Powering entrepreneurs
to end poverty.
iDE Canada creates income and livelihood opportunities in developing countries around the world. We invest in local entrepreneurship, building businesses with a focus on agriculture and sanitation. With access to the right products, services and advice, farmers can transform their small farms into small businesses. With access to research and development, sanitation business owners can produce the life-saving products their customers want.
Read the latest issue of GROW
Click the link to read the latest issue of our newsletter, GROW. Read about how the seeds of your generosity are growing around the world!
Click to Read2022Annual Report
Click to read iDE Canada's 2022 Annual Report. Your support of innovative solutions are making a profound impact on women and men in rural communities, giving them the tools and opportunities to break the cycle of poverty and access new markets.
Click to ReadInnovate forImpact
iDE’s founder, Paul Polak, practiced and preached the importance of starting with people. With your support, local iDE teams use Human Centered Design to engage deeply with the people and communities we serve.
Our Initiatives
Our Initiatives
Innovate for Impact
iDE’s founder, Paul Polak, practiced and preached the importance of starting with people. With your support, local iDE teams use Human Centered Design to engage deeply with the people and communities we serve.
Innovation Fund Projects
Cambodia
| The Paul Polak Innovation Fund
Transform Smallholder Farming
Small-scale farmers grow 80% of the food available in rural areas but often live in poverty. Your support helps farmers increase their incomes by ensuring they have access to markets, high-quality seed and affordable irrigation.
Agricultural Projects
ETHIOPIA
| Agriculture resilience and dignity
NEPAL
| Dealing with new pests
Stop Diarrhea
Diarrhea kills over half a million under-5 children every year – more than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined. Diarrhea deprives many millions of children of the nutrients they need to reach their full physical and mental potential.
Sanitation Projects
GHANA
| Selling toilets to poor household
See More Projects
Recent News
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Spark Grant Lights the Way
Every parent knows that caring for young children doesn’t leave you with time that is truly your own. In the case of mothers who are pursuing entrepreneurship, time can be the difference between just getting by and creating a better future. In 2021, a Paul Polak Innovation Fund Spark Grant was awarded for the development …
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Growing Together
Ired Chuumbwe, 46, is focused on growth, not only for herself and the five children she’s raising as a single mother, but also for her community. As a Farm Business Advisor, or FBA, she works with more than 200 farmers, providing women with training in Conservation Agriculture, post-harvest management, and food processing and preservation. These …
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Polak Fund Stirs the Pot
Want to know what’s percolating with the Paul Polak Innovation Fund? The fund provides grants to test and implement our locally-led solutions, including two grants already awarded this year. The first reflects an evolution of an existing partnership between iDE and Denver, Colorado’s Queen City Collective Coffee. Together, they’re creating a more equitable supply chain …
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Cycles of Change
Riding a bike is about balance, and for P.L. and Kristen Meindertsma, their upcoming journey will be about finding balance in extraordinary circumstances. P.L. was turning 50 and feeling lost. “I was searching for meaning. I found myself questioning that there must be more to life than this,” said P.L., who chose to abbreviate his …
Stay in touch with us
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Our Partners
iDE Canada creates income and livelihood opportunities in developing countries around the world. We invest in local entrepreneurship, building businesses with a focus on agriculture and sanitation.
We would like to thank the Government of Canada and Manitoba Council for International Cooperation for their generous financial support.
From donkey carts and treadle pumps to solar pumps and smartphone applications, iDE has made it their mission to power a revolution for farmers in some of the world’s most challenging markets. I have seen the incredible impact of new solutions designed with and for small farmers.
Len Penner, iDE Canada Board Chair (2020)
“This change inspired me to share the knowledge and experience I got with other farmers in my community and I will help them to start cultivating improved varieties and vegetables with irrigation during the dry season.”
Beletu Bacha Kimbibit, Ethiopia
Simon Tuuteug’s joy is contagious. His profits this past year have soared and his small farm in Ghana is supporting his family in ways it never has before. He says, “I am very happy to work with iDE – they showed me new ways to farm and now I am seeing the good results.”
Simon Tuuteug, Ghanaian farmer (2015)
“My grandfather started donating to iDE in the early 80s when the organization was just finding its way. We continue to support the organizations that were important to him and we understand why he is so passionate about iDE and the difference it makes.”
Marlon Kuhl, third generation iDE supporter (2018)
Getting involved with iDE in the Sama Sama program in Ghana has been both exciting and satisfying for us. It really feels good to make a difference in the world by helping bring positive changes to families in rural Ghana!
