The Global Resilience Challenge’s “Water Window” will be opened for registration from 29 March, this month.
Registered entrants will be able to submit Concept Notes with innovative ideas and solutions to help flood prone communities across the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and South and Southeast Asia reduce their exposure to flood risks and to continue to develop in the face of uncertainty.
Successful submissions will be eligible for up to US$1 million scaling-up grants or up to US$250,000 seed grants.
The submissions should offer innovative solutions to the very real issues affecting flood prone communities. Creative thinking is encouraged and ideas should focus on technology, risk transfer and community transformation. Proposals could include scaling up existing initiatives that are already working.
Luca Alinovi, Executive Director at Global Resilience Partnership, said: “Changing demographics and climate trends mean we need new ideas and approaches to help countries and communities prepare for, adapt to, and recover in the face of chronic shocks and stresses.
The number of people impacted by river floods alone could nearly triple to 54 million globally by 2030. There is a real and present danger that needs addressing now.”
“We are incredibly excited to see what innovative solutions the flood pillar of the Water Window will reveal. We are expecting applicants from fields as diverse as meteorology, infrastructure design and finance.
We know that each of them will be looking at seemingly unsolvable problems in new ways and from multiple perspectives – local, regional, and global.”
The Water Window has been backed by a US$10 million commitment from the Z Zurich Foundation, as part of their investment in a global flood resilience program. It is set to fund teams of social entrepreneurs, community based organizations, research, academic institutions, international non-profit organizations and private sector organizations.
Proposals should focus on innovative solutions to real problems and demonstrate a basic understanding of the drivers of community resilience to floods; an understanding of the economic, environmental, social and technical aspects of flood risk reduction, management and recovery, and how flood resilience can truly be achieved without hampering other resilience or capabilities.
Entrants will need to complete a Concept Note and submit it online before an 8 May 2016 deadline. Finalists will be announced at the end of August 2016 and invited to submit a detailed proposal. They will receive mentoring from Global Resilience Partnership technical experts to refine their proposals.
The evaluation panel will be drawn from a pool of technical resilience and grant specialists alongside Zurich Insurance Group and members of the Global Resilience Partnership.
Linda Freiner, Program Manager for the Zurich Flood Resilience Program, said: “With an increasing number of communities being threatened by floods, it is clear that the old solutions are no longer fit for purpose. With the Water Window, we hope to support innovations that can become the next generation of solutions.
“The Water Window allows us to bring together a group with different skills but a common goal to tackle problems and find solutions for the most vulnerable people. What’s more, by working together, we can go beyond simply providing funds to become potential ‘investors’ in solutions.”
Instructively, the Global Resilience Partnership (Resilience Partnership) is a public-private initiative pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The Resilience Partnership is committed to fostering resilience at scale and transforming humanitarian and development assistance.
The Global Resilience Challenge Water Window is a joint association between Zurich Insurance Group, which has committed US$10 million for this purpose and the Global Resilience Partnership.
The Water Window follows the initial Global Resilience Challenge, launched in September 2014 that received nearly 500 applications and saw eight teams each receive up to US$1 million to address issues that threaten the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations in countries including Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Philippines and Uganda.
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