New Delhi, May 5, 2023. Supported by a $3 Million grant from Google.org, the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund, founded by Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), has selected two India based organizations to receive funding for exploring new use-cases for innovative technology. The technologies include AI, ML and IoT models that address threats of high water scarcity and excessive flooding across India. Google.org is the philanthropic arm of Google.
The two organizations selected for funding are Gujarat Mahila Housing Trust and Villgro Innovation Foundation. Gujarat Mahila Housing Sewa Trust will use the funding to develop an AI-enabled model for building climate resilience in Amalner, Maharashtra. The model would pioneer the mapping of land use and catchment areas to predict susceptibility to floods and inundation. Villgro Innovation Foundation will support their partnership with CultYvate to develop a mobile and browser-based application and AI/ML models that provide India’s farmers real-time insights for efficient irrigation management and water conservation.
Remarking on the announcement, Sanjay Gupta, Country Head and Vice President of Google India, said, “At Google, we are deeply committed to building sustainability into everything we do, and to supporting organizations that have taken up the cause of positive climate action. India’s susceptibility to adverse climate impact is an important concern for us all, and there is an urgent need to support every effort to overcome threats. I’m glad two prominent organizations from India are working to address the severe water-related challenges the country could face due to rising global temperatures, and that the grant by Google.org to AVPN is enabling them as they develop transformational and innovative solutions.”
AVPN, the world's largest social investor network in Asia-Pacific, founded the APAC Sustainability Seed Fund with support from Google.org and Asian Development Bank. The objective of the fund is to strenthen local organizations developing solutions for sustainable practices and combating the effects of climate change across APAC. Gujarat MHT and Villgro are amongst 13 local sustainability organizations across Asia-Pacific that have been chosen to help vulnerable and underserved communities in the region.
Sharing her views, Naina Batra, CEO of AVPN said "The climate crisis we face today demands urgent action and innovative solutions to help local communities adapt and mitigate risks. By collaborating with these local changemakers, we can drive impactful change and bring Asia to the forefront of climate action.”
Speaking about the project, Bharati Bhonsale, Program Manager, Gujarat MHT said, "MHT aims to develop an AI-enabled model for flood resilience of smaller cities in India that centers on low-income women’s needs. This will serve as an archetype for 310+ fast urbanizing small towns in India. It will support India’s commitment to SDG targets on sustainable cities and communities, reducing the disaster economic loss in relation to global GDP by 2030".
Maithili Rege, Associate Lead - Agriculture, Villgro Innovation Foundation, said, "We at Villgro, along with our portfolio company & partner in this project, CultYvate, have identified a solution whose power lies in technology designed for easy adoption and affordability. We hope to take this technology to 1000s and later 100,000s of smallholder farmers, to enable them to re-imagine paddy cultivation. We are keen to aggregate these outcomes on water and resulting carbon aversion, to enable these farmers to access the carbon markets. The revenue earned from credits will further subsidize the cost of the tech adoption and incentivize these farmers and others to join us in growing food more sustainably in India.”
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