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RADIAN 2.0: Innovation Challenge Fund Program 2025

Deadline: 30-Jun-27

The Innovation Challenge Fund operating within the RADIAN 2.0 program, is designed to foster innovations that have the potential to transform approaches along the HIV care cascade or create an enabling environment that make HIV services more effective.

Focused on EECA, this Fund addresses HIV as a significant and ongoing public health issue requiring novel solutions and community-driven support

The purpose of the Innovation Challenge Fund is to create opportunities for novel ideas addressing the HIV epidemic in EECA to be piloted, evaluated, documented, and if successful, disseminated and replicated.

Objectives
  • Deliver high-quality community-based services to address the unmet HIV-related needs of KPs and PLHIV
  • Address structural drivers of the HIV epidemic to improve the quality of life of KPs and PLHIV and ultimately improve HIV-related health outcomes
  • Strengthen health systems to sustainably improve care for KPs and PLHIV
  • Strengthen community systems to deliver community-led HIV care effectively and increase access to sustainable funding
  • Study and document project interventions, learnings and results to help other cities and countries across EECA to end their HIV epide Innovative solutions may fall into one or more of the following illustrative categories, but are not limited to them:
    • Direct service innovations
      • Digital innovations: Technological solutions that utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning for providing HIV services along the cascade. They welcome ideas involving mobile applications, telemedicine platforms, and technologies that allow for remote health services.
      • Non-digital innovations: Creative interventions that rely on advances in biomedical research, social and behavioral sciences, marketing and other technologies to provide improved HIV services to KPs and PLHIV
    • Innovations for the enabling environment
      • Digital innovations: Technological solutions to improve community engagement, CSO funding, sustainability and governance. These may include cryptocurrency-related fundraising solutions, decentralized CSO management and service delivery with the use of block-chain technologies, or the use of artificial intelligence for needs assessment or other evaluation purposes.
      • Non-digital innovations: Creative solutions integrating HIV with other health and social services through various modalities, addressing stigma and discrimination, aiming at regulatory changes at different levels, and addressing other structural drivers of the HIV epidemic.
Funding Information
  • The maximum budget that projects can apply for is $300,000.
Duration
  • Applicants can apply for projects lasting up to 24 months.
What should projects do? 
  • Applicants should identify the most significant HIV-related problem(s) faced by one or more of the KPs most affected by HIV/AIDS: people who use drugs (PWUD), sex workers (SW), men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people (TG); people living with HIV (PLHIV); and particularly vulnerable subgroups of these KPs, such as migrants and prisoners.
  • Sexual partners of individuals from these populations are also a priority. Alternatively, Applicants may identify the most significant contextual challenges that foster HIV-related problems, such as lack of community engagement, low capacity and poor sustainability of CSOs, few economic opportunities for KPs and PLHIV, stigma and discrimination, and others.
  • Applicants should propose innovative solutions addressing direct HIV needs and/or contextual challenges, and which would respond to the overall Goal for the Innovation Challenge Fund: Measurably improve HIV-related health outcomes in KPs and PLHIV in the EECA region through innovative solutions that address specific challenges towards the ‘95-95-95’ global targets and strengthening the capacity of KP and PLHIV communities.
What they will fund?
  • The Foundation is inviting Concept Notes from non-governmental organizations for innovative projects that aim to develop transformative solutions in the field of HIV. They seek groundbreaking approaches improving outreach and service demand, linkage to services, HIV service delivery, client retention for PLHIV and KPs, as well as creating an enabling environment for these services. Projects should address critical needs of KPs and PLHIV, promote access to quality care, and have the potential for lasting impact through sustainable, scalable solutions.
Eligibility Criteria
  • Projects must be implemented in one of the 25 RADIAN countries within the EECA region: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
  • Applicants are encouraged to design solutions that address specific needs and challenges unique to a specific country, with the potential for broader regional impact and adaptability.
  • Type of Applicant: They encourage Concept Notes from non-profit, academic and research organisations. They will consider Concept Notes from commercial entities if their participation is justified and there is no profit included into the project budget. Ineligible entities include individuals and governments.
  • Consortia: Applications are welcomed from consortia – or groups of partners working together to achieve the objectives – where each consortium partner brings unique strengths to achieve the expected results. Consortia should designate a lead applicant organisation to submit the Application. Applications are equally welcomed from solo applicant organisations.

For more information, visit Elton John AIDS Foundation.