Through a year-round grant competition, Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) sources proposals for innovations that address international development challenges and improve the lives of people living in poverty in developing countries around the world. DIV provides tiered funding to pilot, test, and transition to scale (i.e., grow to reach the highest number of beneficiaries possible) those innovations that demonstrate evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and the potential to scale.
DIV funds four types of grants. Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 grants follow a tiered approach that aligns the funding amount to the strength of the evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and scalability of the proposed innovation. Evidence Generation grants are reserved for rigorous evaluations of already scaled or scaling development solutions that lack sufficient rigorous evidence of impact and cost-effectiveness. More details on each of DIV’s grant types can be found in the “Stages of Financing” section below. Please refer to the glossary at the end of the document for definitions of terms.
DIV takes a portfolio approach to impact, meaning it takes relatively small, high-risk bets on early-stage innovations that may generate varying levels of impact as they are piloted and invests larger amounts of money in later-stage innovations that are better able to demonstrate impact, thereby maximizing the social impact of the overall portfolio. DIV is deliberately open to all kinds of innovations and all forms of innovators, in all sectors and countries in which USAID operates. Ultimately, DIV aims to help transition the best innovations with proven impact to scale to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.
DIV reviews applications on a rolling basis year-round and encourages applicants to submit applications at any time prior to the closing date of this APS. DIV awards are typically a maximum of three (3) years in length. If a fixed amount award is used, and an additional period of performance beyond three (3) years, but no more than a total of five (5) years, is needed, then a renewal fixed amount award may be issued for such additional time.
Closing Date: October 31, 2025
Eligibility for this APS is not restricted. DIV will make awards under this APS to successful applicants on the basis of their ability to further USAID’s goal of dramatically improving or saving the lives of the poor in developing countries, as well as their ability to adhere to DIV’s core principles and provide excellent value to the U.S. government to substantially contribute to these objectives.
DIV welcomes applications from individuals; public, private, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations; institutions of higher education; faith-based organizations; public international organizations; non-governmental organizations; U.S. and non-U.S. governmental organizations; multilateral and international donor organizations.
Limit on Applications: Applicants may submit more than one application at a time, so long as each application is unique and for a separate project. Multiple applications cannot be submitted for concurrent review for the same project. DIV reserves the right to reject the duplicated request if submitted.