Innovations in the News and Around the World | |
Building a Safe and Sustainable Company: Khmer Green Charcoal’s Pioneering Efforts to Prevent Gender-Based Violence in Cambodia
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious issue that affects women and girls all over the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of intimate partner violence in some Asian countries ranges from 17% to 68%. According to a UN report, one in five women in Cambodia between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical abuse.
In the context of WE4F innovators, gender-based violence can have severe consequences for individuals in companies. Employees who experience such violence can suffer physical and psychological harm, resulting in decreased productivity, absenteeism, and high turnover rates. By addressing and preventing GBV, businesses can create a safe and supportive work environment that enhances the well-being and productivity of their employees (both women and men). Through partnerships and technical assistance support, WE4F promotes teamwork to prevent violence, respond efficiently, and minimize risks. One WE4F company making an effort to reduce GBV is Khmer Green Charcoal (KGC) and its partnership with the Samatapheap Khnom Organization (SKO).
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How Technology Can Empower Women in Agriculture
Have you had a fruit or vegetable today? If you are located in sub-Saharan Africa, there’s a 70% chance that a female smallholder farmer produced it. Women in the region play a critical role in many parts of crop production. Yet, they have a harder time accessing resources and productivity-enhancing inputs and services.
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Hydroponics and Green Transformation – towards resilient food systems in the far North of Kenya
It is finally raining in Kenya again, and even the Northern Regions around Lake Turkana receive some of it. So far, more drops have fallen in the first five months of this year (231 mm until early May) than in the whole of 2022 (173 mm). Fresh greens are sprouting everywhere in the normally sparse environment and transforming the landscape. The surviving cattle and goats are finding more food than ever, while grazing in between the skeletons and cadavers of animals that died due to the drought in 2022. For the communities living in the region around Lake Turkana, the rainfall is a big relief after many missing rainy seasons.
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USAID Commits $400,000 to Scale Biogas Innovations in Zimbabwe
The Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) Southern and Central Africa Hub is proud to announce the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded launch of the WE4F Zimbabwe Biogas call for innovations.
The $400,000 program will support selected Zimbabwean biogas innovators, helping increase their capacity and productivity. Scaling these selected small and medium-sized enterprises will improve farmers’ access to climate-resilient technology that can increase food production. WE4F will provide the biogas innovators with grants, technical assistance, and help to facilitate the activity.
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New Request for Quotations Released by WE4F South and Southeast Asia Hub
Activity Title: Ferti-water drainage waste reuse directly at the Farm for Mimosa Technology Company, Ltd.
Quotations are due on September 30, 2023 at 05:00 pm Bangkok time (GMT+7). Quotations must be submitted via email to WE4FAsiaBids@tetratech.com with the subject line “RFQ-WE4F-2023-018 Ferti-water drainage waste reuse directly at the Farm for MimosaTEK.”
All Quotations must fully respond to the Technical Specifications in Attachment A and must include a financial offer in the format in Attachment B - Table 1 – Budget. Quotations received after the above- stated due date and time will not be considered for this procurement.
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Water and Energy for Food Launches Open Calls for Innovations
WE4F is proud to announce the launch of Open Call for Innovations (O-CFI) in the Middle East and North Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Southern and Central Africa. WE4F’s O-CFIs will foster innovations that enhance food security, water security, renewable energy usage, and sustainable water usage in their respective regions. Individual O-CFI awards will receive support in the form of technical assistance, investment facilitation, enabling ecosystem support, and grants. The awarded innovators will match the grant amount by at least 100%. All O-CFIs are now accepting applications on a rolling basis.
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Sun4Water's Business Capacity and Opportunities Program
Are you a small/medium-sized company, agricultural cooperative, or financial institution engaged in solar irrigation for small-scale farmers in East and West Africa? Are you ready to take your business to new heights?
Apply for Sun4Water's new program, which is intended to equip participants with the knowledge and tools to employ these mechanisms to expand their businesses, through improved entrepreneurial and business capacities improvements. Thereby enabling more small-scale farmers to easily access small-scale solar irrigation systems and related technical assistance at affordable cost.
Who Can Participate?
- Enterprises engaged in providing materials, equipment, and technical services related to irrigation and/or solar energy.
- Agricultural cooperatives dedicated to supporting local farming communities.
- Key players in both traditional and alternative financial systems, such as microfinance institutions, banks, and specialized financing agencies.
Submit your application no later than October 06, 2023.
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Adaptation Finance Window
The Adaptation Finance Window, an activity under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Climate Finance for Development Accelerator, aims to support the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and help mobilize private finance for climate adaptation in developing countries given the significant barriers to private-sector investment in adaptation. The Adaptation Finance Window is an addendum to CFDA’s Climate Finance Annual Program Statement (APS).
CFDA is seeking concept notes, under Adaptation Finance Window Addendum 001, from private-sector enterprises for innovative concepts with the potential to be financially self-sustaining, that will deliver significant outcomes for climate adaptation in two priority areas:
- Developing, pilot testing, or scaling innovative products or services for potable water storage and use, water recycling technology, leak detection, and irrigation management options that are viable amidst climate extremes (e.g. chronic drought, intensive flooding due to precipitation or glacial melt, rapid oscillation between those two, and/or sea level rise/saltwater intrusion).;
- Developing or scaling parametric insurance products or mechanisms to protect businesses and farmers from extreme weather events or other climate impacts (e.g. flooding, storms, pests, spread of zoonotic diseases, extreme heat, drought, sea level rise, and their cascading effects).
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Unlocking Investment: Empowering Innovators in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
For World MSME Day, Asmita Moon, Business and SME Development Specialist for the WE4F South and Southeast Asia (S/SEA) Regional Innovation Hub shedded light on the crucial role innovators play in driving global sustainable development, while highlighting key first steps MSMEs should take when pursuing investment.
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Market Systems Symposium 2023
Mark your calendars for November 14-16, 2023, for MSS2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. Join us in an immersive experience where industry leaders, experts, and visionaries come together to exchange ideas, foster collaboration, and shape the future of market systems. MSS2023 will take place in person, with select components online in English, French, and Spanish.
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