2021 Seed Grant Award Problem Statement Categories
Problem Statements
Health and Wellbeing
Problem #1: Building a solution that performs environmental assessments to identify asthma triggers in the home by virtually walking through an individual’s home.
Country/Region of execution: Bronx, NY, USA
Collaborating Organization: Bronx Community Health Network
Bronx Community Health Network (BCHN) is a not-for-profit organization and Federally Funded Health Center that sponsors 21 community and school-based health centers in the Bronx. BCHN aims to improve the health of people and families in the Bronx, provide access to affordable, quality health care, promote disease prevention, and obtain financial and other resources to bring services to those who need it most.
Problem Statement Description: Asthma disproportionately affects those in low-income neighborhoods and is no exception in the Bronx, where 1 in 4 children suffer from asthma. Asthma not only requires appropriate clinical management, but also must accompany strategies for addressing the social determinants. Asthma is commonly attributed to outdoor as well as indoor environmental conditions, such as housing quality and exposure to pests. Home-based intervention is a critical component of asthma management, as asthma education and control of environmental triggers often require more time and resources than can be achieved in the clinical setting. Individuals with uncontrolled asthma are often referred to home-based services, but we have learned that home-based visits are a challenge, as, despite significant engagement activities, only 38% of individuals accept and complete a home visit. There are many factors that come into play, but a core barrier is a basic resistance to allowing a stranger into one’s home. Families have expressed concerns of having an undocumented relative, or unsafe conditions (i.e., overcrowding, etc.) reported to the authorities. Moreover, families often feel judged for their poor living conditions (i.e., pests, rodents, etc.). Having a virtual home-based assessment is an innovative, less invasive, and cost-effective way of engaging with individuals and families to support asthma management. This would provide an additional option for providing home-based services and would break the barriers that currently prevent successful in-home assessments. This application would provide access to services that best fit individual needs and personal circumstances and combat uncontrolled asthma in the Bronx. The application would support in conducting environmental assessments to identify asthma triggers by virtually walking through the home with the patient/family. The application will also support representatives providing the home-based visit in connecting with individuals to review their existing Asthma Action Plans, review medication, provide education, and make external referrals.
Problem #2: Anemia affects a large proportion of the population in Myanmar, but reducing anemia rates effectively remains difficult without understanding the actual causes of anemia in country.
Country/Region of execution: Myanmar
Collaborating Organization: World Concern Development Organization
World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955, focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners, while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently World Concern is implementing roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the Myanmar country office is located in Yangon.
Problem Statement Description: One of the key targets of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) is Target 2.2: “By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition …”. In Myanmar, the proportion of people affected by anemia is larger than any other form of malnutrition. In Myanmar, anemia affects 35.6% of children under five, 29.8% of adolescent girls, 40% of pregnant women, and 35.4% of lactating women (The Myanmar National Micronutrient Survey, 2019) . The consequences of anemia during pregnancy, include increased risks of low birthweight, preterm birth, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality (Maternal anemia and risk of mortality: a call for action, March 2018, The Lancet), while it also places the mother at increased risk of death during and after childbirth. Anemia in children negatively impacts their cognitive and physical development, and reduces physical stamina and productivity in both adults and children.
Bottleneck: In line with global and national nutrition indicators, our organization included reduction of anemia in our nutrition programs. The bottleneck however is that an assessment on the causes of anemia in Myanmar is not available. As anemia can have a variety of causes, which can differ by location, it is difficult to effectively reduce anemia. Anemia interventions should include comprehensive strategies to address the locally identified causes to be most effective.
Key Constraints: Some key constraints to conduct such a survey include the costs and technical know-how to measure the wide variety of causes. Anemia can be caused by excessive red blood cell loss due to loss of blood (post-partum hemorrhage, menstrual loss, injury etc.) or due to increased destruction of red blood cells (due to helminths, malaria, or genetic conditions). Or, it may be caused by inadequate red blood cell production due to inadequate intake or absorption of micronutrients, or due to inflammation from chronic disease, infection or malaria.
Thus far, the main strategies to control anemia in Myanmar included iron supplementation, deworming and nutrition education. A nation-wide micronutrient survey was conducted in 2019 which measured the prevalence of anemia but did not look into causes of anemia. Discussions with the State Health Department of Kachin State showed their keen interest on supporting a study and/or program on anemia. Technical support to refine and review the anemia assessment design is requested, in particular to assess the variety of causes as well as to enable comparison of different groups (e.g. adolescent girls, women of reproductive age).
Problem #3: Antiquated reimbursement models are promoting over use of the hospital and limit access to Primary and Specialty care.
