SWFF Program & Innovator News
March 27, 2017
Green Heat Uganda: Using Less Water to Create Cleaner, More Abundant Energy

For farmers in Uganda and other developing countries facing energy and waste-management issues, anaerobic digestion systems seem like a great solution. They help break down waste from plants and animals and create fuel. Waste and water go in; fertilizer and biogas come out. The problem is that every kilogram of waste needs to be mixed with a kilogram of water. Women and children in Uganda might gather upwards of 80 liters of water every day just for the digester. This burden leads to half of digesters being abandoned within a year.

Green Heat Uganda has worked to improve the standard digester, using gravity to recycle water within the system. It's a solution that requires farmers to put in less labor and fewer precious resources.
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Innovator News
SWFF Updates
SWFF Featured at Special USAID Event on Water

A special event to release USAID's  Safeguarding the World's Water  report for FY 2015 in Washington, D.C., brought together USAID staff and a wide range water-sector stakeholders to reflect on accomplishments and lessons learned. SWFF Team Lead Ku McMahan spoke about the creation of SWFF, the program's approach and challenges, and the importance of experimentation for development.

Photos from the Global Entrepreneurship Congress


Thank you, Johannesburg and the 6,000+ delegates from over 165 countries, for making this an amazing Congress!
Opportunities
  • Cutting edge start-ups and research projects across ag-bio, renewable energy, sustainable materials, food production, animal health, and farming technologies are invited to apply to present their business/technology at the 2017 Ag Innovation Showcase in St. Louis, Missouri, September 11-13, 2017.
  • Are you working on a promising, innovative and scalable business in a bottom of the pyramid (BoP) market? The Inclusive Business Accelerator connects you to investors and business coaches. Register your profile!
  • The SOCAP Social Entrepreneur Scholarship Program is now accepting applicants to receive a scholarship to attend SOCAP17 in San Francisco, California-including accommodations, full conference pass, and dedicated mentorship from impact leaders, among other benefits. International applicants' deadline is June 1, 2017. For all other applicants, June 30, 2017.
  • The Government of Australia and other partners (including the World Bank) are launching the Water Data Challenge. This challenge seeks breakthroughs in enabling low-income farmers to access and make use of affordable, timely water data, resulting in better management of scarce water resources to support resilient, productive farms. Applications accepted on a rolling basis. Grants - $10,000. Winners announced July, 2017. First round winners eligible for early-stage awards up to US $250,000 and ready-to-scale awards up to US $1million.
  • Lessons from Successful Social Enterprises: Best Sales Practices for BoP Customers. Join the next USAID Live Discussion webinar on Thursday April 6th at 10AM EST to hear speakers share their lessons learned from developing sales strategies for bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) customers.
Resources
1001 Words

SWFF Innovator World Hope GRO Greenhouses field agents, Umar Manseray and Mohamed Jawara, with a vegetable seller purchasing lettuce nursed in a GRO greenhouse at the University of Makeni, Sierra Leone. She will take the lettuce to the market and sell it.