Nutrition Innovations in Complex Environments | 7200AA18R00044

Opportunity Information: Apply for 7200AA18R00044

Nutrition Innovations in Complex Environments is a USAID Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) focused on finding and developing research and development innovations that prevent and treat nutrition vulnerabilities in difficult, high-constraint settings, such as fragile states, humanitarian crises, or other complex environments where chronic and acute malnutrition persist. The central idea is not a traditional, fully defined grant competition; instead, USAID is explicitly seeking to co-create and co-design solutions with selected partners. That means applicants are expected to bring promising ideas, technical expertise, operational capabilities, resources, and potentially co-investment, and then work collaboratively with USAID (and potentially other engaged stakeholders) to shape those ideas into implementable R&D concepts aligned with the BAA problem and challenge statements.

A key feature of this opportunity is the partnership structure. USAID notes a shared interest in ending malnutrition with two other actors: the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Eleanor Crook Foundation (ECF). All three may participate in the co-creation process, but the funding roles differ. USAID and ECF reserve the right to fund, co-fund, or decline to fund concepts that come out of the BAA process, while DFID does not plan to fund concepts through this particular mechanism. In practical terms, applicants should treat USAID as the main funding counterpart and view ECF as a potential co-funder, while DFID participation is more about technical collaboration and alignment rather than direct financing.

The technical scope is broad but clearly anchored in one outcome: sustained reductions in both chronic malnutrition (often linked to stunting and long-term dietary inadequacy) and acute malnutrition (often linked to wasting and crisis-driven nutritional shocks). USAID highlights three main areas of interest. First is figuring out how to take proven pilot interventions and bring them to scale sustainably, which implies attention to cost structures, supply chains, workforce models, government ownership, market shaping, and long-term financing rather than short-lived project success. Second is innovation that increases impact across sectors, recognizing that nutrition outcomes are influenced by health services, agriculture and food systems, water and sanitation, social protection, and humanitarian assistance, and that breakthroughs may come from integrated approaches rather than siloed programming. Third is the use of new approaches that shift behaviors and sustain positive change, including behavioral economics "nudge" strategies and enabling technologies, which could involve improvements in demand creation, adherence, caregiver practices, service uptake, and decision-making among households and frontline workers.

From an administrative standpoint, this is an "Other" category funding opportunity using an "Other" funding instrument type under the Food and Nutrition funding activity category (CFDA 98.001). Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to many entity types, subject to any clarifications in the full announcement. USAID anticipated making about four awards, with an award ceiling of $2,000,000, signaling that the agency is looking for a small number of relatively substantial, innovation-oriented efforts rather than many small grants. The BAA was open for one year from the issuance date, with the overall closing date listed as May 2, 2019, but it also included a specific request for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) due June 1, 2018 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time, and questions due May 21, 2018 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Submissions and questions were directed to BAANutrition@usaid.gov, reinforcing that the front door into the process is an EOI that can be used to identify potential partners for co-creation rather than a fully developed proposal from the start.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as an R&D innovation partnering pathway where USAID is trying to reduce the time and transaction costs of building strong solutions by bringing partners into a structured co-design process early. Competitive advantage here would likely come from demonstrating that an idea is grounded in evidence, feasible in complex settings, designed for scale and sustainability, and capable of producing measurable nutrition improvements while leveraging cross-sector coordination and behaviorally informed strategies.

• The Agency for International Development in the food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Nutrition Innovations in Complex Environments" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 03, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 02, 2019 The BAA is Open for one year from date of Issuance. However, this announcement calls for Expressions of Interest Submissions due on June 1, 2018 at 1000 AM Eastern Time. Questions due on May 21, 2018 at 10 AM ET. Send Questions and EOI submissions to BAANutrition@usaid.gov.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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