Singapore students and to foster the exchange between Swiss and Asia-Pacific universities & institutions.