A version of this post originally appeared on 100 Resilient Cities.
The launch of 100 Resilient Cities in 2013, and its subsequent exponential growth, is but one testament to The Rockefeller Foundation’s abiding commitment to helping communities everywhere be better prepared for whatever comes their way.
This year, this commitment has continued to expand, and in addition to myriad other resilience-building efforts, The Rockefeller Foundation joined with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and later the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), in the Global Resilience Partnership. The Resilience Partnership aims to build resilience in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and South and Southeast Asia through innovative approaches and collaboration among a diverse set of stakeholders.
The Resilience Partnership’s first activity is the Global Resilience Challenge, a three-stage grant competition that aims to bring together people and organizations from across sectors to collaborate on bold and innovative solutions to the toughest resilience challenges. Whereas 100 Resilient Cities has a distinct urban focus, the Resilience Partnership’s Challenge is looking to find innovative solutions that can work at scale across regions—which could include cities. Through the Challenge process, the Resilience Partnership is looking for teams that represent a range of perspectives and expertise that will collectively research and diagnose problems in a particular region, and develop locally-driven, high-impact solutions, especially those that will benefit poor or vulnerable people.
The first team application, due November 30, is simply a pre-proposal that identifies the critical obstacles to building resilience in the team’s focal region. Teams who best demonstrate the commitment, creativity, and capacity of their members to address barriers to resilience will be invited to advance to the next stage of the Challenge where they will receive up to $200,000 of funding to further develop their problem statement and to develop a bold, innovative, scalable solution.
In the Challenge’s final stage, teams who have designed the most promising—or potentially transformational—solutions will receive funding for implementation of up to $1,000,000. Winning teams will receive funding in the fall of 2015, roughly one year after the Challenge opens.
We encourage all qualified individuals to apply to the Global Resilience Challenge or pass along to other qualified peers. The application deadline is Sunday, November 30, 2014 at 5:00pm EST.
This post was prepared by The Global Resilience Partnership, convened by The Rockefeller Foundation and USAID, and joined by Sida. With an initial commitment of $150 million from the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, and Sida, the Partnership aims to build systemic approaches to addressing climate and population change.
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