Here is the funding information and eligibility criteria for the program “Saving Lives at Birth” that is intended to provide groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in poor, hard-to-reach communities around the time of delivery.
Funding Information
Seed Funds to develop and assess the feasibility of innovative ideas,
- Focus: Seed funds will be provided to support the development and feasibility assessment of ideas capable of impacting health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies in low-resource settings. It is anticipated that projects aiming to develop early-stage prototypes and/or conduct feasibility assessments, including those for scientific advancements, will enter the Saving Lives at Birth program at this stage.
- Funding: Funding levels will correspond to the scope and scale of the innovation but will generally be $250,000 USD per project.
- Length of Award: Seed projects will be funded for up to two (2) years.
Validation Funds to introduce and validate the effectiveness of innovations to reach proof-of-concept,
- Focus: Validation funds will be provided to support the introduction and validation of prototypes and innovative approaches in achieving improved health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies in low-resource settings (i.e. reaching proof of concept).
- Funding: Funding levels will correspond to the scope and scale of the innovation but will generally be $250,000 USD per project.
- Length of Award: Validation projects will be funded for up to two (2) years.
Transition Funds to transition innovations with demonstrated proof-of concept toward scale up.
- Focus: Transition awards are intended to further refine and rigorously test the impact of integrated solutions that have evidence in a controlled or limited setting of improved health outcome(s) and/or the reduction of significant barrier(s) to health and demand for the solution (i.e., proof of concept). These integrated solutions have the potential to credibly scale to improve the lives of millions of pregnant women and newborns in multiple countries.
- Funding: Funding levels will correspond to the scope and scale of the innovation but will not exceed $2 million USD per project.
- Some innovations may require testing at various levels (local, regional, and across several regions) in the transition stage. Strong justification should be made as to how the scale of implementation corresponds to the scope of the project.
- Length of Award: Transition awards will be funded for up to four (4) years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Seed Funds
- Proposed solutions for seed funds should demonstrate strong understanding of target user(s), such as preliminary evidence from these users that the solution solves a problem they face or meets a need they have.
- Validation Funds
- Proposed solutions for validation funds may have been preliminarily tested, but should not be current standard practice. However, innovative variations that aim to demonstrate superiority to existing approaches will be considered (e.g., a new means to deliver an existing service or a new way to make an old model demonstrably more effective or cost effective). Previous saving Lives at Birth seed awardees are eligible to apply. However, applicants do not need a previous seed award to be eligible for validation funds.
- Transition Funds
- Projects for transition funds must have strong evidence of proof of concept and demand for the solution to warrant expanded support. Submissions must provide sufficient and credible evidence to demonstrate their proof of concept and the link to positive impact on maternal and newborn health that could be sustained and scaled. Without sufficient evidence, prospective partners should consider submitting an expression of interest for another type of award (seed or validation). Demand for the solution by target users and/or local partners must also be demonstrated. Successful applicants will note integration into country programs, policies, and priorities. Transition Funds will be limited to integrated solutions only (approaches that integrate science and technology, service delivery, and demand creation domains in innovative ways). Note that components should be integrated in a meaningful and complementary manner; merely combining three stand-alone components into one project is not considered an integrated solution. A key component of achieving sustainability and scale is partnerships. Reviewers will look for partnerships that contribute expertise relevant to the scale and sustainability of the idea. Co-funding and/or matched funding from partners is highly encouraged, as this demonstrates a key stake in project success by project partners, as well as demand for the solution.
How to Apply
Expressions of Interests (EOIs) must be submitted via given website.
For more information, please visit Saving Lives at Birth