Under the Development Innovation Ventures (DIF), USAID will provide the Development Innovation Fund not only for evolving innovative ideas into practical projects by supporting their testing and experimentation, but also in scaling them up inside the country as well as to other countries as well. In fact, the Fund will be supporting three stages of the innovation:
Stage 1: the development and experimentation needed to transition innovations from ideas to proof of concept
The Stage 1 has been referred to as Project Seed Funds as it provides seed funding to support initial research and design, small scale pilots to establish viability, and initial focus groups or stakeholder consultations. Seed funds can be proposed for a budget of up to $100,000 per project.
Stage 2: the provision of the application at a larger scale with rigorous impact testing;
This stage has been referred to as Start-up and Impact Assessment Financing for improving the innovations for scale production or launch and rigorously testing them to assess impact and benefits for people in developing countries. Typical start-up funds will be around $1 million per project. For most innovations, these funds will be spent over 2 – 3 years.
Stage 3: transitioning innovations to scale through widespread adoption in one country and additional adoption in other countries
The Stage 3 is the Transitioning Project to Scale and projects under this stage should demonstrate the potential for scalability and sustainability via either the private or public sector beyond the country level. “In this stage, alternative approaches and operational challenges for scaling—including the policy environment—will be identified and addressed. This stage will involve in-depth and ongoing consultation with those who will ultimately scale up the program, including USAID bureaus, counterparts in country governments, and the private sector, to understand what would be needed for their organizations to scale. DIV staff will work with these organizations to ensure innovations are integrated into their business models.” Typical transitioning to scale funds from DIV will be $6 million per project. It is anticipated that most competitive Stage 3 applications will leverage additional funding from other donors, investors, or other bureaus and missions in USAID. For most innovations, this phase will last three years. It should operate throughout at least one country with planning or start-up development in at least three other countries.
Applicants can submit projects for seeking support in any of the three stages.
