Nilotica Shea Alliance

Meet the 37 winners advancing climate resilience across the Global South

Learn more about the winners of our innovation challenge and how they are driving positive change

Written by: Vilina Engheepi and Mumbi Sarah Kasumba

We are pleased to announce the 37 winners of our global innovation challenge, recognising locally led innovations strengthening resilience and delivering lasting impact in their communities.

Build Up Nepal

Climate impacts are being felt across the globe. Growing instability, climate shocks and stresses, and geopolitical unrest have made strengthening resilience across all sectors more urgent than ever. Communities in the Global South continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis, yet they also hold local knowledge and experience that are essential to developing effective, locally grounded solutions. In turn, we launched a global Call for Proposals to identify and support bold, locally led innovations that strengthen resilience, protect ecosystems, and create sustainable opportunities for communities.

With support from the Trafigura Foundation, Shockwave Foundation, and Munich Re Foundation, the innovation challenge aims to support promising solutions reach their potential by connecting innovators with specialised mentorship and a wider ecosystem of resilience practitioners, experts, and partners.

Nilotica Shea Alliance

The Call was structured around three thematic Challenges:

  • Surfacing nature-positive solutions that strengthen rural livelihoods and ecosystems through the Resilient Agriculture Innovations for Nature (RAIN) Rural Challenge,
  • Supporting locally led innovations that address the realities of informal urban environments through the Resilience Innovation in Informality through Scaling Entrepreneurship (RISE) Urban Challenge, and 
  • Advancing the use of Artificial Intelligence to enhance humanitarian preparedness and response through the Technology for Evolving Challenges in Humanitarian Contexts (TECH)4Resilience Challenge. We have earmarked funding for TECH4Nature solutions, with a particular interest in solutions from South East Asia.

We received more than 1,900 applications from 103 countries, reflecting the breadth of innovation and commitment to resilience across the Global South. After a rigorous review process, we selected 89 finalists from 44 countries. The finalists participated in a 3-day virtual Leadership Academy in July, working with mentors to strengthen their innovations, develop their ideas, and explore growth opportunities.

Each winner will receive up to USD 50,000 in funding, alongside tailored mentoring, MEL support, connections to potential investors and funders, and opportunities to amplify their work through GRP’s network. Beyond tailored mentoring, the Challenge creates lasting connections, bringing winners into a wider community of innovators, practitioners and funders committed to learning from one another and advancing resilience. We’re excited to work alongside these innovators, support their journeys and see their solutions grow.

Kumaonkhand Agro

Meet the winners:

RAIN 4

RAIN East Africa

RAIN Global

RISE 2

TECH4Resilience 2

TECH4Emergencies

TECH4Nature

This Call for Proposals has been developed with support from the Trafigura Foundation, Shockwave Foundation, and Munich Re Foundation. We are also working in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the SEAC

Written by: Vilina Engheepi and Mumbi Sarah Kasumba

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