Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10: Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health has launched the Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10 on Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers. The aim of this call is to solicit innovative, holistic solutions to boost labor productivity of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa with a specific emphasis on increasing the productivity of women farmers’ labor.

The competition encourages researchers and entrepreneurs – especially those working outside of agricultural development – to review what has not worked in the past in order to better understand the various constraints to farmer adoption of labor saving innovations and to generate ideas that will revolutionize current approaches to crop protection, management and harvesting.

It encourages encourage new thinking in technical innovation in this space, and because many of the constraints to adoption of these innovations appear to be multi-disciplinary, we will also welcome innovation in – or across – all four areas of focus detailed below. Your submission may address one or more of these categories:

•     New or adapted labor savings technologies that take into consideration cost, maintenance, upkeep and farmer needs in the design.
•     Improved practices that save labor in land preparation, seeding, weeding, pest control, tillage, harvest and post-harvest.
•     Business and/or distribution models that positively affect incentives for farmer adoption of labor saving devices.
•     Educational or public awareness methods that tackle socio-cultural and/or gender constraints to adoption of labor saving innovations. This may include novel and low cost methods in marketing approaches for technologies that have demonstrated labor saving impact for women through piloting or beta testing.

Phase I grants of $100,000 USD are awarded initially; projects have one opportunity to apply for a follow-on Phase II grant of up to $1,000,000 USD.

Deadline- November 7, 2012

For more information, visit this link.

The World Justice Project’s Opportunity Fund Competition

The World Justice Project’s seed-grant program called the Roderick B. Mathews Opportunity Fund provides funding to support innovative efforts to strengthen the rule of law.

Named after one of the founding board members of the World Justice Project, the Opportunity Fund seeks to inject entrepreneurial creativity into rule of law reform efforts. It provides  seed grants for selected innovators to test and implement practical solutions on the ground, acting as a justice laboratory.

This online competition, building on the success of previous rounds of the Opportunity Fund, will encourage innovations and engagement across a broad spectrum of stakeholders to advance the rule of law.

All individuals, organizations, and entities are eligible to enter the competition and may submit multiple entries. All entrants will be judged according to established criteria (see below) by a panel of distinguished judges. In addition to funding, Opportunity Fund winners will receive publicity, research, and networking support from the WJP. Winners will also have the opportunity to present progress on their projects at the 2013 World Justice Forum, a global gathering to examine the foundational importance of the rule of law and to promote collaborative actions to strengthen the rule of law.

The deadline to submit applications is 30 November 2012.

The World Justice Project’s Opportunity Fund Competition

The World Justice Project’s seed-grant program called the Roderick B. Mathews Opportunity Fund provides funding to support innovative efforts to strengthen the rule of law.

Named after one of the founding board members of the World Justice Project, the Opportunity Fund seeks to inject entrepreneurial creativity into rule of law reform efforts. It provides  seed grants for selected innovators to test and implement practical solutions on the ground, acting as a justice laboratory.

This online competition, building on the success of previous rounds of the Opportunity Fund, will encourage innovations and engagement across a broad spectrum of stakeholders to advance the rule of law.

All individuals, organizations, and entities are eligible to enter the competition and may submit multiple entries. All entrants will be judged according to established criteria (see below) by a panel of distinguished judges. In addition to funding, Opportunity Fund winners will receive publicity, research, and networking support from the WJP. Winners will also have the opportunity to present progress on their projects at the 2013 World Justice Forum, a global gathering to examine the foundational importance of the rule of law and to promote collaborative actions to strengthen the rule of law.

The deadline to submit applications is 30 November 2012.

Open Society Foundation’s Advancing Roma Inclusion Through Arts and Culture Grants

Deadline- July 31, 2013

Countries/Region- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine

Open Society Foundation is offering  research grants program under Advancing Roma Inclusion Through Arts and Culture Grants Applications may be submitted by nonprofit legal entities (nongovernmental and public organizations, libraries, museums, cultural centers, associations, communities, registered charities, etc.) that work in the field of arts and culture and have the status of beneficiary. Individuals can apply for support for artistic projects and professional development.

