I was recently e-mailing with Minhchau Dinh (WASH Portfolio Manager at USAID) about their DIV (Development Innovations Ventures) funding scheme and found out that:

Funding is still available. We accept applications every single day of the year, and happy to receive more application from the WASH sector.

So I thought I should bring this to everyone's attention.

This page explains how to apply:
www.usaid.gov/div/apply/how-to

And this page shows current and past projects that were funded under this DIV scheme:
www.usaid.gov/div/portfolio

ABOUT DIV (www.usaid.gov/div/about)

Development Innovation Ventures
DIV holds a year-round grant competition for innovative ideas, pilots and tests them using cutting-edge analytical methods, and scales solutions that demonstrate widespread impact and cost-effectiveness.

DIV’s tiered-funding model, inspired by the venture capital experience, invests comparatively small amounts in relatively unproven concepts, and continues to support only those that prove they work. Visit the DIV portfolio to see the evidence-gathering and scale-up activities of DIV winners around around the world.

It's a 17 Million USD scheme and DIV still has a WASH funding window to this date. Back in 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed 8.7 Million USD to this grant scheme in a collaboration agreement between USAID and the BMGF (see here: see here: www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quic...s/2011/06/OPP1029829).
The purpose of the collaboration was to support a collaboration with USAID to support the identification, testing, and sustained uptake of evidence-based approaches to delivering water, sanitation and hygiene services to the poor.

Over the next few weeks, starting today, I am also going to introduce and highlight on the forum some of the projects that they have funded, so that we can discuss them a bit further and learn from them.

Here are the links to those that have been introduced on the forum so far:

• Soapy Water Handwashing Stations in Kenya (2013-2016)
• Household Handwashing Device - Commercial Scale-Up in Vietnam (2012-2016)
• Chlorine Dispensers: Bringing Safe Water to Scale (2012-2016)
• The Cholera Hospital Based Intervention for 7 days (CHoBI 7) Trial in Bangladesh (2015-2018)

Older projects:
Field evaluation of an affordable, effective on-site sanitation system - Testing the "Tiger Toilet" (2013-2015)