Funding Friday!
16 new #techforgood funding opportunities inside!
Happy Friday!
I hope you're all doing well! I’m back again, bringing you our latest finds from the world of innovation and impact. This week, we've got a mix of some truly exciting opportunities, from AI challenges to water conservation initiatives. Whether you're looking to make a difference in your corner of the world or on a global scale, I genuinely believe there's something here that might just resonate with you.
As always if you want to share anything with this community, please let me know!
Have a great weekend,
Jesse
Global
🔬 Generative AI Skills Challenge - data.org
📝 data.org, in collaboration with Microsoft, presents the Generative AI Skills Challenge. This global grant initiative aims to train and upskill teams in generative AI to foster social impact. The challenge emphasizes fair and community-led integration, especially in low- and middle-income countries and contexts (LMICs). The goal is to promote digital inclusion, socioeconomic mobility, and skill development for historically marginalized communities globally. Generative AI holds significant potential to address global issues due to its scalability, but it's essential to apply it with an understanding of its limitations and a focus on community-led solutions that consider the local context.
🔗 Generative AI Skills Challenge - data.org
🔬 $50,000 USAID Youth Well-Being Prize Competition - ICTworks
📝 The Youth Well-Being Prize Competition, backed by USAID, is on the hunt for young innovators with groundbreaking ideas aimed at safeguarding the well-being of young individuals, ensuring their safety, and positively influencing their lives and communities. This competition emphasizes solutions crafted by the youth, for the youth, addressing areas such as mental health, digital harm, safeguarding, gender-based violence, and climate change. The innovations should be digitally inclined, either in their creation, implementation, or usage. Examples of such innovations might be websites offering mental health tips, online campaigns against digital harm, digital tools for preventing youth violence, or online games that raise awareness about gender-based violence. The application deadline is set for September 29, 2023.
🔗 $50,000 USAID Youth Well-Being Prize Competition - ICTworks
🔬 World Water Challenge 2023 - Korea International Water Week
📝 The World Water Challenge is an international contest dedicated to finding solutions for water-related issues. Originating as a follow-up activity from the 7th World Water Forum in 2015, it is held annually in tandem with the Korea International Water Week (KIWW). The challenge aims to pinpoint pressing water problems globally and devise practical solutions. The 9th edition of the World Water Challenge, set to be a signature program of KIWW 2023, seeks not only innovative scientific and technological methods but also policy solutions to address global water challenges. It also aims to establish a broad network among experts in the water sector and various solution providers. Participation is open to anyone, either individually or representing an organization. Solutions can be submitted online via the KIWW website, with the submission deadline being August 27th, 2023 (KST). Winners will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions at KIWW 2024 and/or the 10th World Water Forum.
🔗 World Water Challenge 2023 - Korea International Water Week
Asia Pacific
🌱 RFA: Financial Inclusion and Agricultural Market Support Project in Myanmar
📝 The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has introduced the "Digital Ecosystem Agriculture Markets Initiative in Myanmar." This initiative is part of UNCDF's effort to enhance public and private finance for the underprivileged in the world’s 46 least developed countries. Myanmar's agriculture sector, a pivotal contributor to employment, has faced challenges like low productivity and inequality. The DEAM initiative aims to strengthen the digital platform for agriculture, offering better access to financial and non-financial services. UNCDF is providing a grant of up to US$200,000 to enhance this platform, focusing on improving services for low-income individuals, farmers, and rural women.
🔗 RFA: Digital Ecosystem Agriculture Markets Initiative in Myanmar
🔬 Research and Innovation for Development in ASEAN (RIDA)
📝 The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is offering Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding to foster collaboration between researchers and innovators, addressing regional priorities in Southeast Asia, especially in ASEAN member countries. The initiative encourages applications from Southeast Asian institutions that merge various disciplines, innovation, and fresh perspectives to creatively tackle development issues, in line with the UK-ASEAN Plan of Action 2022 to 2026. The funding is directed towards supporting new and existing institutional partnerships in fields like health, climate adaptation, resilience, energy transition, and agriculture. Proposals should focus on ODA-eligible countries in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Interested parties can email Rizky.Januar@fcdo.gov.uk for an application pack and to attend the Early Market Engagement (EME) online event on 11 August 2023. The application deadline is 8 September 2023.
