Final Performance Evaluation of Securing Water for Food Grand Challenge for Development

The goal of Securing Water for Food (SWFF) was an innovation and acceleration initiative meant to source, incubate and accelerate high-potential technical solutions and/or business models that find new and sustain existing water supplies as well as lower overall water demands in the food value chain to reduce water scarcity and poverty.

The primary purpose of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the SWFF contributed to the expected program outcomes and results achieved by innovators during project implementation and post-project implementation. It focused on whether SWFF innovations have led to the production of more food using less water, thus ensuring greater food security and raising incomes particularly of poor farmers. The evaluation team sought to validate the results already reported by SWFF and answer the questions on why and how the outcomes were achieved by innovators, identify the contributing factors particularly as regards to SWFF programming, and uncover the unintended positive and negative consequences that arose as innovators implemented their models.