The Arts and Culture Program works at the nexus of arts, culture, human rights, and social advocacy. Through its grants, the program strives to encourage broad-based critical reflection and catalyze social action in parts of the world where open societies are absent or weak, and where the cultural rights of minority groups are endangered.

In particular, the program provides grants to projects that aim to promote the cultural inclusion of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe.

How to Apply?

The application process cosist of two steps-

• Each applicant should submit a Letter of Inquiry, which can be downloaded from ACP’s website. The purpose of the Letter of Inquiry is to offer immediate feedback to applicants on whether their project is eligible for consideration under the eligibility criteria. If applicant’s project is judged to be ineligible, applicant will receive an explanation of the reason. ACP will typically respond to their Letter of Inquiry within two weeks of receipt.

• Applicants who are invited to submit an application should complete the Application Form and prepare a detailed budget using the Budget Template. The Application Form and Budget Template can be downloaded from ACP’s website. Please note that Step 2 remains competitive, i.e., even with a good proposal, applicant’s application may not be funded.

1. The Application Form should be completed in English. Please use 12-point print size in Times New Roman font.
2. If the proposed project includes a collaborative aspect, applicants must submit a letter from the proposed collaborator or partner confirming the arrangement described by the applicant.
3. Biographies of principal project personnel should be submitted as an appendix to the application form.
4. Please submit completed application forms via e-mail.
5. Please note that incomplete applications (that is, applications missing one or more of the required components) will not be considered for funding. Projects that address one or more of the following priorities of the Arts and Culture Program will be considered to bring added value.
6. Capacity building: Strengthening the capacity of individuals and organizations to implement and sustain good practices and effective ways of working.
7. Collaboration: Building alliances and networks with other projects and organizations to encourage knowledge sharing within the Diversity: Promoting greater equality and access to cultural goods and activities for the most marginalized beneficiaries.
8. Public Engagement with Critical Social Issues: Using the power of arts and culture to promote discussion, debate, and critical reflection on social issues of importance to target communities and beneficiaries.

Eligibility-

• Applications may be submitted by non-profit legal entities (non-governmental and public organizations, libraries, museums, cultural centers, associations, communities, registered charities, etc.) that work in the field of arts and culture and have the status of beneficiary.
• Individuals can apply
• Former grantees of the Arts and Culture Program may apply on the condition that a final report from the previous grant period has been submitted and approved.

For more information, visit this link

Gates Foundation’s Request for Letter of Inquiry: Round 3 of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a new funding opportunity under its Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program which works with partners wot develop sustainable sanitation services that work for everyone. Under this new funding, the Foundation is seeking Letters of Inquiry (LOI) for the third round of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge.

The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge is designed to prototype a means of dealing effectively and cost-efficiently with human waste for the 2.5 billion people on earth who currently lack access to safe and affordable sanitation.

Successful applicants will participate in the next phase of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge by designing, prototyping and testing entirely stand-alone, self-contained, practical sanitation modules which intake bodily wastes or fecal sludge collected from pit latrines and septic tanks and swiftly dispose of them without any incoming water piping, outgoing sewer piping or electric or gas utility services. These modules must intake all outputs of the serviced population – ultimately at single-residence scales (smaller-scale individual family toilet solutions) or group of households (larger-scale neighborhood fecal sludge processor solutions)– with minimal module footprints and assured biosafety. The anticipated capital and operational cost for the final products (commercial units) is expected to be less than $0.05/user/day, both for the family and neighborhood solutions. The design should anticipate the effects and fate of complementary sanitary products entering the system such as paper, cloth, sand, and other personal hygiene products and chemicals.

This RFP will use a mandatory two-step application process. The first step requires the submission of a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) in the form of a 5 page concept note, detailed in the RFLOI Overview and Guidelines. After evaluation of all LOIs received, the foundation will contact those applicants who are eligible and have projects of further interest to complete step two—the submission of a full proposal. If invited to submit a full proposal, instructions on the preparation of the proposal will be provided at the time of invitation.

The deadline to submit applications is 8 November 2012. For more information, visit this link.