Country/Region of execution: Bronx, NY, USA
Collaborating Organization: Empress Mobile Integrated Health
Empress Mobile Integrated Health has been working with SBH and the Bronx population since 2018. Empress collaborated to facilitate transitional care for patients considered “high utilizers” who are often unnecessarily in the hospital with conditions that can be managed at home. Empress was hands on with patients for 30 days’ post discharge facilitating home treatment, medication reconciliation, appointment scheduling and referrals based on their need’s assessment. Empress saw an over 50% reduction in 30-day readmissions among high ED utilizers and over 75% reduction among the inpatient population. Uniquely positioned to help EMS provides highly reliable patient assessment and treatment in response to emergency, urgent or unscheduled episodes of illness or injury. Services provided as part of MIH-CP can effectively navigate patients needing urgent or unscheduled care through the healthcare system to ensure they receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Problem Statement Description: Medically fragile and chronically ill patients with multiple chronic conditions have frequent health status changes and related concerns. Many of these high-risk individuals face daily challenges in understanding, accessing, and navigating the healthcare system; ultimately leading to primary ED use, frequent readmissions and may lack post-acute services. The development of innovative, collaborative partnerships could provide early intervention and additional layers of support to assist these individuals in improving overall quality of care delivered in the right place at the right time. Our experience with this population identified that access to “follow up” or same day care was inadequate. Patient volume in the Bronx causes unique access issues in which recently discharged patients can’t get into their follow up appointments for weeks or even up to a month and half post discharge. Same day access for immediate low acuity issues is near impossible which leads to patients seeking the instant satisfaction of the ED. Our culture has promoted the use of the 911 system, therefore it has led to the misuse of the EMS system and overuse of the hospital. This model has not translated with modern day solutions that may be better suited in a prehospital setting. Community Paramedicine can eliminate gaps in the care continuum as a 24/7/365 medical resource. This would not only improve the patient experience but also improve population health and reduce healthcare expenditures. Preventative or real time care is becoming more and more accessible through programs like Community Paramedicine, Telehealth options and real time wearable tech updating providers of issues. Routine follow ups have been a great preventative resource and led to much success with our Community Paramedicine program, but gaps still exist, many centered around Social Determinants of Health, i.e. environment, education, food security, and health access. Just like when you bring your car to the mechanic and all of a sudden that irritating noise is gone, patients often feel and look great during routine visits but that time between visits is where we are seeing patient’s health plans breakdown and they return to the convenience of 911 and the hospital. As much as we educate patients to look for signs of health decline they aren’t always paying attention to the small signs and not initiating preventative care rather than reacting to acute conditions. These gaps can be reduced with real time interaction every day, in which the patient can select user friendly options that clue us into their current health and we can determine the need for additional intervention.
Problem #4: Prevention and early detection of cancer in women
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Aaroogya Foundation
Aaroogya is in alignment with the vision and mission of the holistic umbrella of the Indian National Health Protection scheme called ‘Ayushman Bharat’. It involves improvising and establishing existing Public Health, Primary Care and Wellness Centers. The scheme shall cover families from the lower economic strata who have little or no access to basic healthcare facilities. Aaroogya is not a conventional Non-Governmental Organization, but a Holistic concept of Disrupting and Democratizing Preventive Healthcare with contemporary social innovations, incorporating into the Public Health Care Domain in India. We have been focused in the domain of women cancer and have been working on Breast, Cervical and Oral cancers. The organization consist of a core team which has 6 core members and 12 fellows.
Problem Statement Description: The silent pandemic of cancer may affect 130 million Indians by 2030. Women will be the worst sufferers of this 'upcoming' pandemic. The top three of the five most common cancers will affect women. These are breast cancer, cervical cancer, and oral cancer. The women affected by these cancers will belong to deprived strata of the society. Many of these women will be found in inaccessible areas of the country. Good health care infrastructure is inaccessible and expensive for them. In addition to the above women belonging to the rural sector of society not aware of the perils of the disease. We at Aaroogya Foundation are looking to change this. We are bringing quality preventive cancer Healthcare to the door steps of rural India. We Have developed an artificial intelligence assisted mobile application for Android platform. The application is interactive in nature and procures information about the lifestyle, vulnerability, habits and symptoms of the patients. The data is analyzed through an algorithm, and patients are classified into high risk, medium risk and low risk. Moving forward we are looking to develop an engine which can improve our artificial intelligence enabled software and also fuse other non-invasive measures such as images, questionnaires and sensor based information gathering systems. We want to integrate these non-invasive methods into a robust early cancer detection and prevention technique. We aim to empower frontline Healthcare workers with this tool for community-based cancer screening so that we can reach the inaccessible areas of India. The need is to evaluate estimation methods and analyze inputs through statistical approach and AI technique for development of estimation method of risk of Breast cancer in our ongoing projects of Pune, Maharashtra in 1000 underprivileged women. The bottleneck is to do a feasibility study to analyze inputs through statistical approach and AI technique to assess the risk of breast cancer.
Agriculture / Food Security
Problem #5: Need for low-cost solutions for food Storage and transportation in Bangladesh
Country/Region of execution: Bangladesh
Collaborating Organization: World Concern Development Organization
World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955, focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners, while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently World Concern is implementing roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the Bangladesh country office is located in Dakar.
Problem Statement Description: Bangladesh produces a very good harvest of rice, vegetables, onion, potatoes, chili and other spices in each of its three annual seasons. Unfortunately, farmers sell almost all their produce immediately after the harvest season due to lack of storage facilities and the need for money. The farm gate at the harvest period is usually very low and, in many times, unable to meet the cost of production. Post-harvest loss especially on vegetables and potatoes is a serious problem in Bangladesh. There are no cold storage systems for poor farmers in rural areas of Bangladesh. Moreover, electricity failures are frequent making electric powered cold storage not a feasible solution. Transporting agricultural products to major cities is also a big challenge as Bangladesh experiences heavy traffic throughout the year due to the high population density. Farm produces takes many hours on the road which leads to losses of perishable agricultural products before they can reach the market. World Concern has been supporting local farmers increase food production and storage to enhance their food production. However, the challenges of storage and poor transportation methods negates these efforts. Consequently, World Concern would like to partner with Purdue University to innovate small-scale farm level cold storage facilities that could be powered by renewable energy as well as an affordable cooler system for closed truck to aid storage and transport of farm produce to the market. This will improve the local agricultural value chains as well as boost local food security. The primary SDG associated with this problem is SDG no 1: No poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere since it will target peasant farmers whose main livelihood is agriculture. In addition, the problem will also contribute in achieving SDG no 2: Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Improved storage and transportation of food will ensure increased availability of food at a reduced cost.
