Grant cycle: Grassroots urban innovation
Created in partnership with the Judith Neilson Foundation, we're funding community-driven solutions to build resilient, inclusive, and adaptive urban areas for the future.
Why this fund?
For years, GIG has championed grassroots innovation — solutions created from the bottom up, shaped with end users, grounded in local knowledge, and driven by lived realities. Yet across our network, we've identified two critical gaps:
Early-stage support
Small ideas need space to be tested, but lack of early-stage funding prevents experimentation and learning.
Scaling support
Structural obstacles prevent grassroots innovators from scaling their solutions or gaining recognition.
The aim of the GIG fund is to foster resilient, inclusive, and adaptive urban areas by supporting grassroots innovators as they respond to pressing challenges like climate change, sustainability, rapid urbanisation, and more.
This fund offers not only financial support, but also mentorship and a community of practice that encourages experimentation, learning, and collaboration.
Who can apply?
The GIG fund is open to GIG members who are:
- Based in Global Majority regions, especially small and medium-sized urban areas
- Working on innovations addressing urban challenges: water, waste, energy, housing, mobility, safety, social inclusion etc.
- Ready to commit to mentorship, peer learning sessions, and project reporting to t ensure solutions can be adapted, scaled, or replicated by others
What the fund offers?
Selected grantees will receive these two funding tiers:
US$ 5,000
Microgrants
For early-stage prototypes and ideas that need initial testing and development.
US$ 20,000
Medium Grants
For developed innovations ready for community implementation and scaling.
Additional support
- Mentorship from experienced practitioners in sustainability, open tech, community engagement, and business modeling
- Capacity-building workshops covering design thinking, open documentation, business models, and frugal innovation
- Peer-to-peer learning enabling South–South exchange across urban contexts
- Support in storytelling and open-source documentation
Applications closed.
Call for submissions for the GIG Fund is now closed. The 2026 GIG Fund grantees were announced on 11th June 2026. Scroll down to meet the projects and innovators we're proud to support. Stay tuned and follow our channels to get more updates.
About the grant's participatory approach
This fund is designed as participatory grant-making, meaning the process is shaped by those closest to the challenges.
How it works
- Grant criteria and processes are shaped collectively by GIG members,
- Submitted projects go through a collaborative review process. All submission documents (excluding budget details) are shared with fellow applicants, who vote and provide feedback to support the selection committee's final decision.
- Once the selection process is complete, all applications are made accessible to GIG members.
- The grant process stays flexible, non-linear, and focused on learning.
Meet the 2026 Grantees
Medium Grants (USD 20,000)
SolarPack Community Scale-Up by Ifeoma Malo
Wearable solar backpacks provide portable energy access to peri-urban Abuja households, distributed and maintained through a community-owned stewardship model for long-term self-sufficiency.
The Playground of Possibility by Rosanna Lopez
An open-source frugal innovation toolkit equipping educators in crisis-affected urban settings with playful, maker-based learning strategies using locally available materials and community knowledge.
CIRANDAR: Circular Education and Design Laboratory by Isac Filho
A circular design laboratory in Olinda, Brazil, transforming plastic waste into value through community engagement, environmental education, and financially self-sustaining recycling infrastructure.
Disaster Preparedness with MaRK by Eric Nitschke, Susan Long, and Victoria Wenzelmann
A modular, offline-first Maker Resilience Kit giving Global Majority makerspaces locally stored open hardware designs and communication tools for community-led disaster preparedness.
Nyamayanga Fablabable Kinetic Seat Micro-factory by Martin Oloo
A digital fabrication blueprint enabling African fablabs to manufacture locally sourced, ergonomic kinetic seating, creating sustainable makerspace revenue while addressing mobility and health needs.
Community Scale Bio-enzyme Cleaning Solutions by Titiksha Vashist
Transforming urban organic waste into non-toxic, bioenzyme cleaning products through decentralized community micro-production units, replacing harmful chemical cleaners while building ecological awareness.
Micro Grants (USD 5,000)
Thread-Sense V1 by Saad Chinoy
A handheld, open-source NIR spectroscopy device enabling affordable, non-destructive textile fiber classification to fix sorting accuracy at the first step of circular fashion recycling.
Open Hardware Summer School by Antonio de Jesus Anaya Hernandez
A collaborative hub uniting physics, veterinary science, and dairy producers to develop open hardware tools addressing tropical cattle diseases in Chiapas through digital fabrication skills.
The City Needs You Platform by Laura Sobral
An open digital platform codifying ten years of grassroots urban methodologies from São Paulo's peripheries, enabling decentralized funding and knowledge sharing across community-led initiatives.
WhatsApp AI Business Intelligence for Informal Entrepreneurs by Ronald Tsatsi
A WhatsApp-based AI assistant helping informal Harare entrepreneurs track sales and manage stock through conversational messages in Shona or English, delivering actionable business intelligence with zero learning curve.
SolarCare Hybrid Neonatal Incubator by Dauda Mustapha
A low-cost, solar-powered neonatal incubator combining temperature control and phototherapy for under-resourced African clinics, providing reliable newborn care independent of unstable electricity grids.
Organic Waste Recycling in Aba (OWRA) by Tochukwu Clinton Chukwueke
A community-led grassroots innovation platform co-creating low-cost waste-to-product solutions to reduce toxic leather and fabric burning in Nigeria's largest artisan manufacturing hub.
Partnership with Judith Neilson Foundation
We are deeply grateful to the Judith Neilson Foundation for supporting this vision and enabling GIG to offer small-scale, grassroots-led funding for the first time.
This partnership strengthens our long-standing mission: to support open, local, community-driven innovation that improves lives and shapes the future of urban areas. We're excited to support the next generation of urban grassroots innovators!
