SWFF Program & Innovator News
July 31, 2017
Green Heat: Firing Ugandan Kitchens With Natural Waste

Mama Justice in her home in Buwambo, Wakiso District (Uganda)

Mama Justice runs a small pig farm in Buwambo, Uganda. Until recently, she gathered firewood every day to cook meals for her four grandchildren. After 70 years of hauling firewood, however, Mama Justice began to struggle with the physical burden. 

A friend connected Justice with Green Heat , a social enterprise based in Kampala, Uganda. The Green Heat team suggested she install an anaerobic digester to power her stove instead of firewood. Anaerobic digesters use biodegradable waste, such as plant leaves and livestock manure, to create clean-burning fuel. The innovation allowed Justice to pipe clean gas directly into her kitchen, eliminating her reliance on firewood and ridding her home of dangerous smoke.
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  • Since being named one of the eight finalists at the Future Agro Challenge 2017 stage in Johannesburg, South Africa, Si Technologies is gaining traction: Indonesian authorities approved its NewSil product for sale in that country.  
  • The USAID Southern Africa Mission published a story about the growth of Reel Gardening, a women-owned and led company that scaled its business to reach nearly half a million customers.
  • After a decade working to restore ocean health and community well-being in Kaimana, Conservation International Indonesia's marine program director, Victor Nikijuluw, shares his lessons learned, including the crucial role local churches can play in conservation.  
  • The ground-breaking National Climate Change Impact Survey 2016 in Nepal, conducted in part by Practical Action, aims to bridge the data gap on climate change issues.
  • FutureWater published a white paper that demonstrates state-of-the-art methods for assessing different Hydrological EcoSystem Services (HESS) and explores opportunities for spatial monitoring of HESS and predicting changes under different scenarios. 
  • The Securing Water for Food Technical Assistance Facility recently published The Untapped Market for Agricultural Innovations in Emerging Economies: A Practical Workbook to Help Innovators Reach Women Smallholder Farmers. The 110-page publication helps innovators in the agricultural sector reach and effectively serve female smallholder farmers in emerging economies.
  • Securing Water for Food published its 2017 Semi-Annual Report. SWFF innovators have helped save approximately 1.5 billion liters of water and produced nearly 650,000 tons of food, reaching more than 1.5 million farmers and other customers. More than 600,000 hectares of rangeland and cropland are under improved practices due in part to SWFF innovations. To date, our innovators have leveraged SWFF funding for almost $13 million in additional funding through more than 100 partnerships and achieved more than $2 million in sales.
Opportunities
  • Hogan Lovells launched the Community Solar Innovation Awards 2017 for innovative eco-inclusive enterprises utilizing solar energy to generate environmental, social and economic benefits in poor communities. The application deadline is 16 August 2017, 23:59 Central European Time.
  • Cutting-edge startups and research projects across the ag-bio, renewable energy, sustainable materials, food production, animal health, and farming technology sectors are invited to apply to present their business/technology at the 2017 Ag Innovation Showcase in St. Louis, Missouri, September 11-13, 2017.
  • Take this course from 2SCALE to learn how partnerships and bottom-up innovations can help you build a profitable and inclusive agribusiness. 2SCALE is an agribusiness incubator improving rural livelihoods in Africa by accelerating inclusive business in agri-food industries.
  • Learn about farmer-level data collection that will take your marketing to the next level by listening to Feed the Future's Metrics for Marketing TechTalk webinar.
  • USAID is Looking for Innovations That Have Reached 1 Million Lives, or are on Their Way. USAID and partners want to celebrate innovations that are reaching scale. USAID is hoping to understand how many innovations in development around the world have impacted and improved more than 1 million lives, or are on their way to big numbers and big impact! USAID plans to host a convening of these amazing innovators to both draw attention to innovation that works, to socialize that innovation with other users, customers, and funders, and to ensure that it is collectively learning what the Agency can about scaling impactful innovation! Help USAID find and identify these outstanding innovations by submitting your nominations here or complete it yourself.  
1001 Words

A farmer in Ghana uses her cell phone and Ignitia AB's forecasts to track the weather ---   helping her know when best to plant, harvest and water her crops.