Problem #6: Need for low-cost and low-maintenance seed drill technology for small and marginal farmers, suitable for small landholdings (of less than 0.5 ha) and uneven lands.
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
Founded in 1943, Catholic Relief Services has been working in India since 1946, through a network of partner organizations in the areas of health, agricultural livelihoods, emergency relief and recovery, and women and child protection. The country team has vast multi-sectoral expertise and is backed by robust technical and administrative support structures at the regional and headquarters levels to ensure high-quality and cost-effective programming, reporting, monitoring and evaluation. In India, CRS and its partners have extensive experience in promoting technologies and practices that benefit small and marginal farmers and leverage established relationships with government extension agents to reach farmers in remote areas. CRS also works with local input/service providers to ensure rural farmers can access essential on- and off-farm technologies that increase productivity, and ultimately benefit household income. Our partners include agricultural research institutions, national and international non-governmental organizations, community groups, and governments.
Problem Statement Description: In India, 66 million families are self-employed in agriculture. 86.2% of them are small and marginal landholders who contribute significantly to agricultural production and food security. Despite this, most technology improvements are geared towards large farmers. Neglect of the unique needs of small farmers given their land size, income, and investment capacity, has resulted in low productivity and increased food insecurity. While proven technologies like seed drills can increase crop yield and income, decrease production cost, reduce cumbersome agricultural processes, existing mechanized seed drills are unfit for small farmers due to usability, cost, and high maintenance. Implements made for small farmers are manual and labor intensive. Despite willingness to adopt seed drills, small farmers are constrained by unavailability of low-cost easily maintainable models. CRS’ work in Bihar (Integrated Rice-Based Rainfed Agricultural Systems) established that technologies like Direct Seeded Rice reduced the cost of cultivation by 50% and validated the challenges faced by small farmers. CRS established a cadre of small entrepreneurs who provide seed drill services, but they are unable to cater to farmers with less than 0.5ha. This problem is relevant to Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17 which respectively focus on achieving ‘zero hunger’ with increased agricultural productivity and sustainable food production and ‘global partnership for sustainable development’. With support from Purdue and in partnership with farmers, local manufacturers, universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendra* and the private sector CRS seeks to co-create a user-friendly, affordable, localized and scalable technology adapted to the needs of small farmers. *Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) is an agricultural extension center in India. Usually associated with a local agricultural university, these centers serve as the link between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and farmers and also as a resource center for extending government initiatives to local areas. KVKs have been established in all states.
Problem #7: The Fall Army Worm outbreak continues to ravage farms in South Sudan and its effects are projected to significantly affect cereal production in the Country.
Country/Region of execution: South Sudan
Collaborating Organization: World Concern Development Organization
World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955, focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners, while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently World Concern is implementing roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the South Sudan country office is located in Juba, Western Bhar al Ghazal.
Problem Statement Description: The problem presented in in line with SDGs no.2 Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. The Fall Army Worm outbreak continues to ravage farms in South Sudan and its effects are projected to significantly affect cereal production in the Country. This pest feeds on more than 80 host plants, but prefers maize or sorghum, which are the major staple crops in South Sudan. Any production loss to this pest is likely to have a significant impact on the already precarious food security situation in the country. South Sudan is currently facing serious levels of food insecurity, an estimate 55 percent of the country’s population could face severe acute food insecurity in 2020, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. This is caused by many factors including destruction done by army worms. The problem is further complicated by the lack of government policy on production and or importation of pesticides and thus no chemical-pesticides are allowed in the Country. This largely leaves farmers to bear the consequence of lack of pest control affecting their crops. The range of options available for immediate response are limited as the knowledge of control interventions are low, and costs are high, hence leaving majority of farmers in South Sudan exposed to losses. Majority of these farmers use locally made pesticide made from neem tree, tobacco and green pepper whose efficacy and effectiveness are not well established or documented. There is a great need to carry out scientific research on herbal and or natural solutions that will be agreeable to the government and demonstrate empirically with data the efficacy of suggested solution(s).
Problem #8: Sesame seed harvesting and subsequent oil production in South Sudan is limited due to inefficient manual oil extraction processes, as well as the lack of agricultural infrastructure, technical expertise, and a stable local market for seed and oil sales.
Country/Region of execution: Greater Upper Nile Region, South Sudan
Collaborating Organization: Ayiidit Agricultural Cooperative Society (AACS) Limited
The Ayiidit Agricultural Cooperative Society (AACS) Limited is a cooperative society currently made up of 30 farmers dedicated to growing and harvesting sesame seeds to support local livelihood, increase food security, and rebuild the local economy of this region of South Sudan following decades of civil war and unrest. AACS was created in March 2018 and registered under the Director General’s Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Republic of South Sudan. Based in the Greater Upper Nile Region of South Sudan, the main commercial food crops grown are maize, white and red sorghum, and sesame. The arable land being cultivated was given by the Ajuba community of Baliet County, particularly Nyongrial Payam. There are over 100 hectares of land being farmed, with room for expansion. The majority of the land is currently used for sesame farming. The organization is headed by a board of directors.
