USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) created Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) in 2010 to tests and scales creative solutions to any global development challenge. DIV is for looking anyone, anywhere who will come up with innovative solutions that will address global development problem. The creative solutions could be a product, technology, service or application of a business or delivery model.
We provide flexible, tiered grant funding to test new ideas, take strategic risks, build evidence of what works, and advance the best solutions. We look for solutions that demonstrate rigorous evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and a viable pathway to scale and sustainability.
DIV is open to U.S, non-U.S. organizations, non-profit and for-profit entities whose projects are in a country where USAID provides funds to development efforts.
Proposals are accepted across three stages;
Stage 1: Proof of Concept (Up to $200,000 – up to 3 years). Stage 1 grants test a solution’s feasibility in a developing country context. Stage 1 innovations are early in their implementation and need testing to understand user interest, impact, and feasibility.
Stage 2: Testing and Positioning for Scale ($200,000 to $1,500,000 – up to 3 years). Stage 2 grants test and strengthen a solution’s business or delivery model. Stage 2 innovations should demonstrate rigorous evidence of causal positive impact, or use the funding to build such evidence, e.g. from a randomized controlled trial.
Stage 3: Scaling ($1,500,000 to $5,000,000 – up to 5 years). Stage 3 grants support partnerships to scale the innovation to a new context or to demonstrate potential for replication. The funds must leverage additional external funding or partnerships.
In addition to tiered funding, DIV provides evidence grants (up to $1,500,000) to support research and evaluations that generate rigorous evidence of an innovation’s impact per dollar and potential for expansion. These applications are evaluated separately from proposals for tiered funding.
DIV Application Guideline
- Check sample application before writing your application
- Once you are ready to submit your application, please visit the online application portal.
- Please submit one application per project and project team.
- Information about the online application is as follow:
- You will need to create an account on the online application portal so that you may work on the application over time and check the status of your application.
- There are three sections to the online application. Your application will save automatically and continuously as you work on the application; therefore, there is no need to “save” your application.
- Once you submit an application, you will not be able to edit your application.
- DIV accepts applications 365 days a year. There is no deadline.
Good luck!!
