RISE Urban Challenge 2025 | The Global Resilience Partnership has open portal for Resilience Innovation through Scaling Entrepreneurship (RISE) Urban Challenge, The program RISE aims to convert idea and concept-level innovative urban ideas that are meeting resilience needs in informality contexts and scale them to sustainable ideas.
The Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) is launching the Resilience Innovation through Scaling Entrepreneurship (RISE) Urban Challenge to convert innovative urban ideas that are meeting resilience needs in informality contexts and scale them to sustainable ideas.
The RISE Urban Challenge provides customised support to maximise each initiative’s potential for impact and aligns potential funders to these initiatives and drive attention to the urgent need for urban systems transformation.
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Theme: Cities and urban resilience
Benefit;
- Winners can be awarded prizes up to US$50,000, which will support their scaling and implementation over 12 months up to December 2026.
- They will also be connected to potential investors and partners from GRP networks.
- Subject matter experts will facilitate a leadership academy for the selected entrants.
- Selected projects will receive a tailored leadership and mentoring programme, communications support, and be connected to investors.
What They are looking for?
- They are looking for innovative solutions addressing urban resilience challenges in informality contexts a few examples include but aren’t limited to climate risk, resilience retrofit, water security, urban migration and displacement.
- For this round of the RISE Urban Challenge, we encourage and welcome solutions that prioritise the resilience of women and youth.
Eligibility:
- RISE is open to urban entrepreneurs, innovators, organisations or consortiums of organisations across the private sector (start-ups, SMEs), and civil society and grassroots organisations based in low- and middle-income countries.
- They encourage and welcome proposals from youth-led and women-led organisations.
Eligibility Country:
- Projects based in low- and middle-income countries (eligible for Ocial Development Assistance as defined by the OECD-DAC) are eligible for the RISE Urban Challenge.
Application criteria:
To be eligible an application must meet the following criteria:
- The solution must address resilience needs in urban informality contexts.
- The Challenge is open to both nonprofit and for-profit registered organisations.
- Be located in low- and middle-income countries (eligible for Ocial Development Assistance as defined by the OECD-DAC).
- The team has proven experience implementing innovative solutions for resilience.
- Gender, equity and human rights considerations are included.
- The solution does no harm (i.e., has no negative impacts on communities it is designed to
build resilience in).
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Application Timeline:
- Webinar about the RISE Urban Challenge: 27 March 2025
- Application deadline: 11 April 2025
- Screening: The first phase of screening will be done to identify finalists that will proceed to the Leadership Academy and mentoring. Shortlisted projects will be announced in June 2025
- Leadership Academy and tailored mentoring: June – September 2025
- Announcement of final winners: November/December 2025
- Winners’ activity implementation: through December 2026
Apply RISE Urban Challenge 2025
For more information: Visit RISE Urban Challenge
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