Problem Statement Description: As one of the youngest countries in the world following the split from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has had its fair share of challenges with civil war and political unrest. These power struggles, the most recent having ended in February 2020 following a peace deal, have led to a dire case of food and water insecurity with over 4 million people displaced as refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). As a result, there has been a reliance on external aid to provide sustenance for local people, with few of these solutions focusing on community empowerment. Despite this situation, the AACS has sought to leverage the extremely fertile land to grow sesame seeds, produce sesame oil to sustain local livelihood, and revitalize the economic status of the Greater Upper Nile Region with plans to extend the model to other parts of South Sudan.
Due to the lack of infrastructure such as harvest equipment, oil processors, adequate crop storage facilities, and modern farming practices, the organization’s potential has been limited. With no stable local market available to handle the amount of sesame AACS is producing, seeds that are not consumed presently go to waste. Pest control has also been a challenge for the organization. The efforts of the AACS are in line with several UN SDGs, primarily Goal 2: Zero Hunger. Through the promotion of sustainable agriculture backed by self-sustaining micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), South Sudan can achieve food security. The AACS itself is an initiative that was created to tackle the food insecurity challenge in the region. Previous steps taken to solve the oil processor challenge include the FroĢolja Project undertaken in 2018 by a senior design team at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI. The team created blueprints for a tractor-powered oil expeller and a business plan for a replicable, self- sustaining farm co-op. With limited time and resources, however, the project has not been implemented. The AACS believes that a collaboration with Purdue University will yield a long-term solution that will provide local farmers an effective way to extract sesame oil for consumption; technical expertise for best farming practices; and innovative ways to reduce food losses while establishing a framework for local use with the potential for export in the future. This partnership could also be an opportunity to collaborate with the Upper Nile University to train local experts for the economic development of our country.
Problem #9: Due to its seasonal production, and its short lifespan, breadfruit is not always available on the market and cannot be distributed in remote and vulnerable regions when and where it is most needed to tackle chronic acute malnutrition among children living in rural areas in Haiti.
Country/Region of execution: Haiti
Collaborating Organization: World Concern Development Organization
WCDO was established in 1981 as a supporting organization to World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955. WCDO focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners, while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently World Concern is implementing roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the Haiti country office is located in Port au Prince.
Problem Statement Description: Haiti has a global acute malnutrition rate of 6%, according to the last SMART nutritional survey carried out. Haiti’s severe acute malnutrition stands at 2.1%, exceeding the emergency threshold of 2% set by the World Health Organization (WHO), while chronic malnutrition is numbered at 22.7%. The achievement of the Objective #2 of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, "eliminate hunger, ensure food security, improve nutrition and promote agriculture" imperatively passes through the valuation of nutritious products for all groups, especially for children suffering from malnutrition. World Concern has been supporting malnourished children with food vouchers to help them improve their emergency nutrition status. Chronic food insecurity in Haiti affects more than 4.1 million Haitians. In this logic, the valorization of crops with high nutritional value, such as breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis), helps improve food security and reduce hunger in the country. In Haiti, breadfruit is the third most abundant fruit produced in the country after mango and oranges. This fruit is a rich source of fiber, complex carbohydrates, potassium, protein, lipids, mineral, and vitamins, especially vitamin C (48% of RDA). Previous studies conducted on the breadfruit flour has confirmed its superiority over wheat flour and have demonstrated how breadfruit-based diets promote higher growth rate and body weight in mice. Because of its high nutritional value and its profusion in the country, this fruit could be considered as a good candidate to help reduce malnutrition in children under 5 in the country. However, due to its seasonal production, and its short lifespan, the fruit is not always available on the market and cannot be distributed in remote and vulnerable regions where it is most needed. To solve this issue, WCDO Haiti proposes to give an added value to the fruit by transforming it into flour with a long shelf life. This value addition will increase the availability of breadfruit product throughout the year and increase the profit to producers thus contributing positively to the local economy. This new product would be distributed to vulnerable families to ensure that their children have a nourishing dish to eat.
Problem #10: Women and smallholder ginger farmers suffer loss in productivity and profitability due to lack of access to locally appropriate, low-cost, and effective ginger storage options.
Country/Region of execution: Nepal
Collaborating Organization: Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was founded in 1943 and has supported partners in Nepal since the 1970s. CRS arrived in Nepal in response to the 2015 earthquake, not only supporting over 20,000 households to rebuild their homes, but also integrating reconstruction programming with economic recovery through assistance to earthquake affected farmers. CRS assisted 40,000 families through seed distributions, farmer field schools on production and storage and goat interventions while also piloting a three-year project to introduce and support cardamom pre- and post- production. CRS works strengthen agricultural value chains in Nepal through the USAID Farmer to Farmer program in which provides technical assistance from US agriculture experts (including from Purdue University) to local organizations to improve productivity, improve access to markets, and build local capacities. CRS completed an inclusive value chain assessment for lentil and ginger in February 2020, the results of which inform our continued value chain support.
