The RISE Urban Challenge is open to urban entrepreneurs; innovators; organizations or consortiums of organizations across the private sector (start-ups, SMEs); and civil society and grassroots organizations based in low- and middle-income countries. We encourage and welcome proposals from youth-led and women-led organizations.

The challenge provides customized support to maximize each initiative’s potential for impact and aligns potential funders to these initiatives and drive attention to the urgent need for urban systems transformation. RISE aims to convert idea and concept-level innovative urban ideas that are meeting resilience needs in informality contexts and scale them to sustainable initiatives.

What will winners receive?
Selected projects will receive a tailored leadership and mentoring programme and communications support, as well as be connected to investors. Subject matter experts will facilitate a leadership academy for the selected entrants. They will also be connected to potential investors and partners from GRP networks. Winners can be awarded prizes up to US$50,000, which will support their scaling and implementation over 12 months up to December 2026.

What are we looking for? 
We are looking for innovative solutions addressing urban resilience challenges in informality contexts—a few examples include but aren’t limited to: climate risk, resilience retrofit, water security, urban migration, and displacement. For this round of the RISE Urban Challenge, we encourage and welcome  solutions that prioritize the resilience of women and youth.

Apply to the RISE Urban Challenge >>