Inside DIV Fund's new open call for development innovation

Devex's Catherine Cheney reports on a Devex Pro Funding. Excerpts include:

"In a recent Devex Pro Funding Briefing, DIV Fund cofounders Sasha Gallant and Jeff Brown described the new call as an "open front door" for development innovation — and much of the conversation focused on what it actually takes to get through that door..."

"As Gallant put it, "if you take a really open approach like that, you also have to discipline it." The DIV Fund evaluates proposals based on strict criteria: evidence, cost-effectiveness, and "durable scale." Applicants need to demonstrate how their intervention will generate measurable improvements in people's lives, how it compares to existing alternatives, and whether it can realistically be sustained and scaled. Like its predecessor at USAID, the DIV Fund uses a staged funding model that aligns the size of grants with the maturity of an idea..."

"Both Gallant and Brown repeatedly emphasized one point for prospective applicants: read the request for proposals, or RFP, closely. In a more competitive funding environment, the document is designed to help organizations determine early whether they are a strong fit — before investing time in a full application..."

""A lot of the really successful and promising proposals have found ways to build coalitions," Brown said, noting that organizations often partner with others to address "the weaknesses" in their proposals. That means combining technical expertise, research capacity, and credible pathways to scale — whether through partnerships with governments, collaborations with academic institutions, or alliances that fill gaps an organization cannot address on its own..."

"So while the "front door" may be open, organizations looking to enter it will need to demonstrate not just that their idea could work, but how they will prove it, how it compares to existing approaches, and who will ultimately take it to scale."

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