Problem Statement Description: Ginger is a major cash crops for women and smallholder farmers in Palpa district of Nepal as it grows on hilly marginal lands with a relatively low cost of production. Demand for ginger in local as well as international markets makes it a lucrative option despite the occasional price fluctuations. CRS Nepal, in technical collaboration with Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), conducted an Inclusive Value Chain Study for Ginger Sub-sector in Nepal in 2020 to understand the barriers that smallholders and women farmers face to engage with key actors along the value chain to increase their income and profitability. The study showed that the profitability of smallholders is reduced as they are compelled to sell their produce immediately after harvest, when the prices are generally low, due to lack of access to appropriate storage options. Large farmers, who are better able to store ginger, can sell their crop off-season when the prices are high and earn greater profit. Ginger, being a perishable commodity, requires proper storage facilities to retain quality. Similarly, the majority of smallholder’s report deterioration of their stored ginger which they often use for seed purposes, impacting productivity as well. Based on the recommendations of the study, CRS Nepal is now exploring collaborations with various stakeholders, including government, to address the challenge. CRS’s work targets vulnerable populations like smallholders and women farmers to increase their incomes by strengthening their engagement across the value chain. The afore-mentioned challenges related to productivity and profitability need to be addressed to contribute to the objective of increased income for smallholders. While government agencies like the Ginger Research Program under Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) have developed ginger storage technologies, the outreach and adoption of these solutions has been low among smallholders and women farmers. Though the solutions developed by NARC have shown promising results in reducing storage losses, necessary adaptations are needed to make the solutions more appropriate for resource-poor smallholders and scalable across diverse locations. Hence, CRS does not anticipate co-creating new solutions but rather technical support in refining the solutions that NARC has developed to increase chances of adoption by women and smallholders. The problems and bottlenecks mentioned above are linked to SDG Goal 1 and Goal 2 which are related to achieving food security, promoting sustainable agriculture and sustainable livelihoods. By overcoming these problems, smallholders and women farmers will be able to increase productivity and income from ginger.
Problem #11: South Sudan’s farmers have huge post-harvest loses due to poor and or inadequate food preservation knowledge or technologies.
Country/Region of execution: South Sudan
Collaborating Organization: World Concern Development Organization
World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955, focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners, while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently World Concern is implementing roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the South Sudan country office is located in Juba, Western Bhar al Ghazal.
Problem Statement Description: This problem is associated with SDG no. 2: Zero hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. South Sudan is currently facing serious levels of food insecurity, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis. Conflicts, food shortages, climate shocks, a deepening economic crisis, flooding, pest infestation and insufficient agricultural production at the household level have kept levels of hunger and acute malnutrition alarmingly high, seriously undermining people’s ability to secure sufficient nutritious food all year round. Currently, only grains and fish are sun-dried, using a traditional method. Not many people, if any, are aware of solar drying for fruits and vegetables, which could provide a balanced diet during the lean seasons and reduce post-harvest loses. World Concern like many other partners has been investing a lot of money to increase food production with a hope of making the local population become food secure. However, high post-harvest losses continue to inhibit efforts towards households’ food security. This is even worse with vegetables, which are highly needed by families in this under-resourced country. This will need awareness creation and advocacy to ensure this technology is adequately adopted and its effectiveness demonstrated. One of the hugely available resource for free that the country can tap into to enhance food preservation is the use of solar preservation methods. Solar preservation is a technology that is not entirely new and has been around in the region with remarkable success. And since different development actors have been supporting the rural communities across South Sudan to boost the vegetable production, this would be a critical introduction into the value chain. Communities can maximize this simple technology to preserve fruits that are wasted during the main season, such as mangoes, which are plentiful in the country. This in the end will ensure all year-round supply of a balanced diet for South Sudan’s people. This technology can be a source of income for the farmers who will be engaged in preserving and selling these products as well as the technician who will be in charge on maintenance and production of the kits.
Problem #12: Lack of value addition and affordable preservation methods of camel milk leads losses of about 50% of total milk produced in Kenya.
Country/Region of execution: Kenya
Collaborating Organization: World Concern Development Organization
World Concern, an international relief and development agency founded in 1955. WCDO focuses on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable within society, providing capacity-building for partners, while having the flexibility to respond to disasters through relief and rehabilitation assistance. Currently World Concern is implementing roughly $30 million in programming in its 10 country offices located throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Since 1991, WCDO has received, implemented and administered grants in excess of $59 million from USAID. WCDO headquarters is based in Seattle, WA, and the Kenya country office is located in Nairobi.
Problem Statement Description: According to Musinga et al. (2008)*, camel milk production in Kenya in 2007 was estimated to have stood at over 340 million liters. However, only about 12% of the milk is marketed and of this, the bulk (83%) is sold in raw form to rural consumers. That means that only 2% ever reaches urban consumers. Furthermore, from the remaining milk (88%) that does not reach the market, 38% is directly used by camel keeping households and their herders as part of their daily food requirements, and the remaining 50% (or 170 million liters) of product is lost across the value chain, indicating significant opportunities to improve efficiency. Little investment has been set aside for camel milk value chain development even though it’s the main food source of protein for most pastoralist in Kenya. Researchers also inform us that camel's milk is pretty much the closest you can come to a human mother's milk, particularly in terms of immune-boosting proteins like lactoferrin and immunoglobulins. Hence the need to look for innovative ways of increasing its shelf life through value addition. World Concern would like to innovate value addition to the Camel Milk Value Chain by building the capacities of all actors and creating new products such as a camel milk yogurt and fermented camel milk and long life camel milk as well as camel powder milk which does not require refrigeration or a cold chain. This becomes more marketable to urban locations, and will also sustain the local communities in the lean/dry season when camels are not producing much milk. This can be extended to sheep and goat yogurt, long life milk, fermented mill and powder milk. The only current value addition in milk products in Kenya is for cow milk. *(Musinga, M. Kimenye D, Kivolonzi P. The Camel Milk Industry in Kenya: Report of a study commissioned by SNV to explore the potential of camel milk from Isiolo district to access sustainable formal markets. (RMC, 2008))
Problem #13: Technology for receiving weather forecasts / information at the village / micro level for the small and marginal farmers
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) founded by Smt. Elaben Bhatt is a member-based organization of 1.6 million poor women workers from Informal Economy across 18 States of India. SEWA also has its presence in neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. SEWA’s strategy involves working around the achievement of twin goals of (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. By organizing these women workers to attain full employment, SEWA helps them to become autonomous and economically self-reliant both individually and collectively, including in terms of decision-making ability. To achieve its goals SEWA follows an integrated approach: (a) Organizing for collective strength, (b) Capacity building to stand firm in competitive market, (c) Capital formation for risk mitigation & fight poverty and (d) Social security to enhance well-being & productivity
Problem Statement Description: Absence of micro level weather information to the small and marginal farmers results into heavy losses due to unaccepted heavy rains, extended monsoons and the situation of draught. They cannot take advantage of the insurance schemes as there is no system for measuring the accurate weather information at the grassroots level. The lack of weather forecast solutions at micro level, is directly related to the twin goals of SEWA i.e. (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security; and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. In the absence of solutions, farmers cannot optimize their farm yields and incomes, leading to them being trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Given that SEWA is a member-based organization of poor women workers from informal economy, all its initiatives need to be supported by following: Cost effectiveness and affordability by the poor women workers from informal economy; Technology that is easily adaptable and replicable across the members of SEWA: Environment friendly and preserving the natural resources The solution needs co-creating support and designing the effective technology keeping in mind the end users who are poor women members / small and marginal farmers from the informal economy.
