Achieving a world without hunger by 2030 requires targeted support to make agricultural production more resilient and more sustainable for millions of smallholder farmers in the Global South. Agroecological farm and crop management approaches have been proven to provide a wide range of both ecological and economic long-term benefits for smallholder livelihoods. 

Against this background, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)’s Innovation Challenge 2021 aims to support Innovation Partnerships with awards of up to 150,000 Euros to be used for testing and validating new innovative concepts and ideas integrating agroecological approaches into agricultural advisory services. This challenge aims to identify and promote new and innovative concepts, ideas, and tools in agricultural advisory that have the potential to spread agroecological approaches widely.

The Innovation Challenge is open to consortia of public, private and non-profit organizations with long-term experiences in agricultural extension and advisory (incl. universities, research institutions, NGOs, farmers associations, public and private extension services, start-ups, and SMEs). Consortia must be represented by an international institution as the main applicant. Strong private partner involvement and engagement is a further prerequisite.

Pre-selected consortia will have the opportunity to present their proposal and innovative ideas in the form of 15 minutes online pitches to the selection jury. The six top-ranked consortia will be awarded 50,000 Euros for a five-month period to refine and further develop the initial concept (proof of concept). Out of the six consortia, the three consortia with the most promising concepts will be finally awarded additional 100.000 Euros for a one-year Innovation Partnership.

For Innovation Partnerships that prove to be particularly successful, there will be the opportunity to receive additional funding in the future.

Schedule

• Deadline for submission: 31 May 2021
• First selection (six consortia): June - July 2021
• Proof of concept: September 2021 - January 2022
• Second selection (three consortia): February 2022
• Implementation: April 2022 - March 2023.

The Innovation Challenge 2021 is conducted by the GIZ global project “Agricultural Policy and Innovation Fund (FABI)”. FABI is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).