Projects

Improving Global Water Sustainability and Boosting Food Security

Kaizen supported USAID’s efforts to accelerate agricultural and technological innovation to foster sustainable food production.

It was estimated that by 2025, nearly 2 billion people are projected to be living in water-scarce areas. Additionally, a rising global population will require a significant increase in agricultural production, with food demands expected to surge by 50 percent by 2050. During the last few decades, agricultural freshwater withdrawals have grown exponentially and are expected to increase by 15 percent by 2050.

			Highlights		

							SWFF portfolio returned an average of 41-percent return on investment
Income increased by $1,833 for more than 7 million farmers
Water consumption reduced by more than 19 billion liters
Usage or uptake increased for every graduate SWFF innovation
						

In my interactions with the innovators, it was clear that USAID brought added value in helping them to set and meet objectives, contributed to the growth of their business and success of their innovation, and gave them the opportunity to network and collaborate with like-minded entrepreneurs. Innovators were also appreciative of the level of ongoing engagement by USAID officials, the SWFF team lead, and the well-developed methodology for innovator onboarding, milestones setting and reporting, and acceleration services provided by The Kaizen Company-run SWFF TA Facility

David Ferguson, Director of the Center for Development Innovation, USAID Global Development Lab, regarding the 2017 GAC Conference in South Africa

To address these challenges, Kaizen, USAID, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and South Africa Department of Science and Technology implemented Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development (SWFF). Kaizen’s SWFF Technical Assistance Facility, a hybrid incubator-accelerator, provided demand-driven services, grants, and financial management guidance, monitoring and evaluation support, and partnerships to water-for-food innovators. The TA Facility has provided direct support to 40 innovators operating in 35 countries, which has significantly helped identify and accelerate scientific and technological innovations and market-driven approaches that enable agricultural producers to sustainably grow more food and increase their incomes.

Additionally, Kaizen coordinated several large-scale events for innovators to convene and present their products, technologies, and services to global investors, partners, and the public. These events played a key role in fostering international collaboration, as they offered innovators the opportunity to access new markets, additional capital, and partnerships.

Beyond creating financially sustainable enterprises, SWFF made it a core component of its programming to promote gender parity and address the needs of extremely poor households. SWFF spearheaded several initiatives to increase opportunities for female entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers under economic stress, such as forming workshops, expanding gender-sensitive trainings, and creating partnerships to increase adoption of products and services by women.

Overall, SWFF was critical in improving livelihoods, food security, poverty resilience, and social advancement for millions of people around the world. SWFF’s overwhelming success serves as a premier model for development institutions around the world that aim to use innovation to create equitable and sustainable global impact.

Kaizen’s project honored by Fast Company Magazine

Fast Company Magazine selected Securing Water for Food Technical Assistance Facility as a 2017 World Changing Ideas Award finalist in the food category. The competition honors businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that offer innovative solutions to issues facing humanity.