Environment / Energy
Problem #14: In Senegal, electricity is sporadic - this impedes the ability of adolescent girls, with limited access to economic resources, to study at night and to obtain digital literacy.
Country/Region of execution: Senegal, West Africa
Collaborating Organization: Plan International USA
Plan International USA is a girls’ rights organization. Powered by supporters, Plan partners with adolescent girls and children around the world to overcome oppression and gender inequality, providing the support and resources that are unique to their needs and the needs of the communities, ensuring they achieve they full potential with dignity, opportunity and safety. Plan programs reflect the priorities and needs of young people across their life cycle. Our holistic approach leverages learning and cross-sector programming as core strategies to tackle structural drivers such as poverty, gender inequality and education. Guided by local experts, in partnership with global health and development sector leaders, we embrace adaptive learning and leverage innovation as a core strategy for promoting equity and resilience.
Problem Statement Description: GirlEngage Senegal has worked with adolescent girls in a rural location to co-design programming that ensures girls are able to learn and thrive in post-primary education opportunities and pursue their hopes and dreams free from the pressures to marry early. Over a three-year period, this program will improve girls’ agency and access to quality and safe education to 600 girls in the region of Kédougou. Girls play an integral role in the project, not only as beneficiaries, but as drivers of program content.
We have found that by programming in a way that facilitates girls’ participation in the design of the program, girls can enjoy increased self-esteem, confidence and support to identify and overcome barriers and importantly to identify solutions to those barriers. After all, they are the experts of their own context and best able to prioritize and develop solutions. The Covid-19 pandemic forced many girls to be at home during school closures. Studying at home become critical for learning. A rapid assessment among the girls identified the challenge of intermittent electricity impeding girls’ access to lights and where available to digital platforms –also important to the girls for access to peer support and learning materials (from Plan and from school teachers). By supporting programs that enable girls to continue learning, girls are more likely to avoid early and forced marriage and unions and also enjoy better health outcomes. The nagging challenge of electricity impedes their access to light and to the use of basic cellular and digital technology, which has become a central strategy for delivering educational materials in the time of Covid-19. A low-cost solution such a very simple low-cost solar charger that might double as a light would enable the girls to sustain access to educational materials and digital literacy. A girl friendly solution to this challenge remains essential both to the girls as well as to our program objectives.
WASH / Water Management / Irrigation
Problem #15: Due to taboos and period stigma, challenges around menstrual hygiene management (MHM) present an ongoing impediment [or barrier] to the basic health, wellbeing and educational opportunities for girls. Girl-friendly solutions are needed.
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Plan International USA
Plan International USA is a girls’ rights organization. Powered by supporters, Plan partners with adolescent girls and children around the world to overcome oppression and gender inequality, providing the support and resources that are unique to their needs and the needs of the communities, ensuring they achieve they full potential with dignity, opportunity and safety. Plan programs reflect the priorities and needs of young people across their life cycle. Our holistic approach leverages learning and cross-sector programming as core strategies to tackle structural drivers such as poverty, gender inequality and education. Guided by local experts, in partnership with global health and development sector leaders, we embrace adaptive learning and leverage innovation as a core strategy for promoting equity and resilience.
Problem Statement Description: Girl friendly solutions are needed to address the enormous barriers that girls face with respect to menstrual hygiene management. Girls miss school and valuable socioemotional learning when they have their period due to a lack of access to girl friendly solutions to this challenge. This not only includes accessing clean, low cost and available pads but also having access to safe, hygienic, dignified management –either disposal or hygienic reuse. Taboos and stigma around the handling of used menstrual materials remains a real challenge. Plan addresses the educational and norms change challenge associated with period stigma. However, an engineering challenge persists as limited water and sanitation options present very real challenges for girl-friendly menstrual hygiene management. A low cost, co-creation solution would support girls to be able to access critical health and education related outcomes absent the barrier posed by girl-friendly MHM.
Problem #16: Technology that would empower farmers to make decisions for irrigating their land
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) founded by Smt. Elaben Bhatt is a member-based organization of 1.6 million poor women workers from Informal Economy across 18 States of India. SEWA also has its presence in neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. SEWA’s strategy involves working around the achievement of twin goals of (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making.