🔗 Research and Innovation for Development in ASEAN (RIDA)
🔬 Women Founders Fund APAC - Google for Startups
📝 Google for Startups has launched the "Women Founders Fund APAC" to support women founders in the Asia-Pacific region. This initiative provides non-dilutive cash awards, Google mentorship, Google Cloud credits, and product support to selected women founders to help them grow their businesses. The fund particularly targets women-led startups driving responsible AI innovation in India, Japan, and Korea. Startups eligible for this fund should be between the Seed and Series A funding stage, headquartered in India, Japan, or Korea, and demonstrate a technically viable application of AI. The application deadline is set for 15th August 2023, 11:59PM (KST/JST).
🔗 Women Founders Fund APAC - Google for Startups
🔬 Financial Innovations for Women Affected by Migration (FIWAM) - Seedstars
📝 Seedstars presents the "Financial Innovations for Women Affected by Migration (FIWAM)" Growth Program, funded by the Impact-Linked Fund for Gender Inclusive Fintechs. This program aims to support growth-stage fintechs that have a direct or indirect impact on financial inclusion for migrants, particularly women migrants. Up to 15 startups from Asia, MENA, and Sub-Saharan Africa will be chosen to receive three months of comprehensive support, including growth enhancement, impact management framework development, networking opportunities, and mentorship. The program also offers up to $100K in equity-free cash to each selected startup. Startups that are woman-led, operational for at least a year, and based in Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA, or Asia are encouraged to apply. The initiative seeks to address challenges faced by women migrants, such as limited access to financial services, language and literacy barriers, trust issues, and more.
🔗 Financial Innovations for Women Affected by Migration (FIWAM) - Seedstars
🔬 Apple Developer Academy @BINUS
📝 The Apple Developer Academy @ BINUS, located in Jakarta/Tangerang, is Asia's pioneering initiative to empower Indonesia's economy by creating world-class developers for the global app ecosystem. This academy offers a unique 10-month journey focusing on coding, design, and professional skills, supporting students in developing their own apps and becoming well-rounded professionals. The program is open to everyone aged 18 and above, with the upcoming Batch 2 application deadline set for August 31st, 2023. The academy emphasizes the creation of apps through a series of open challenges, allowing students to turn their ideas into reality. It also provides a platform for students to become "T-Shaped professionals" with a blend of tech, design, and business skills.
🔬 Local Gatherings 2024 - Mekong Cultural Hub
📝 Mekong Cultural Hub (MCH) is inviting individuals to host Local Gatherings as part of the 2024 Meeting Point. The program's objectives are to expand the community engaged with the Meeting Point platform and to provide practitioners with micro-grants for organizing events in their local communities. A Local Gathering can range from talks, workshops, seminars to creative actions that foster connection and exchange, aligning with the 2024 Meeting Point theme, "Perspectives from the Grassroots." These gatherings can vary in duration and size, depending on the topics and format chosen. By facilitating multiple local gatherings simultaneously, MCH aims to create a collective energy that feeds into the Meeting Point, fostering a sense of connection and solidarity among communities. The open call for applications has a deadline of September 10th, 2023, with a Q&A session scheduled for August 17th, 2023.
🔗 Local Gatherings 2024 - Mekong Cultural Hub
🔬 CCCL Film Grants - CCCL Film Festival
📝 The CCCL Film Festival is offering film production grants to emerging Thai and Southeast Asian filmmakers. The initiative is designed to identify and nurture new talent with innovative ideas for films centered around the impacts of climate change, adaptation, mitigation, and sustainability. Given the increasing challenges posed by climate change on various sectors such as habitat, health, agriculture, and employment, the festival aims to leverage the power of film to raise awareness about these pressing issues. The program is open to filmmakers from Southeast Asia, with a focus on producing films in the region. Selected projects will receive production grants of up to 30,000 Baht, with 10 projects being chosen for participation. These projects will benefit from climate consultation sessions and feedback. The final works may be showcased at the 4th Annual CCCL Film Festival in February 2024. Applications are currently open and will close on July 23, 2023.
🔗 CCCL Film Grants - CCCL Film Festival
🔬 India-UK Research into Creative Industries and Cultural Heritage - UKRI
📝 The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is offering funding to foster India-UK research collaborations within the fields of creative industries and cultural heritage. This initiative aims to highlight the significance of the creative, cultural, and heritage sectors to both nations. Applicants must be affiliated with a UK research organization eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding. The full economic cost (FEC) of the proposed project can reach up to £400,000. AHRC will cover:
80% FEC for UK-based researchers
100% FEC for eligible international co-investigators The projects can span a maximum of three years and are expected to commence on 1 February 2024. The application window opened on 30 March 2023 and will close on 8 June 2023 at 4:00 pm UK time.
