The Innovation Fund translates into action new ideas and approaches for advancing global reproductive health supply security. Made possible by a generous grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Innovation Fund makes available over US$2 million to member organizations in each of the Coalition’s three Working Groups.
The aim of the Innovation Fund is to further the Coalition’s strategic vision and goals. It does so by enabling member organizations of the Coalition’s three Working Groups to undertake activities in line with their Group’s objectives and workplans. All proposed activities must have been discussed and vetted by Working Group members and endorsed by the relevant Working Group Leader.
To encourage applicants from the Global South to participate in Coalition activities, the Coalition has chosen to set aside approximately US$275,000 of the Fund to support initiatives developed and implemented by civil society organizations in the Global South. The maximum grant size will be US$40,000.
Applicants to the Innovation Fund Small Grants Initiative must be civil society organizations from the Global South. Furthermore they should be members of the Coalition and active participants of a Working Group or Regional Forum. These include the Market Development Approaches, Resource Mobilization and Awareness, and Systems Strengthening Working Groups, as well as the Regional Forums SECONAF and ForoLAC. The proposed activity must also correspond to the specific thematic focus and workplan of the Working Group or Forum.
An initial paragraph explaining the scope of the projects, the intended outcomes, and how it relates to the strategic vision of the Working Group and Forum should be submitted to the relevant Working Group Leaders. The Working Group Leaders will then inform applicants whether a proposal should be further developed and submitted to the review committee.
The standard Innovation Fund application (proposal and budget) form is to be used. Application materials and instructions for each round of funding can be accessed by clicking on the link at right.
Interested applicants must submit by 04 May 2012 to their relevant Working Group Leaders (or Coordinators in the case of Regional Forums), a one-paragraph statement explaining the scope of the proposed activity, its intended outcomes, and how it relates to the strategic vision of the Working Group or Regional Forum.
The authors of all concept paragraphs approved for further development will be given three weeks from the date of notification to develop and submit a full funding application to their respective Working Group Leader.
Funding applications will be reviewed by a panel comprising representatives of the Executive Committee, the Secretariat, and PATH, supplemented as necessary by relevant technical experts. The next deadline for receipt is posted on the top of the page.
Please click on the following links for descriptions of the activities currently supported by the Innovation Fund:
- John Snow, Inc. and Abt Associates of the Market Development Approaches Working Group are jointly conducting a Total Market Initiative in Honduras. The eight-month effort aims to facilitate collaboration among providers of family planning products and services, as well as to segment the family planning market to better meet the needs of clients.
- John Snow, Inc. of the Systems Strengthening Working Group is completing a comprehensive inventory of English- French-, and Spanish-language professional development training programs for public-sector supply chain managers in developing countries.
- Marie Stopes International of the Systems Strengthening Working Group is conducting an assessment of logistics systems in three crisis settings, with a view toward understanding better the challenges facing agencies that deliver emergency RH supplies.
- Action Canada for Population and Development of the Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group is using Canada’s upcoming Presidency of the G8 to heighten global awareness of Canada’s contribution to commodity security, and to increase Canadian government support for the issue and for the work of the Coalition.
- Équilibres & Populations of the Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group is undertaking a two-year effort to raise awareness of supply security, particularly in francophone Africa, and to strengthen the French-language networks, communications media, and other tools needed to meet countries' supply needs.
- Marie Stopes International, Futures Group, and UNFPA/Madagascar of the Market Development Approaches Working Group are jointly conducting an evidence-based Total Market Initiative in Madagascar. The fifteen-month collaborative effort aims to build public sector support for a total market approach by demonstrating how greater involvement of the private sector can increase contraceptive prevalence and benefit the country’s vulnerable and poor populations.
- Population Action International of the Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group is producing and promoting an advocacy film, which is designed to put a human face on the issue of reproductive health supplies. This film will showcase the work of Coalition members and partners, and provide advocates with a powerful means to communicate key advocacy messages.
- John Snow, Inc., through the Systems Strengthening Working Group, will identify, develop, and disseminate best practices in supply chain management for community based distribution programs, thereby helping to increase access to family planning products and services.
- The Concept Foundation, through the Market Development Approaches Working Group, will raise awareness of the WHO Prequalification Program and calculate the potential benefits to manufacturers of becoming prequalified. The initiative will identify hormonal contraceptive manufacturers with the best prospects for achieving WHO prequalification in the shortest timeframe and will help them understand the actions, level of investment, and time requirements needed to do so. Click here for more information.
- John Snow, Inc., through the Systems Strengthening Working Group, will strengthen the effectiveness of AccessRH by exploring factors that drive manufacturers' business practices and market behaviors; this will ultimately shape successful buyer-supplier partnerships. The initiative will also call on the knowledge and skills of the Coalition's Working Groups as a means of increasing global awareness and uptake of the new procurement mechanism.
- John Snow Inc., through the Systems Strengthening Working Group, will expand and make more accessible a database of more than 100 professional development opportunities for RH commodity managers. The project, entitled Professional Development Opportunities for Public Sector Reproductive Health Commodity Managers II (ProDOPS II), will make available through the Coalition’s website a user-friendly database that allows users to search professional development opportunities, provide comments and feedback on existing courses, and add new information on offerings.
- Population Action International, through the Resource Mobilization and Awareness Working Group, will facilitate country engagement and participation in Istanbul +10 activities. This will be done in concert with the broader Istanbul +10 initiative already underway within the Coalition. The project, entitled Istanbul +10: Lessons Learned to Move Forward, will gather information on country-level experiences with RH commodity security from the past ten years and present lessons learned and strategic recommendations for the future.
- Institute for Reproductive Health, Georgetown University (IRH), through the Systems Strengthening Working Group and with the Caucus on New and Underused RH Technologies, will develop a guide to help countries and programmes meet their forecasting needs when trend data is insufficient to predict future demand. This guide will be disseminated widely through Coalition members and non-members in an effort to ensure it becomes an essential tool in procurement planning and is used routinely by procurement agencies and family planning and reproductive health programs.
- Institut Bioforce Développement, through the Systems Strengthening Working Group, will provide planning support for an international consultation, designed to establish an evidence-base for the need for professional development of supply chain managers, and for securing country input into the development of workstream activities and strategies. The consultation, People that Deliver, will be held in Geneva June 28-29, 2011.
- International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), through the Systems Strengthening Working Group, will update and develop strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Directory of Hormonal Contraceptives (DoHC) database. The multi-lingual database will be housed on IPPFs website and will include information on essential drug lists, pre-qualification status, an interactive world map, and links to manufacturers’ websites for automatic updates of contents. The resource will be a free information source for procurers of contraceptives, and will provide accurate guidance on the availability and registration status of hormonal contraceptives in a given country.
- Asociación Benéfica PRISMA (PRISMA), through the Systems Strengthening Working Group, will develop educational tools to improve RH supplies procurement in Latin America. Specifically, PRISMA will translate the Procurement Capacity Toolkit developed by PATH into Spanish and contextualize it to the Latin American/Caribbean context. PRISMA will then use the translated Toolkit as the basis for the development and implementation of a training course for cooperating agencies, government officials, and personnel linked to the procurement process in the Latin America/Caribbean region.
