The U.S. Global Development Lab was established in April 2014, and builds on USAID's 50 years of experience in applying science, technology, innovation, and partnership to accelerate development impact. 
November 16, 2016
Innovator Digest
Greetings, Development Innovation Ventures portfolio organizations, past and present! After a long hiatus, we are pleased to re-launch our new and improved newsletter, targeted to you. We'll use this to share recent news, upcoming opportunities, and useful resources; to cultivate a sense of community among members of the DIV family; and to engage you in a conversation about addressing some of the toughest challenges in global development. Please take advantage of the tools we share and send us your feedback, updates, and ideas to ensure we're making this as useful as possible. 
  Featured
DIV has welcomed 13 new grantees to the family, awarding more than $11 million to address major global issues spanning 10 different countries. Special shout-out to Living Goods, which is just the fourth innovator to win a Stage 3 DIV grant. The majority of the winners are new to USAID and are innovating across a variety of sectors, including energy, education, and health. 

Shout Outs
Vayu was selected for its work delivering critical medical supplies in remote areas with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Dimagi was recognized for its work using predictive algorithm technology to build a platform that identifies "cold spots" (areas where little to no data exists) and protects the most vulnerable communities from becoming disease hot spots. 
Bandhan, in partnership with J-PAL researchers, released a report showing the long-term results of its Targeting the Hard Core Poor program in India: after seven years of, there was a 25% improvement in monthly consumption, compelling evidence that graduation programs can have sustained, long-term impact.
Jehiel Oliver, CEO and Founder of Hello Tractor, participated in the second President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, designed to strengthen commercial engagement between the United States and Africa.
SPOUTS of Water was named a finalist for the Humanitarian Water Air Food Awards for providing clean water access in Uganda. It was one of nine selected awardees from 175 applicants.
Good World Solutions (with its Laborlink platform) and LaborVoices use technology to tackle abuses in the garment industry by enabling workers to report violations committed around them, including discrimination, harassment, and abuse.
In May 2013, Azuri Technologies entered the Rwandan market with DIV support. A recent study shows that households using Azuri systems benefit from significantly more hours of light and from the ability to charge phones at home. 
  Take Advantage!
Welcome new portfolio organizations! To help you understand USAID, work through challenges, maximize opportunities, and accelerate growth, we provide tailored support. However, we are also providing this Welcome Packet to kick-off our partnership. It walk you through important next steps, DIV's support capacities, and ways to engage with us throughout your engagement with DIV.
Tap Our New Expert Network Resources!
Ever wonder "If I just could talk to an expert on this tricky issue..."? We get it. We've contracted two expert networks, OnFrontiers and Atheneum Partners, to provide DIV and DIV portfolio organizations with access to experts in every sector and country where we work. The options are endless. Use this resource for everything from testing out a new business idea with an expert in consumer products and market entry, to asking a quick question about a legal or regulatory issue or learning about investors who might be interested in your work. To tap the networks, email your AOR with a few sentences about the type of support you're looking for and why, and they'll get back to you with next steps. 
Global Innovation Exchange: Post Your Innovation!
The Innovation Exchange is a marketplace that connects funders, innovators, users, and solution seekers and gives them the tools to maximize their ability to meet the largest, most pressing development challenges. Use the Exchange to find, share, and help breakthrough innovations; search for funding; connect with other resources to test and scale innovations; and stay on top of the latest trends in development innovation. Create a profile to see how the Exchange can help you get started, and add innovations and resources to contribute to the platform as a "global good." Remember to tag to your organization and list DIV as a related program. 
Similar to DIV, the Global Innovation Fund (GIF), which USAID helped launch, invests in evidence-based social innovations that aim to improve the lives and opportunities of millions of people in the developing world. Through grants, equity investments, and debt, it supports breakthrough solutions with strong potential for social impact at a large scale. Financial support ranges from $50,000 to $15 million. GIF accepts applications on a rolling basis. 
Help us find breakthrough nutrition innovations. LAUNCHFood is accepting applications through November 16. The challenge, supported by USAID and the Australian aid agency (DFAT), seeks supply or demand-side innovations to improve global health outcomes by enabling people to make healthy food choices. 
This competition seeks high-efficiency, low-cost refrigeration solutions appropriate for off-grid energy sources anywhere in the developing world. Applications are accepted through January 20, 2017. The Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), USAID, Power Africa and the UK Department for International Development (DfID) are partnering to offer three $200,000 innovation prizes to reward advancements in off-grid refrigeration technology, while also recognizing best-in-class commercially available off-grid refrigerators.
Learn why evaluations matter and how they can be used to rigorously measure the social impact of development programs. This practical course provides a thorough understanding of randomized evaluations, with pragmatic step-by-step training for conducting one. Through lectures and case studies, the course focuses on the benefits and methods of randomization, choosing an appropriate sample size, and common threats and pitfalls to the validity of an experiment. This free course requires about 4 hours per week for 5 weeks. You have the option of getting a Verified Certificate after completing the course for $49.
A new framework from the International Association for the Measurement & Evaluation of Communications helps communicators better understand the impact of their campaigns and how they can improve. Watch the free, on-demand, one-hour webinar to find out how you can reach target audiences with a clear and comprehensive strategy, achieve KPIs by aligning paid, earned, shared and owned media, and better understand performance by tracking and measuring results.
Impact Evaluation in Practice - 2nd Edition Now Available 
The second edition of Impact Evaluation in Practice by Paul Gertler, Sebastian Martinez, Patrick Premand, Laura Rawlings and Christel Vermeersch is now available for free online. "The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation." 
Frontier Technology Livestreaming is a three-year program designed to help DFID apply frontier technologies (e.g., the Internet of Things, drones) to development challenges. Frontier technology experts can register as a potential collaborator and supplier to the program. The program launched on November 1 and will run until October 2019. If approved and matched to a DFID program, applicants could be eligible for up to £100,000 to pilot new solutions and receive expert support. Apply here.
Read This
Pratham: Achieving Public Sector Scale Through Effective Government Integration 
This great piece from the World Bank's Development Impact Blog highlights Pratham's work scaling innovations in remedial education in India. Key to Pratham's model is integration with government systems and iterating and refining its model over time. 
Electronic Data Improves Evaluation and Strengthens Programs
Evidence Action discusses how electronic data allows them to monitor their performance, make decisions about their programs, and report on their progress cheaper, faster, and better. It plays a key role in evaluating and improving their programs, including chlorine dispensers.
How can mobile money providers increase adoption and usage of their platform? Would a bonus on peer-to-peer transfers be enough to generate new business? In NextBillion, Innovations for Poverty Action discusses how it uses  "rapid-fire tests" or "nimble" randomized controlled trials - forms of "A/B" testing - specifically aimed at improving product design, to find out. 
Get Engaged
  • Help us help you promote your work! Send us communications materials, including photos, updates, achievements, job openings, etc. and we will push it out on our social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook using @GlobalDevLab #DIVUSAID. (Please note, our old Twitter handle, @DIVatUSAID, is no longer in use.)
  • Let us know when you are in town - we'd love to meet with you! Contact your AOR or reach out to scampbell@usaid.gov. 
  • Do you have your own newsletter? Make sure to send it to comiller@usaid.gov to help promote your updates!
  • Do you have suggestions for how we can strengthen our newsletter? Send ideas, resources, etc. to comiller@usaid.gov. We appreciate your candor!
  • Did you know we have a social media training document in the Portal? Find it and other helpful resources here !
Thank You

Thank you to those who have recently hosted visitors from our teams and other US government stakeholders in East Africa and India. We look forward to seeing others soon!


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