Through an ongoing competitive grant process, Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) seeks proposals for innovative solutions addressing international development challenges and enhancing the well-being of individuals living in poverty in developing nations globally. DIV offers tiered funding to support the pilot, testing, and scaling (i.e., expanding to reach a larger number of beneficiaries) of innovations that demonstrate evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and the potential for scalability.
Funding Details
- Award Ceiling: $15,000,000
- Award Floor: $25,000
- DIV awards typically span a maximum of three (3) years.
Types of Projects DIV May Support
DIV acknowledges the diverse nature of innovation, including but not limited to:
- New technologies
- Innovative delivery or financing methods for goods or services
- Novel business models
- Cost-effective adaptations of existing solutions
- Strategies to increase the adoption of effective solutions, including replication and scaling to new locations
- Policy innovations
- Social or behavioral innovations informed by behavioral science insights
- Data collection and rigorous evaluation to assess the social impacts of promising innovations
Projects Not Suitable for DIV Funding
Certain projects do not align with DIV’s objectives, such as:
- Ideas at the conceptual stage that lack a prototype (preprototype stage)
- Projects with limited potential for cost-effective scalability (e.g., construction of immobile physical infrastructure)
- Basic scientific research without field testing
- Innovations unlikely to generate significant development impacts for the base-of-the-pyramid
- Planning, diagnostic, and tools challenging to directly link to measurable development impacts for people in poverty
- Context-specific innovations with limited scalability
- Research proving impact but lacking assessment of cost-effectiveness or scalability
- Intermediaries with indirect impact on development outcomes (e.g., incubators, accelerators)
Eligibility Criteria
DIV welcomes applications from various entities, including businesses, social entrepreneurs, individuals, nonprofits, researchers, and governments. Geographic and sectoral inclusivity is emphasized, with support for innovations across all countries where USAID operates and in all development sectors.
Applicants must align with DIV’s core principles and contribute substantially to USAID’s goal of improving or saving lives in developing countries. Eligible entities include individuals, public/private/nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, faith-based organizations, and more. Local organizations and consortia are encouraged to apply, and participation of foreign government entities is possible through approved sub-award agreements.
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