2011 muhammad yunus innovation challenge:
improved agricultural processes for better livelihoods

problem

Around the world, 550 million smallholder farmers lack access to mechanized agricultural technology. Many important food staples like maize (corn) and grains (e.g., rice or wheat) are harvested and processed by hand, which is both labor intensive and time consuming. This year's Yunus Challenge calls for locally and environmentally sustainable innovations to promote adoption of agricultural technologies so smallholder farmers can retain more value from their crops.

Background

Key Considerations

Download the information flyer on the 2011 Yunus Innovation Challenge here

Subject Reading

Video

Supporting Initiatives

Opportunities are available for students who want to learn more about the Yunus Challenge and the context in which a solution should operate. Students are encouraged to apply for Public Service fellowships, internships and grants that provide them with the opportunity to work on a potential program and with communities to develop a feasible solution which takes local context into account. For more information, please contact Alison Hynd at hynd@mit.edu.

For additional support in gathering information about the local context, customs and conditions of a specific community or country, participants may leverage the expertise of D-Lab teams who have local partners in more than 20 countries and who did field work over the 2010 January IAP session in eight countries across three continents. For more information, please contact d-lab-trip-leaders@mit.edu.

Participants also may enter proposals into the IDEAS Competition, where two special awards have been created to provide winning teams with funding to pursue their ideas. For more information, please contact Lars Hasselblad at ideas-admin@mit.edu. Further information on the IDEAS Competition as it pertains to the 2011 Yunus Innovation Challenge follows immediately below.

IDEAS Competition Criteria

The Yunus Challenge IDEAS Award for 2011 will be given to participants who create an innovative solution that solves as many of the problems as possible surrounding agricultural processing for those living in poverty.

As the Challenge focuses on optimal agricultural processing mechanisms among the world's poorest populations, solutions should aim for a price point that makes intervention accessible to target communities (who are located for the most part in low-income nations with poor infrastructure) and allows for dissemination on a large-scale.

As with all IDEAS awards, innovation, feasibility and impact will be important criteria in judging. Specific issues to address include, but should not necessarily be limited to:

Affordability
Acceptability within the community (i.e., likelihood of adoption)
Health impact
Environmental impact
Scalability

Credit will be given for supporting rationale regarding how the solution will directly address the issues faced. For example, this rationale could include why the team decided to focus particular attention on solving one aspect of the challenge. However, if a team decides that another factor is equally significant, supporting evidence for this factor also should be provided.

While not required, the solution may involve a physical device. The system should be designed to operate in conditions prevalent in poor households and communities where agricultural processing is labor intensive and time consuming. Again, participants are encouraged to work on a design with a specific community or region in mind as this can be helpful in identifying constraints and providing context.

Competition Timeline

Resources

A sampling of resources for participants about agricultural processing follows. There are many more available, so please do not hesitate to ask!

In-country individuals

Organizations

Other resources:

Yunus Centre
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

For assistance in finding additional resources specific to your project, please contact an MIT librarian.

For more information on the 2011 Yunus Innovation Challenge, please contact Laura Sampath at lsampath@mit.edu.

2011 muhammad yunus innovation challenge: improved agricultural processes for better livelihoods