By organizing these women workers to attain full employment, SEWA helps them to become autonomous and economically self-reliant both individually and collectively, including in terms of decision-making ability. To achieve its goals SEWA follows an integrated approach: (a) Organizing for collective strength, (b) Capacity building to stand firm in competitive market, (c) Capital formation for risk mitigation & fight poverty and (d) Social security to enhance well-being & productivity
Problem Statement Description: In the absence of such technology the farmers tend to incur cost of water, more usage of water and heavy losses as the land is not irrigated considering various factors such as type of soil of the given farm, weather conditions / weather forecast, water content / moisture level in the land, etc. The lack of such decision-making system to allow the farmers to determine appropriate irrigation needs, is directly related to the twin goals of SEWA i.e. (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security; and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. In the absence of solutions, farmers cannot optimize their farm yields and incomes, leading to them being trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Given that SEWA is a members-based organization of poor women workers from informal economy, all its initiatives need to be supported by following: Cost effectiveness and affordability by the poor women workers from informal economy; Technology that is easily adaptable and replicable across the members of SEWA; Environment friendly and preserving the natural resources. The solution needs co-creating support and designing the effective technology keeping in mind the end users who are poor women members / small and marginal farmers from the informal economy.
Problem #17: Component and cost optimization of a functioning, self-contained & energy positive on-site toilet & fecal sludge treatment system whose only output is fertilizer
Country/Region of execution: Eldoret, Kenya
Collaborating Organization: Moi University School of Engineering
Moi University is a public university located in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Moi University was established in 1984 by an Act of Parliament (Moi University Act, 1984) as the second public university in Kenya. The University’s current funded research funding totals KSHs 1.8bn. The School of Engineering is one of the oldest schools in Moi University and was formed in 1986 and now has five academic departments. All engineering courses offered at Moi University are recognized in Kenya and internationally and are therefore registered by Engineering Board of Kenya (EBK).
Problem Statement Description: According to UNDP, 2.3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation facilities and 80% of wastewater enters waterways without adequate treatment. Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of numerous diseases, such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid. The ADPL (Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine) is a self-contained fecal treatment system designed to replace pit latrines and eliminate groundwater contamination, while providing liquid fertilizer. The ADPL consists of three toilets built above a baffled anaerobic bio-digester and a biogas driven heat pasteurization system that sanitizes digester effluent. A solar panel & batteries power a micro-controller & resistive ignitor. The ADPL is ideally suited for contexts where pit latrines are not feasible, specifically locales with high water tables & rapidly urbanizing areas with dense population and poor/ no infrastructure.
The ADPL was first installed as a functioning prototype in 2013 serving continuously 15-25 people per installation. Since then, it has been piloted and improvements have been made through collaboration with communities, feedback from end-users, and Kenyan engineers. The current iteration functions satisfactorily, however, requires updates based on advanced technological innovations occurred over the years in order to improve the efficiency and bring the total cost down. Some of the current challenges include: improve digester efficiency/ design to eliminate solids – the system currently has solids accumulate in the digester & hinder effluent flow; heater and heat exchanger size/ design – the heater is currently ~8L. The heating system is an area that requires more design work to be optimized due to size and efficiency; ignitor durability – the system currently uses a resistive ignitor (spark ignitor causes surges and damages electronics), but it doesn’t last for long; monitoring system - currently the system uses sim card shield for online monitoring. This has been done for research purposes, but is rudimentary at best. We seek solutions that will optimize the system based on factors of efficiency and cost and to take this community-vetted product across the innovation ‘valley of death’. At the current stage, the ADPLs also require market research & product guidance to ensure a final product that meets needs of a viable customer base at an affordable price point. This solution requires technical support in partnership with the onsite teams to optimize various components & prepare for commercialization. Additionally, usage of pasteurized effluent as an agricultural input requires further evaluation & optimization.
Problem #18: Technology that would support salt farmers in Surendranagar and Patan Districts to measure the water table levels in order to more effectively dig wells for use in salt farming
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) founded by Smt. Elaben Bhatt is a member-based organization of 1.6 million poor women workers from Informal Economy across 18 States of India. SEWA also has its presence in neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. SEWA’s strategy involves working around the achievement of twin goals of (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. By organizing these women workers to attain full employment, SEWA helps them to become autonomous and economically self-reliant both individually and collectively, including in terms of decision-making ability. To achieve its goals SEWA follows an integrated approach: (a) Organizing for collective strength, (b) Capacity building to stand firm in competitive market, (c) Capital formation for risk mitigation & fight poverty and (d) Social security to enhance well-being & productivity
Problem Statement Description: The poor salt farmers who hardly have any money to meet the cost of two times meal have to incur cost on digging the well and invest time for starting the process of inland salt farming in the absence of the technology that allows them to know the water level in the land before the digging process. The problem of determining the water level, by the salt farmers, is directly related to the twin goals of SEWA i.e. (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security; and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. In the absence of solutions, farmers cannot optimize their farm yields and incomes, leading to them being trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Given that SEWA is a members-based organization of poor women workers from informal economy, all its initiatives need to be supported by following: Cost effectiveness and affordability by the poor women workers from informal economy: Technology that is easily adaptable and replicable across the members of SEWA: Environment friendly and preserving the natural resources. The solution needs co-creating support and designing the effective technology keeping in mind the end users who are poor women members / small and marginal farmers from the informal economy.
