Resilient Agriculture Innovations for Nature (RAIN) Challenge

In the face of a continuously growing population, the world’s food production systems face an enormous challenge in providing food security. Also, climate change will increasingly cause adverse impacts on agricultural production and contribute to food insecurity in the future. At the same time, agriculture is the world’s biggest driver of biodiversity loss and contributes up to 31% of CO2. There is a need for sustainable agricultural practices to improve productivity, increase resilience to climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance biodiversity.

The agricultural sector is ripe with innovation and transformation potential despite rapidly becoming more susceptible to the harsh impacts of climate change. There is an urgent need to transform agricultural systems, especially for communities that heavily rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. Supporting locally led initiatives to achieve innovative agricultural transformation is key to advancing resilience and adaptation.

Together with Global Resilience Partnership, we are excited to launch the Resilient Agriculture Innovations for Nature (RAIN) Challenge for non-profit organisations in East Africa. The RAIN Challenge for non-profits aims to nurture innovative agricultural ideas that work to change the risk perceptions of investing in agriculture. The challenge will align potential funders to non-profit organisations and drive attention to the urgent need for locally-led agricultural systems transformation.

Non-profit organisations across public, local civil society, international NGOs, and academia based in East Africa are invited to submit proposals for initiatives that aim to deliver innovative and scalable solutions that increase resilience while resulting in a stronger and better context for nature positive agriculture to flourish.

A second strand of the RAIN Challenge is concerned with business concepts from local start-ups. This for-profit area is financially supported by the Shockwave Foundation and organised by GRP. Together, we can utilise synergies and harness the innovative power of non-profit and business-oriented entrepreneurs.