 Development Innovation Ventures Newsletter
January 2024
Happy 2024!
2023 was an exciting year for Development Innovation Ventures. We had the honor of bringing 20 new grants into the portfolio, supporting highly promising work across 17 countries. We saw strong results from our current portfolio, including the transformative impact of transitioning one of the world’s largest social benefit programs from physical rice distribution to an electronic debit card, leading to a 20 percent decrease in poverty among the poorest households. And with tremendous support from Open Philanthropy, we announced a new Stage 4 Initiative to help bring some of the most promising programs in our portfolio to scale across USAID.
2024 has big shoes to fill, but we’re up for the challenge. In the months ahead, we’ll announce our first Stage 4 partnerships with USAID Mission and Bureau colleagues. We're also creating a new results hub with key findings from DIV-supported research, and we’ll continue to make catalytic investments to test new ideas and bring highly promising solutions to scale. In 2024, we’re honored to have the opportunity to support our largest portfolio yet of cost-effective innovations working to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. And we’re always looking for new partners: if you’ve been considering applying, now is a great time—you can also learn more at our first live DIV 101 on February 1 (details below).
To all of our grantees and partners: we’re grateful for all of your work over the last year to strengthen global development and improve people’s lives around the world. We look forward to learning alongside you in 2024!
Warm regards and best wishes for a happy new year,
Sasha Gallant
Chief, DIV, USAID
Development Innovation Ventures Virtual Information Session
Want to learn more about Development Innovation Ventures?
Thinking about applying and have some questions?
Join DIV staff for a live, public, virtual information session on February 1 at 9:00 a.m. EST (2:00 p.m. GMT).
At this session, participants will learn about DIV’s approach to funding innovative global development solutions, who can apply, where projects may be based, core principles, assessment criteria for each stage—or level—of funding, and the application process and timeline. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions in the text chat.
|
DIV Innovator Spotlight
Ampersand Wins U.S. State Department Award for Corporate Excellence
In October, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized DIV Stage 2 grantee Ampersand with a 2023 Award for Corporate Excellence in Sustainable Supply Chains. With support from DIV, Ampersand has brought production of its electric motorbike components from China to Rwanda, ensuring that sustainable, clean transportation is affordable for the mass market while building local capacity to produce its motorbikes.
“Ampersand’s decision to produce electric motorbikes in Rwanda was the big bang the continent needed to begin and grow its own electric vehicle industry, inspiring a sustainable future,” said Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Ramin Toloui.
In his acceptance speech, Ampersand Founder and CEO Joshua Whale cited DIV’s support as “a lifeline during the storms of the COVID pandemic when other private sector investors were in full retreat.” DIV’s grant enabled Ampersand to position itself for scale and commercial investment by improving its battery technology, software, logistics, and customer support capacity while increasing its network of charging stations and bike fleet. Ampersand has scaled within Rwanda and expanded to Kenya, aiming to grow across East Africa’s $40 billion market by 2025, and projecting to reduce annual emissions by an estimated 341,200 tons (equivalent to over 790 million miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle). Read more.
|
Honeywell Smart Energy Invests in SparkMeter
Honeywell Smart Energy invested $5 million in SparkMeter, a former DIV Stage 2 grantee. SparkMeter makes smart meters that upload real-time data to the cloud and received a grant to adapt its smart meters to peri-urban environments in Nigeria. Honeywell will use SparkMeter’s cloud-based meter approach with its large base of utility customers in the United States. Read more.
|
The London School of Economics Selects Chancen to Join 100x Impact Accelerator
100x at the London School of Economics’ Marshall Institute works with social ventures in various parts of the world that are “poised to drive positive change on the scale of billions.” Chancen is implementing a DIV Stage 2 award to test its higher education financing model in Rwanda. Read more.
|
Africa Solar Industry Association Names PowerGen the 2023 Mini Grid Project of the Year and Solar Sister the Solar Home System Company of the Year
DIV is proud to share that the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) recognized former grantees PowerGen and Solar Sister in their annual awards. PowerGen was honored for its interconnected mini-grid in Nigeria, while Solar Sister was recognized for reaching over 4.3 million people with clean energy products, empowering over 10,000 female entrepreneurs. DIV supported Solar Sister in 2012 with a Stage 2 award to expand into Uganda and Tanzania and PowerGen with a Stage 2 award in 2017 to test its Small Power Distributor model in Kenya. Read more about the awards.
|
SOIL Sees Success with Carbon Credit Partnership
SOIL, a former Stage 2 grantee, worked with DIV to test a profitable model for container-based sanitation, and is now receiving carbon credits from a partner organization that wanted 100 percent of its offset to go to scientifically proven work. Read more.
|
Vox Names USAID/DIV’s Sasha Gallant and Youth Impact’s Moitshepi Matsheng and Noam Angrist to Future Perfect 50 list
On November 29, Vox published a list of “thinkers, activists, and scholars working on solutions to today’s (and tomorrow’s) biggest problems.” The list includes DIV Chief Sasha Gallant and Youth Impact founders Moitshepi Matsheng and Noam Angrist (Youth Impact is a DIV grantee), and former USAID Chief Scientist and Research Division Director Dr. Ticora Jones.
Read more about their work and that of others who are pushing boundaries to change the world.
|
Check Out DIV's Portfolio!
To learn more about DIV’s portfolio, and get the latest news from DIV and its grantees, visit divportal.usaid.gov.
DIV is accepting applications! Please visit usaid.gov/div to learn more and apply.
|
