IMPORTANT UPDATE: DIV application window has closed, effective on Friday, July 28 2017, 11:59pm ET.  Applications are not being accepted at this time until further notice. Please visit www.usaid.gov/div and www.divportfolio.org and follow @GlobalDevLab on Twitter for further updates. For other potential funding opportunities, visit the Global Innovation Exchange at www.globalinnovationexchange.org.

DIV looks for compelling new development solutions in a year-round competition, rigorously tests them, and helps scale those that are proven successful to reach millions of beneficiaries around the world.

Competing ideas

DIV is interested in innovations that are expected to lead to transformative (as opposed to incremental) improvements that could ultimately scale across multiple developing countries and, ideally, multiple sectors in these countries. DIV recognizes that development breakthroughs can come from anywhere—a lab in a university, a local organization, or a passionate entrepreneur. Solutions range from new technologies and new service-delivery practices to novel or more cost-effective variations on existing practices. Innovations are expected to eventually scale up through the private sector, the public sector, or a combination of the two in order to reach sustainability without DIV support.

Innovating in stages

Drawing inspiration from product development enterprises, DIV invests in ideas across different stages of their development from proof-of-concept to widespread use. Applicants can apply to any stage:

Stage 1: establishes proof of concept and initial testing

Stage 2: tests solutions and positions them for scale (stage 1 criteria previously met with DIV or other support sources)

Stage 3: transitions proven solutions to scale (criteria of stages 1 and 2 previously met with DIV or other support sources)

For more details on how DIV works, please see Our Model in Detail.

Focused funding opportunities

Virtually any organization with a solution for a development challenge in any sector or country in which USAID operates is eligible to apply to DIV’s general competition here.

Periodically, DIV collaborates with internal or external partners for a special funding window focused on a particular country, region, or sector. Special windows that are currently open include the following. Please see their websites for more information:

• Water, Sanitation & Hygiene sector

In the past, DIV has collaborated on the following special windows that are now closed:

• Innovation Fund for the Americas (IFA) with USAID missions in Latin America and the Caribbean
• Humanitarian Innovation Initiative with the U.K. Department for International Development

Applicant next steps: 

What we look for

Additional resources:

FAQs

How to Apply

Annual Program Statement (APS)

DIV Portfolio Organization Profiles