Grant to Improve Child Wellbeing and Community Health (Kenya)

Deadline: 03-Apr-2026

UNICEF is accepting grant applications to empower faith actors and religious leaders in promoting child rights, health, and wellbeing. The program supports advocacy, community engagement, and harmful-practice prevention across Africa and Asia, integrating the FPCC Mind-Heart Dialogue and faith-based tools to strengthen child protection and wellbeing.

About the Initiative

The UNICEF Faith Engagement for Child Rights program aims to enhance the role of faith actors and religious leaders in promoting child rights, health, and wellbeing within their communities. The initiative emphasizes integrating faith perspectives into advocacy, child protection, and public health interventions.

Key program objectives include:

• Strengthening knowledge, attitudes, and practices of faith actors to apply FPCC Mind-Heart Dialogue in congregational and community settings

• Using faith engagement tools to combat violence against children and women, including female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage

• Improving coordination and engagement of faith actors to advance child wellbeing and counter opposition to child rights

• Reinforcing regional and national faith engagement forums, with a focus on WASH in faith-managed health facilities and polio eradication

• Enhancing documentation, evidence, and learning on FPCC impact at individual, congregational, national, and regional levels

The total indicative budget for the initiative is $310,000 USD, supporting multi-country activities, advocacy, and faith actor capacity building.

Who is Eligible?

Eligible applicants include:

• Civil society organizations (CSOs) with experience in faith engagement, child protection, and community advocacy

• Organizations able to work across Africa and Asia in collaboration with faith actors

• Partners committed to documenting best practices and facilitating cross-regional collaboration

Key Program Components

Global Advocacy and Coordination

• Creation of two continental faith advisory groups in Africa and Asia

• Convening two continental advocacy meetings annually

• Issuing four advocacy statements per year

• Developing a compendium of harmonized faith-based messages

• Mapping good practices for global advocacy and promoting south-south cooperation

Harmful Practices Abandonment

• Training faith leaders in eight countries over two years using the Mind-Heart Dialogue and MEAL framework

• Establishing or strengthening inter-faith councils

• Creating a continental pool of faith champions to counter harmful practices and pushback

WASH in Health Care Facilities

• Multi-country gatherings in Nairobi, Kenya with faith actors managing health facilities

• Dialogue and knowledge sharing on hygiene, sanitation, and quality of care

• Promotion of WASH improvements to uphold dignity of patients and staff

Polio Eradication Support

• Multi-country gatherings of faith leaders coinciding with World Polio Day

• Use of the Mind-Heart Dialogue to reinforce immunization commitments in endemic and polio-affected countries

CSO Partnership and Coordination

• UNICEF’s CSO partner coordinates faith actors at local, national, and regional levels

• Harmonizes messaging, advances advocacy, promotes child rights, and documents promising practices

• Fosters cross-regional collaboration and engagement with traditional leaders

How to Apply

1. Prepare Proposal – Outline your experience in faith-based child rights initiatives and planned activities aligned with UNICEF’s focus areas

2. Submit Application – Include organizational information, budget overview, and anticipated impact

3. Demonstrate Capacity – Highlight ability to train faith leaders, coordinate across regions, and document outcomes

4. Engage Communities – Provide plans for engaging congregations, councils, and regional networks

5. Focus on Learning – Include methods for monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL)

Tips for Applicants

• Clearly link activities to child rights, WASH, and harmful-practice prevention

• Demonstrate experience working with faith actors

• Highlight potential for cross-country collaboration

• Include measurable outcomes for advocacy, training, and community engagement

FAQs

1. Which countries are included? The program focuses on Africa and Asia, with activities in multiple countries.
2. What types of faith actors are involved? Religious leaders, faith-based organization representatives, and interfaith councils.
3. Is prior UNICEF partnership required? No, but experience in child rights advocacy and faith engagement is essential.
4. How long is the program? Activities, including training and advocacy, run over two years.
5. What frameworks are used? The program uses the FPCC Mind-Heart Dialogue and MEAL framework.
6. How is success measured? Through strengthened advocacy, trained faith leaders, documented best practices, and improved child wellbeing outcomes.
7. What is the funding limit? The total indicative budget is $310,000 USD, distributed across program activities.

Conclusion

This UNICEF initiative empowers faith actors and religious leaders to promote child rights, prevent harmful practices, improve health services, and strengthen advocacy networks. By integrating faith engagement tools and cross-regional collaboration, the program advances child wellbeing, WASH improvements, and polio eradication across Africa and Asia, providing measurable impact at individual, congregational, national, and regional levels.

For more information, visit UN Partner Portal.