WE4F MENA Call for Innovation - Lebanon Edition

WE4F MENA - Lebanon Call for Innovations
Lebanon Call for Innovations (LCFI)

Subject: Call for Innovations for Water and Energy for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development Competition

Dear Prospective Applicants:

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) invite eligible organizations to respond to the LCFI Water and Energy for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development (WE4F) Call for Innovations.

LCFI is designed to address barriers to enable the production and/or processing of more food with efficient and sustainable usage of water and energy along the value chain from farming to end-users, and to impact food security, gender, and poverty reduction in an environmentally sustainable way. The LCFI describes the purpose of the program and the types of activities that it will fund; indicates the process for preparing and submitting proposals.

Individual awards are expected to reach $24,999 depending on the type of funding. The period of performance for individual awards is up to April 2025; the actual period of performance for each award will be determined at the time of award. The WE4F Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (MENA RIH) will make every attempt to distribute funding to awardees as quickly as possible, but awardees should expect to begin activities immediately after the award is signed, even if funding is delayed by one to two months.

The LCFI solicitation document can be downloaded from:

http://www.we4f.org/apply-mena

Primary point of contact
Name*

First NameLast Name
Position or title*
Phone Number*
Please enter a valid phone number.
Fax Number (if applies)
Please enter a valid phone number.
E-mail*
example@example.com

Secondary point of contact
Name*

First NameLast Name
Position or title*
Phone Number*
Please enter a valid phone number.
Fax Number (if applies)
Please enter a valid phone number.
Email*
example@example.com

For your Organization
Name*
Year of Incorporation*
Year of Start of Operations*
Country (ies) of legal incorporation*
Full Address *

Other
What is the share of women in the founding and/or management team? (%)*
What is the share of ownership by women? (%) *
What is the share of female employees (both part-time and full-time)? (%) *
Are you willing to collaborate with WE4F in documenting and providing key impact metrics?*
Through providing grants, Technical Assistance, and/or partnership opportunities to fast growing Water/Energy-Food Nexus Organizations (“innovators”) as well as supporting the enabling environment in which such innovators operate, WE4F aims to enable 100sof thousands of end-users in agriculture and food production value chains in the targeted countries in MENA to adopt affordable water and/or energy saving solutions to enhance their resource efficiency, agriculture and food production productivity as well as their climate resilience. Therefore, the selection of the organizations for the program, and the extent they could continue to benefit from the program, is contingent upon the provision of key information and data to be provided by the innovators to measure the impact of their solutions on end-users. Such information includes, and is not limited to, the numbers and gender breakdown of the Innovation’s end-users, the changes in income levels, the water and/or energy savings as a result of using the Innovation. Examples of documentation include locations, and contact information (e.g.from CRM systems), income ranges, savings in energy or water consumption and food produced or processes (e.g., information from data loggers, inputs backed by sales data, publications and/or primary research, etc.). The MENA RIH will offer resources, best practices, training, tools, and one-on-one support to help innovators prepare the required information

Eligibility Questions
Nexus focus area*
Type of Transaction*
How many paid Customers in the agriculture or food sectors have you acquired since the start of your operations to date? *
Customers are individuals or organizations directly purchasing your product or service. Your customers are either farmers/food consumers (when you operate as B2C) or businesses selling products to farmers/food consumers (when you operate as B2B).
How many end-users in the agriculture or food sector have you acquired since the start of your operations to date? *
End-users are those who are clearly and unequivocally benefiting from your product(s), i.e have access to more affordable products because of your Innovation to the extent which your organization can determine and document. This is given the fact the can be uniquely determined. If you are eligible to apply to WE4F, your end-users can be farmers, businesses, or cooperatives actively use your innovation product to contribute to at least one area of impact (including increased food production, energy savings, water savings, or income increase).
Please estimate the share of female end-users? (%) *
Does your Innovation/business model use, intend to use, or encourage/drive usage of any type of pesticides/herbicides either directly or indirectly?*
If yes, please pause your application. Thank you for considering us.
Did you witness any increase in demand towards your Products following the current crisis and displacement of communities for the affected areas? Are any of your product(s) being added to the food boxes distributed to the displaced communities? Do you recently have any new arrangements with NGOs and/or other organizations to purchase your product(s)over the next period? If the answers are positive, please explain what are the measures you have taken to deal with this increased demand.*
The WE4F grant does not fund construction activities. To meet increasing demand due to the current crisis, would your operation require any capital expenditures/construction*
The WE4F grant does not fund construction activities. If yes, please pause your application. Thank you for considering us.
Awards are expected to be for $24,999. The period of performance for individual awards is up to 5 months; the actual period of performance for each award will be determined at the time of award.
How do you plan to use the funds requested to increase your production? A reminder that this Program is intended to fund OPEX needed to imminently increase food supply, and does not support the investment in CAPEX to increase capacity. *
What is the current production/processing capacity of your facilities and/or lands?What is the current percentage of utilization of the capacity? How much the grant help you increase your utilization if applicable?*
What are your expected sources of funds and/or in-kind contributions to fully or partially match the grant requested (please estimate a monetary value in US Dollars)?*

Innovation Details
Describe the Innovation(s)/Product(s) you are applying to WE4F with and why you are seeking to scale its production and/or processing volume. Please elaborate on your target customers and end-users as well as your business model. In addition, you may attach your Organizational Profile. (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
File Upload

Cancelof
Describe the Water and/or Energy saving technologies, practices and/or solutions currently being applied in your operations, facilities, and/or agricultural lands. Please elaborate by quantifying to the extent possible the Water and/or Energy savings as compared to other practices (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
How can the grant support maintain your operations by addressing critical areas such as employee retention, boosting production capacity, increasing sales, and improving product accessibility—both in terms of logistics and affordability? Please also explain how you are going to manage your supply chain in light of the current circumstances (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
How much growth in your customer do you anticipate over the next 4-5 months (in % , MT and USD) and are there any strategic initiatives do you plan to deploy to achieve such growth? (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
File Upload

Cancelof
Are there any arrangements that you have undertaken, or are planning to undertake, to ensure that your Product(s) is/are accessible and/or affordable to vulnerable groups and the poor? Such arrangements could include product/solution customization, special pricing/, tailored communication channels, etc (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
Are there any arrangements that you have undertaken, or are planning to undertake to ensure that your Product (s) is/are accessible and/or affordable to women? Have you implemented or are you planning to implement any initiatives within your organization to promote gender inclusion in your operations? (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
Describe the existing or potential positive and negative environmental impacts (especially related to natural resource / water management, climate mitigation and adaptation as well as biodiversity) that could be generated by your Production and/or Processing. Please describe your key mitigation measures for the negative impacts. Please note that despite the core product/service being environmentally friendly, collateral/unintended negative environmental impacts can occur during its life cycle and needs to be mitigated. (maximum 250 words)*

0/250
Should be Empty: