Devex: New innovation lab backed by USAID points to growing focus on resilience

“A new lab at the University of California, Davis will build and test ways to overcome the risks of disasters that keep rural families poor. The U.S. Agency for International Development selected UC Davis to lead the latest innovation lab funded by Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. With a five year grant of up to $30 million, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience, or MMR Innovation Lab, will manage a portfolio of projects testing ways to help people mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks such as drought, flood, or conflict. This research could inform USAID’s work to ensure that its investments can have a lasting impact even in the face of risks that can hold back progress on ending extreme poverty…” (Cheney, 9/5).