Indian NGO to Develop Innovative Solutions to Global Resilience Challenges
NEW DELHI – The Global Resilience Partnership recently announced 16 teams selected to move forward in the Global Resilience Challenge. Teams were chosen from among nearly 500 applicants across six continents. In applying for the Global Resilience Challenge, teams were asked to submit their vision and plan for taking a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to solving the greatest resilience challenges across the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Mahila Housing SEWA Trust is the only Indian lead team to be selected to advance to Stage 2 of the Global Resilience Challenge
“The diversity and ambitions of the hundreds of teams that applied is another testament to the incredible momentum and interest in building resilience,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, a funding partner of the Global Resilience Partnership. “The selected teams have bold and innovative ideas for getting ahead of the next crisis in a way that will make millions of lives better day-to-day, so that they and their communities realize a resilience dividend – investments that yield positive economic and social impacts every day particularly for poor and vulnerable people, and that can prevent disruptions from becoming disasters.”
The Global Resilience Challenge is a three-stage grant competition led by the Global Resilience Partnership, a $150 million effort of The Rockefeller Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to help the global community pivot from being reactive in the wake of disasters to driving evidence-based investments to better manage and adapt to inevitable shocks. Teams moving forward in the Challenge comprise scientists, policy practitioners, humanitarians, and a host of experts from across dozens of other disciplines. With up to $200,000 in next stage funding, these 16 teams will explore the effects of persistent cycles of drought, storms, famine, and other disasters on vulnerable populations in each of the focus regions, and identify locally driven, scalable solutions that can help communities and households adapt to and recover from chronic shocks and stresses, while reducing vulnerabilities.
“Through the Global Resilience Challenge, we are pioneering a new model of development—one grounded in innovation, public-private partnerships, and relentless focus on results,” said USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. “By collaborating with a global community of innovators, we will unlock game-changing solutions that not only build resilience, but give millions of the world’s most vulnerable people a pathway out of extreme poverty.”
The teams proceeding to Stage Two of the competition will further develop their problem statements, examining the root causes of the challenges present in their regions and propose solutions and implementation plans for their concepts. Mahila Housing SEWA Trust intends to implement its resilience plans in 100 slum communities across Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bhopal, Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar (India), Kathmandu (Nepal) and Dhaka (Bangladesh).
In the final stage, three teams will be announced as winners of the Global Resilience Challenge in September. They will each receive up to $1 million in funding to implement and scale up their proposed solution in the region.
