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European Union Joins WE4F to Scale Up Innovations in East Africa
The European Union has officially joined the Water and Energy for Food as a new donor. In the spirit of the EU Green Deal and the 'Farm to Fork' strategy, the European Commission's Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) initiative will co-finance the activities in the East African region in order to accelerate innovations and boost productive and sustainable agri-food systems, contribute to partnerships supporting the development of environment-friendly agricultural practices and promote local production.
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Enhancing Water Efficiency and Food Security in Arid Northern Kenya
Communities in Northern Kenya face challenging conditions where water is scarce and climate change effects exacerbate such challenges. In October 2020, the Water and Energy for Food's East Africa Regional Innovation Hub established a partnership with the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), building on its knowledge of the region, its existing research infrastructure, and engagement with local communities. The project emerged from the goal to improve access to water and energy in the arid part of Northern Kenya, and to promote local entrepreneurship of hydroponic vegetable farmers. |
Using Innovation to Address Climate Change-Related Water Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa
World Water Day 2021 focused on what water means to people. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), water is a vital - and finite - resource. Climate change will have devastating consequences on MENA's water, agriculture, and people in the coming decades. Dr. Amgad Elmahdi, International Water Management Institute's Director of MENA Region and WE4F's MENA RIH Policy and Advocacy Specialist, explored how innovations can help mitigate the effects of climate change on water and promote resiliency throughout the region.
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Lessons Learned for an Evolving Water-Energy-Food Nexus
Since the Securing Water for Food (SWFF) and Powering Agriculture (PAEGC) Grand Challenges launched in 2013, a lot has changed within the water-energy-food nexus; the need for climate-resilient farming has grown, the Sustainable Development Goals were created, and more people are aware that food systems around the world must use less water and energy while producing more food.
During WE4F's webinar series, Where Do We Go from Here? Lessons Learned for Future Water-Energy-Food Programming, WE4F, along with SWFF and PAEGC, covered many of the crucial topics to which stakeholders are currently seeking answers. From SWFF innovator gender integration to the impact of COVID-19 on WE4F activities, the sessions covered what the audience should do to build new, innovative, locally-sustainable programming.
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Expert Q&A: Jeannelle Blanchard Discusses the Nexus between Energy, Agriculture, and Water in Developing Countries to Increase Food Production
"The agriculture sector is reliant on ways to improve energy and water efficiency while increasing productivity. This sector is both the source of sustenance and the source of employment for 2.5 billion people globally, primarily in emerging economies in Asia and Africa."
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Gender Discrimination from Artificial Technology
If you've experienced gender discrimination from AI technology, USAID wants to hear from you.
For women, hurdles are everywhere. Despite the critical role women play in societies, unequal access to education, loans, jobs, healthcare, technology, and political discourse are commonplace - and worsened by COVID-19. Technological innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) promise to identify and close these gaps through claims of a more data-driven, objective approach, but ironically pose another hurdle for women. Often, these digital systems inadvertently carry the same old analog gender biases.
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Social Norms: Why Women Farmers Might Not Be Getting Ahead Despite Development Support
Women play an important role in agriculture. Although they rarely control decision-making on family farms, women constitute 43% of the global agricultural workforce and are an undeniable asset to the sector. For this reason, gender equality has become an increasingly important topic to many agriculture-focused development organizations. Non-profits know that farming and food security can thrive when more women are reached through agricultural extension (agricultural advisory services) and development communication.
Despite this, women still are not getting ahead. Many gender constraints stand stubbornly in the way of them running successful farming businesses. The efforts of development organizations to reach more women with agricultural information notwithstanding, the problem might not only be down to under-resourced agricultural extension but may also be down to gender related social norms.
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Global Dialogue: Scaling a Clean Energy Food Transformation
Renewable energy has the potential to transform food systems in Africa and developing Asia, build a more climate-resilient future for smallholder farmers, and drive economic growth. Not just using solar irrigation, which has already seen significant momentum in the past 5 years, but for agro-processing, cold storage and much more. According to the IFC, however, affordability is the main barrier preventing smallholder farmers from adopting these solutions at scale. Numerous other barriers exist. Unlocking the potential requires business models and systems approaches that can take advantage of digitalization, innovative financing and "servitization", which democratizes access and aggregates demand.
This dialogue will examine the most innovative approaches being implemented today and glean key learnings that can feed into game changing recommendations for the UN Food Systems Summit, COP26 and the High Level Dialogue on Energy.
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What's Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System
What's Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System investigates how digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system by increasing efficiency on the farm; improving farmers' access to output, input, and financial markets; strengthening quality control and traceability; and improving the design and delivery of agriculture policies. It also identifies a key role for the public sector in maximizing the benefits of this process while minimizing its risks, through enabling an innovation ecosystem featuring open datasets, digital platforms, digital entrepreneurship, digital payment systems, and digital skills and encouraging equitable technology adoption.
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In Case You Missed It: All Global Ag Innovation Forum Videos are Online
The first session of the Global Agriculture Innovation Forum brought together experts from around the world and featured a mixture of government, private sector, and foundation actors. Each session covered a different aspect of what farms and farmers of the future will look like. From new business models to new technology, the panelists explored what they see as challenges and solutions for global and regional agricultural sectors. All session recordings and resources are now available online.
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Office of Global Partnerships: COVID-19 Private Sector Engagement & Partnership Fund
The Department of State and USAID have launched the COVID-19 Private Sector Engagement & Partnership Fund with an additional $10 million in new assistance funds. The Fund has been established to strengthen the efforts of the private sector and bolster ongoing response efforts, helping the world's most vulnerable overcome the devastation inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Concept papers will be accepted beginning August 5, 2020 and be reviewed on a rolling basis through 11:59PM Eastern Time on May 30, 2021. Please note that projects will be funded on a rolling basis. The Department reserves the right to close this announcement sooner than the given date if the available amount of funding has been exhausted.
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