Contact Us  |  Search  
 
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research
Development, Security, and Cooperation
Policy and Global Affairs
Home About Us For Grant Recipients Funded Projects Email Updates
For Applicants | Focus Areas | Multiple Countries / Digital Development for Feed the Future (D2FTF)

Applicant Resources

Eligible Countries:

  • Bangladesh
  • Cambodia
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Guatemala
  • Guinea
  • Haiti
  • Honduras
  • Kenya
  • Liberia
  • Malawi
  • Mali
  • Mozambique
  • Nepal
  • Rwanda
  • Senegal
  • Tajikistan
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Zambia

Additional Criteria for Applicants:
  • Proposed projects must be one year in length with a maximum budget of $100,000. Additionally, proposals should describe specific milestones that will be reached throughout the year. These milestones are expected to be shared with the D2FTF team at USAID as they are reached.
  • Please see Section V of the Solicitation for General Eligibility requirements.
Objectives:

With a clear focus on fighting poverty, hunger and undernutrition, President Obama launched a global food security initiative called Feed the Future. Building on the standard set by the African Union when its members committed to develop comprehensive food security plans, and working alongside thousands of partners from the private sector, civil society, and local leaders, Feed the Future pioneered a new model of development—one grounded in country leadership, policy reforms, cutting-edge measurement and evidence, and a relentless focus on delivering real results.

Digital Development for Feed the Future (D2FTF) is a three-year collaboration between the Global Development Lab and the Bureau for Food Security within USAID, with the broad goals of increasing the integration of digital technologies across Feed the Future activities to help accelerate its top level goals of increased agricultural productivity and improved nutrition for women and children.

In alignment with D2FTF goals, the PEER Program is committed to filling gaps in research in Feed the Future countries. The PEER program is interested in supporting projects that contribute to improved uses of digital technologies for agricultural development. Specifically, projects that use digital solutions to:

  • Increase linkages along the agricultural value chain, including
    • Increasing the transmission of relevant agricultural information to end users such as farmers and/or agricultural extension workers in near real-time
    • Creating products that can be used by multiple actors along the value chain on interoperable, integrated platforms
  • Enable individuals, households, communities, and systems to recover from agriculture-related stresses and to absorb shocks more effectively
  • Catalyze and scale Feed The Future Innovation Lab products, digitally, to reach a larger number of people and communities effectively and sustainably
  • Increase the sustainability of existing and/or proven digital solutions for agricultural use
  • Demonstrate the value of incorporating digital tools and technologies (including mobile money, digital financial services, mobile-enabled extension information delivery, and real-time data collection and analysis) into agricultural production 
  • Demonstrate the role of mobile money and digital financial services (transactions, savings, credit and insurance, for example), in driving financial inclusion as a component of greater agricultural productivity and enhanced livelihoods for smallholder farmers and their families
Research projects that incorporate the use of big data, elements of digitally-enabled precision agriculture, and/or GIS or remote sensing-based products are highly encouraged to apply. Innovative approaches using crowdsourced data or citizen science approaches will also be of interest. Applicants are encouraged to reach out to U.S.-based researchers associated with a Feed the Future Innovation Lab working in the country where the proposed PEER project will take place. Information on Feed The Future Innovations Labs, including the countries they partner with, can be found at the following web address:
(https://feedthefuture.gov/lp/feed-future-innovation-labs).