🔗 India-UK Research into Creative Industries and Cultural Heritage - UKRI
🔬 ACIAR Pacific Agriculture Scholarship Support and Climate Resilience (PASS-CR) Program - University of the South Pacific
📝 The University of the South Pacific (USP), in collaboration with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), has launched the PASS-CR Scholarship Program for early to mid-career academics. This initiative aims to support postgraduate students in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The program offers scholarships for both Master's by Research Degree and PhD studies at USP. The scholarship is aligned with ACIAR projects and focuses on priority research areas, including soils, gender, social systems, youth engagement, food systems, and climate adaptation. Selected scholars will receive benefits such as full tuition coverage, living allowances, medical insurance, research grants, and more. The application period commenced on July 21, 2023, and will conclude on October 18, 2023. The scholarships will be available from Semester 1, 2024.
Africa
🔬 RFA: Innovative Technologies and Partnership to Increase Reach and Quality of CICO (Agent) Networks - UNCDF
📝 The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has initiated a challenge, supported by Microsoft, to bolster financial services using innovative technologies and partnerships, enhancing the reach and quality of CICO (Cash In Cash Out) agent networks. This initiative is particularly focused on Ethiopia. The objective is to increase access to financial services and promote the usage of innovative services beyond payments, fostering resilience for clients and agents. UNCDF plans to award up to three grantees, providing between $200,000 to $250,000 for each grant. Applicants are expected to cover at least 30% of the project costs. Proposals should clearly indicate areas of intervention and expected outcomes. The deadline for application submission is 23:59 (EDT time zone), August 28, 2023.
🔬 Supply Chain Digital Health Innovation Grant Opportunity in Ghana and Uganda - LHSS Project
📝 The Local Health System Sustainability (LHSS) project is offering grants and technical assistance to digital innovators in Ghana and Uganda. The aim is to support their business platforms with a vision of future business growth and health impact. The focus is on expanding access to family planning commodities and, where possible, essential health commodities. Ideal grantees are firms that have launched promising digital platforms but haven't achieved scale, especially in reaching women of reproductive age with family planning commodities. The grant objectives include providing technical support to increase consumer access/demand for family planning products and offering seed funding for the development or improvement of digital solutions. Eligibility criteria include being a legally operating entity in Ghana or Uganda, having financial accountability, and being in good standing with local authorities.
🔗 Supply Chain Digital Health Innovation Grant Opportunity in Ghana and Uganda - LHSS Project
🔬 Mental Health and ASRHR HackLab - UNFPA
📝 The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with Youth Connekt Africa (YCA) and AfriLabs is launching the Mental Health and ASRHR HackLab. This initiative aims to explore innovative solutions that address the interlinkages between mental health and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR). The HackLab is targeting young innovators with solutions that can make a significant impact on the mental health and ASRHR of young people in the region. The program will consist of three phases: a call for innovations, technical capacity building for selected innovators, and investment readiness preparation for the winning solutions. Two emerging solutions from the final pitch event will each receive a seed fund of USD$15,000 and an additional $5,000 in business and investment readiness in-kind support. The application deadline is set for 17 August, at 23:55 PM South African Standard Time.
🔗 Mental Health and ASRHR HackLab - UNFPA
🔬 SDG Innovation Challenge 2023 - Melton Foundation
📝 The 2023 edition of the SDG Innovation Challenge, organized by the Melton Foundation, is a virtual, pan-African collaboration space designed for young Africans (18-35 years) to develop sustainable solutions addressing grassroots challenges in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The challenge emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and complex thinking. Under the theme "Mobilizing the African Youth for Sustainable Impact," the SDG Innovation Challenge 2023 aims to:
Trigger fresh thinking by connecting innovators from diverse backgrounds and sectors.
Develop practical, impact-oriented solution ideas through cross-boundary collaboration.
Ignite transformative action towards sustainable development across Africa. Participants will engage in a 48-hour ideathon from 21-23 September, culminating in a short video pitch of their solution. Winning teams will receive mentoring, incubation opportunities, and the chance to showcase their initiatives at the next African Youth SDGs Summit.