Problem #19: Technology for Water De-fluoridation Pumping Systems (low-cost / solar) for tribal community members of Dungarpur, Rajasthan
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)
Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) founded by Smt. Elaben Bhatt is a member-based organization of 1.6 million poor women workers from Informal Economy across 18 States of India. SEWA also has its presence in neighboring countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. SEWA’s strategy involves working around the achievement of twin goals of (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. By organizing these women workers to attain full employment, SEWA helps them to become autonomous and economically self-reliant both individually and collectively, including in terms of decision-making ability. To achieve its goals SEWA follows an integrated approach: (a) Organizing for collective strength, (b) Capacity building to stand firm in competitive market, (c) Capital formation for risk mitigation & fight poverty and (d) Social security to enhance well-being & productivity
Problem Statement Description: Dungarpur, Rajasthan is a tribal district and many of the villages have fluoride rich and highly saline/ TDS rich natural water sources e.g. ground water and pond water resources. The maximum raw water fluoride concentration in the water is around 5.00 PPM. These effect the health, lives and livelihoods of the poor women members from informal economy. The need for low cost and/or solar water de-fluoridation Pumping System is directly related to the twin goals of SEWA i.e. (a) Full employment - employment that provides work, income and food security and Social Security; and (b) Self-reliance – economical & decision-making. In the absence of solutions, farmers cannot optimize their farm yields and incomes, leading to them being trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Given that SEWA is a members-based organization of poor women workers from informal economy, all its initiatives need to be supported by following: Cost effectiveness and affordability by the poor women workers from informal economy; Technology that is easily adaptable and replicable across the members of SEWA; Environment friendly and preserving the natural resources. The solution needs co-creating support and designing the effective technology keeping in mind the end users who are poor women members / small and marginal farmers from the informal economy.
Education
Problem #20: A solution to identify variables influencing student learning outcomes using Machine Learning (ML) and Predictive Analysis and deepen the understanding of student learning and to tailor large scale programs for diverse needs and accelerating learning gains
Country/Region of execution: India
Collaborating Organization: Transform Schools, People For Action
People For Action (PFA) is a registered society under the Indian Societies Registration Act (1860) and works with the government school system to support better teaching and management to improve learning outcomes in India through its Transform Schools (TS) programme. We do this by providing rigorously tested tools and training to teachers, students, governing bodies and parents. Our competency based targeted teaching learning approach - Transform Learning (TL) is delivered across four States by our government partners to improve learning outcomes for 4.9M students. TL’s; ability to promote student performance has been proven through an RCT run by J-PAL. Results; showed that TL adds up to over half a year of additional learning via 50 hours of targeted instruction. (Beg et al; JPAL2020, https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lEmy2WwyKSqq2IyfjjNtQ-et0S_MGQYj?usp=sharing ). TS team consists of social entrepreneurs, education, equity, management, analytics and evidence experts. Given our existing reach and efficacy, we see tremendous potential to leverage data to further improve outcomes.
Problem Statement Description: Rapid digitization has exposed stark digital divide and inherent inequities. Poor access to online learning has further exacerbated the impact of school closure on students from marginalized communities and girls. The solution will leverage data to identify learning gaps, poorly performing subsets, anticipate dropouts and reduce vulnerabilities directly contributing to SDGs 4 and 5. RCT evidence shows that our TL program improves teaching quality and student outcomes. We believe that our current gains are good but can be improved significantly. Currently Google forms are used for data collection and analyses. Cloud-based technology enabled with ML will generate newer insights to benefit particularly vulnerable students and promote education equity. Bottleneck: In response to school closure, our partner States employed blended delivery mechanisms to tide disruptive effects of COVID19 on participation, learning and continuity. However, database and analysis constraints limit us to predict students at risk of dropout owing to digital divide, and test innovative approaches. While our existing process allows for analyses/visualization, it is not sufficiently sophisticated to allow deeper analysis in shorter loops, for us to rapidly target our offerings and improve outcomes for 8.4M students across ten States by 2023. Key Constraints: TS uses a participatory monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to measure program impact at scale. Transitioning from Google forms and excel to a cloud-based tool will help automate analyses and dashboards for nuanced understanding of program uptake and impact, predict performance and recommend program adjustments in real time. Following are some of the steps that were taken towards tackling the challenge: Research on ML based solutions and Predictive Analysis framework developed; Hypothesis establishing relation between student participation and performance tested; Error Analysis framework developed for identifying common gaps in student competencies. Funding and technical support are needed to develop the machine learning capabilities to conduct predictive analysis, assess user behavior, draw insights and generate actionable suggestions for better learning outcomes. Additional insights enabled by Machine Learning and Predictive Analysis / Benefits: Predict which students are at risk of falling behind / Inform alternative solutions (differentiated learning pathways) and curtail student dropout; Run adaptive experiments to identify learning gaps / Help in testing innovative targeting and learning approaches and improve learning outcomes; Explore heterogeneous treatment effects to understand which groups of students are benefitting (high potential performers) or are not benefitting from this program / Create new modes of support and allocate resources to students who need them most; Identify how variables such as access to digital resources influence participation and student learning, and predict differences in outcomes / Make changes in our targeting approach to improve both participation and performance and help reduce digital divide; Predict performance of teachers and ensure technology adoption and engagement using behavioral science methodology / Allocate professional development resources to teachers who need them most to enhance quality of teaching practices; Cloud-based technology platform with dashboards (real time and predictions) to derive block, district and State level performance / Allow aggregate performance visualizations based on predictions and improvement suggestions for rapid large-scale program improvements.