FID Call for Proposals

The Fund for Innovation in Development (FID) provides flexible grant funding for innovations that contribute to reducing global poverty and inequality.

FID supports innovators and researchers to test new ideas, generate rigorous evidence for effective programmes, and scale solutions with strong potential for impact and cost-effectiveness.

Areas supported

FID accepts innovations from any sector that address poverty and inequality. Applications are particularly encouraged in:

• Education

• Health

• Climate change

• Gender equality

FID also welcomes new approaches to delivering essential goods and services, process and managerial innovations, improvements in public services, new technologies, new applications of existing technologies, and accessible low-tech solutions.

Funding available

Funding ranges from up to €50,000 for preparation activities to as much as €4 million for tested innovations transitioning to scale.

Applications may be submitted at any time throughout the year.

Funding stages

Prepare Grant — up to €50,000

Supports promising applicants in preparing a future application for Stage 1, Stage 2 or Stage 3 funding.

Applicants must identify the funding stage they intend to pursue and explain the support needed to address gaps or unresolved questions before submitting the future application.

Supported activities may include:

• Recruiting organisations important to implementation and scale

• Developing or refining a prototype

• Exploring the potential of an innovation

• Building organisational capacity

• Providing relevant training

• Developing data-management systems

• Conducting user-discovery interviews or market studies

The innovation must already have been prototyped and be ready for testing in real-world conditions.

Stage 1: Pilot Grant — up to €200,000

Supports early-stage innovations that have passed the prototype stage and are ready to be tested with real users in real-world conditions.

Activities may include:

• Testing different delivery models

• Conducting further research and development

• Testing an existing prototype with users

• Assessing operational, social and financial viability

• Documenting social outcomes

• Establishing real-world implementation costs

Applicants must present a strong theory of change, monitoring and evaluation plan, potential for cost-effectiveness, and credible pathway to scale and financial sustainability.

Stage 2: Test and Position for Scale Grant — up to €1.5 million

Supports innovations that have already completed successful real-world pilot testing and are ready for rigorous impact assessment and expansion.

Applicants must either:

• Present rigorous evidence of the innovation’s causal impact; or

• Conduct a rigorous impact evaluation during the grant period.

The proposed evaluation must include a credible counterfactual or comparable control group. A simple before-and-after assessment without a comparison group is insufficient.

Applicants must also assess cost-effectiveness, operational feasibility and the resources required to deliver the innovation at scale.

Stage 3: Transition to Scale Grant — €1.5 million to €4 million

Supports rigorously tested and validated innovations transitioning towards widespread implementation, national expansion or adoption in new contexts.

Applicants must already possess:

• Rigorous evidence of causal impact

• Evidence that the innovation will be cost-effective at scale

• A strong implementation record

• A credible pathway to large-scale adoption

• Appropriate institutional and scaling relationships

Activities may include adapting the innovation to new contexts, testing its applicability in new locations, improving cost-effectiveness at scale, addressing operational barriers and beginning the scaling process.

Innovation and Public Policy Grant — up to €500,000

Supports the adaptation of a specific innovation for implementation at scale by a public entity.

The public entity must intend to integrate the innovation into public policy and use existing or newly generated evidence to guide its expansion.

A successful real-world pilot must already have been completed. Where technical organisations support the public entity, the application must demonstrate a formal commitment and a credible working relationship between them.

Evidence and Public Policy Grant — up to €500,000

Supports public entities seeking to improve how impact evidence is used in public-policy decisions.

Activities may include:

• Strengthening data systems

• Building capacity in impact-evaluation methods

• Using existing impact evidence

• Developing research agendas

• Establishing research collaborations

• Improving evidence-based public decision-making

Public entities may apply with technical organisations that possess relevant expertise and experience working with government institutions.

Eligible applicants

Eligible applicants include:

• Research institutes

• Institutions of higher education

• Governments

• Public agencies

• Non-governmental organisations

• Private for-profit companies

• Consortia of eligible organisations

Applicants may be registered anywhere, provided the proposed initiative will be implemented in an eligible country.

For Prepare Grants, the applicant organisation itself must be based in a country eligible for Official Development Assistance.

Ineligible applicants

The following are not eligible:

• Individuals applying independently

• Public international institutions

• Multilateral institutions

Geographic eligibility

FID funds initiatives implemented in countries eligible for Official Development Assistance according to the OECD Development Assistance Committee list.

Innovators and researchers of any nationality and from any geographic location may apply. However, FID particularly encourages applications from organisations based in, led by and significantly staffed by people from eligible countries.

Priority populations

FID particularly encourages innovations that improve outcomes for:

• Women and girls

• Underrepresented minorities

• Refugees

• Displaced people

• People living in poverty

• Other marginalised populations

Assessment criteria

FID assesses applications using six equally weighted criteria:

1. Innovation

2. Evidence of impact

3. Cost-effectiveness

4. Scale and financial sustainability

5. Implementation

6. Project team

Applicants should clearly present the development problem, proposed innovation, target population, theory of change, existing evidence, evaluation approach, expected costs, comparison with alternatives, scaling pathway, implementation capacity and relevant team expertise.

Application process

The review process has three principal stages:

1. Initial online application: FID aims to review the initial application and notify the applicant within approximately three months.

2. Additional information gathering: Selected applicants may be asked questions, required to provide further documents or invited to revise their proposals. This stage may take approximately one to four months.

3. Review Committee assessment: A committee of qualified experts makes the final funding recommendation.

FID may recommend a different funding stage, adjust the requested amount, revise evaluation methods or request stronger organisational commitments.

Applications may be submitted in English or French.