The Middle East and North Africa Open Call for Innovations (OCFI) is an opportunity for organizations to address barriers and contribute to the production of more food with efficient and sustainable usage of water and energy. This initiative aims to impact food security, gender equality, and poverty reduction in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The OCFI offers individual awards ranging from 25,000 to 250,000 US Dollars, depending on the type of funding requested. Awardees are expected to bring in a minimum 1-1 matching amount themselves. The period of performance for each award is up to two years, which will be determined at the time of award.
WE4F, the organization behind the Open Call for Innovations, is seeking to collaborate with companies and organizations that provide nexus-relevant products and services to women and the poor as commercial customers. The goal is to equip them with the means to achieve greater earnings and social mobility.
Interested applicants can direct their inquiries to we4f@berytech.org. The Open Call for Innovation is a joint effort by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (MENA RIH) of WE4F will strive to distribute funding to awardees as quickly as possible. However, awardees should be prepared to commence activities immediately after the award is signed, even if there is a delay of one to two months in funding disbursement. The time to disburse funds will be agreed upon with awardees based on their budgets.
The Open Call for Innovations document can be downloaded from the WE4F website: http://www.we4f.org/apply-mena.
Open Call for Innovation in Southern and Central Africa (ngoportal.org)