The Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge (WE4F) MENA is launching a dedicated support program for Lebanese food producers and/or processors, with a focus on advancing sustainable and scalable solutions in the water, energy, and agricultural sectors. This initiative aims to support businesses that are implementing practices to produce more with fewer resources, enhancing
efficiency while addressing key challenges such as food security, water scarcity, and energy reliability. This initiative comes at a crucial time, as the ongoing conflict in Lebanon has severely disrupted food supply chains and heightened existing pressures on agricultural productivity and livelihoods.
WE4F is pleased to announce the launch of the Lebanon Call for Innovations (LCFI), focusing on supporting Lebanese food producers and processors. The WE4F MENA Regional Innovation Hub (RIH) plans to help 10 Lebanese businesses whose operations revolve around the Water-Food, Energy-Food,
or Water-Energy-Food value chains. These companies will receive small grants of $24,999 each, aimed at covering working capital needs, such as salaries, staff costs, and input purchases that can be quickly transformed into final products.
This initiative is designed to help these producers scale their operations and meet the growing demand for food, especially in light of disrupted supply chains due to ongoing conflicts. By focusing on the water-energy-food nexus, the program promotes long-term sustainability in Lebanon’s food production systems.
The program, implemented by the WE4F Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (MENA RIH), supports companies in Lebanon working on providing more sustainable water or energy solutions for agriculture. Currently, 58 businesses from across the Middle East and North Africa are already benefiting from the MENA RIH’s support. The period of performance for individual awards is up to April 2025; the actual period of performance for each award will be determined at the time of award.
The Lebanon Call for Innovations will accept submissions starting on October 28, 2024, with all information including eligibility criteria and application guidelines available at www.we4f.org/apply-mena.
WE4F is a joint international initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). To learn more, visit we4f.org and follow WE4F on X at @WE4FGCD.
The WE4F Middle East and North Africa Regional Innovation Hub (a consortium of Berytech, cewas, Chemonics Egypt and the International Water Management Institute) supports innovators in ten countries across the region to produce more food while using less water and energy.
Together with investors and partners, the MENA RIH works to scale mid-to-later stage enterprises that have an environmental and social impact in the water-energy-food nexus.
