Deadline: 12 February 2019
Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, is seeking proposals for its “Options for Pregnancy Termination (OPTions) Innovation Initiative” to save and improve the lives of women and girls through improved access to safe and legal abortion.
The goal of this Request for Proposals (RFP) is to support Bold Ideas with Big Impact® for women’s and girls’ access to safe abortion in low- and middle-income countries. They seek innovative and transformative approaches that put women and girls in control of where, when and how they terminate their pregnancy.
Areas of Focus
Grand Challenges Canada seeks bold ideas designed to be implemented in low- and middle-income countries that focus on access to safe abortion. These bold ideas could originate from non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations, as well as other recognized institutions. Social enterprises and feminist organizations are particularly encouraged to apply.
Proposed innovations must be bold, innovative, transformational and ‘outside-thebox’, and must have the potential to make a substantial impact to improve access to safe abortion. The innovations are expected to improve access to safe abortion through either:
- Increasing early access to manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical abortion (MA). This includes but is not limited to the following:
- Increasing the number of trained providers and available safe services
- Improving access to information that will help a girl or woman safely terminate a pregnancy
- Reframing and normalizing abortion to combat stigma
- Decentralizing and de-medicalizing abortion care
- Reducing economic barriers to accessing safe abortion
- Introducing a new method of safe abortion that provides one or more significant improvements over existing methods, including:
- When in gestation it can be effectively administered
- Effectiveness at terminating pregnancy
- Ability for girls and women to access and self-administer with greater autonomy and privacy
- Ease of compliance (e.g. single pill administration)
- Reduced side effects and pain
- Stability profile
- Permissive within existing regulatory frameworks (e.g., it has other primary indications)
- Cost effectiveness
Target Beneficiaries
Innovations must ultimately benefit women and girls amongst the poorest of the poor in eligible low- and middle-income countries.
Funding Information
Successful proposals will be awarded seed grants of up to $250,000 CAD over 18 to 24 months to develop and test the proposed innovation. Assuming a sufficient number of proposals of merit are received, approximately 20 seed grants will be awarded in this round.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include social enterprises and other recognized institutions (e.g., non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and for-profit companies) that are formed and legally incorporated, that can successfully execute the activities in their respective technical area, and that are capable of receiving and administering grant funding. Sole proprietorships are not eligible for funding. United Nations country offices are not eligible to apply.
- A project can have only one (1) Project Lead, who must be affiliated with the institution from which the proposal is being submitted.
- A Project Lead may only be listed on one (1) application to this Request for Proposals; however, an institution may submit multiple applications. For multiple applications to be considered from a single institution, the applications must each list a different Project Lead. Please note: each Project Lead must register for their own unique Fluxx Portal account.
- Applications must include all required information. Only complete applications will be considered by the Review Committee.
- Proposed ideas must be aligned with the Areas of Focus and the Target Beneficiaries. Anything that falls under What Grand Challenges Canada Will Not Fund is not eligible.
- It is the applicant’s responsibility to obtain any necessary legal and/or regulatory approvals, consents or reviews required to accept foreign grant funds and/or conduct the project activities before executing a funding agreement with Grand Challenges Canada. For example, applicants planning to conduct project activities in India may be required to register with the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of 2010 (FCRA). As part of the Grand Challenges Canada’s diligence, successful applicants will be required to provide their organization’s registration under FCRA or a written certification that FCRA registration is not required. Failure to comply with the requirements of FCRA may subject their organization to financial and/or criminal penalties. Applicants should consult with their own advisors to determine whether FCRA applies to their organization or project.
- Grand Challenges Canada may, at any time and at their sole discretion, modify eligibility criteria with respect to individual applicants, Project Leads and/or eligible countries, to the extent that such modifications do not materially undermine the review process.
- Please note that Grand Challenges Canada must approve any changes in applicant organization, institution or Project Lead from the originally-submitted application.
- Please note that collaboration with an innovator based in a low- or middle-income is encouraged for applicants from high-income countries, but it is not required.
- Please note that Project Leads are required to seek and obtain sign-off from their affiliated institution before submitting their application.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit their proposals online through the Grand Challenges Canada’s Fluxx Portal via given website.
For more information, please visit https://www.grandchallenges.ca/funding-opportunities/