Deadline: 14 November 2018

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is seeking proposals for the 22^ndround of the Grand Challenges Exploration on the topic of “Innovations Driving Programmatic Performance in Immunization: Service Experience and Data Use + Measurement”.

Within this call to promote the effective use of timely and relevant data to drive programmatic performance, and thus increase the number of childrenvaccinated globally, GCE is looking for innovative ideas in the following areas:

• Innovative ideas for improving the measurement approaches for immunization data (e.g., process, equity, coverage indicators) with a focus on data use by program managers, triangulation across data sources, and methods to measure and quantify data use. GCE is interested in approaches to measure through both routine systems as well as periodic systems.
• Innovative ideas that improve service delivery and experience for caregivers and/or healthcare workers during the vaccination session.

Funding Information

Awards of $100,000 USD are made in Phase I. Phase I awardees have one opportunity to apply for a follow-on Phase II award of up to $1,000,000 USD.

Eligibility Criteria

• GCE is open to both foreign and domestic organizations, including non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions
• Successful proposals will include:
  • A clear hypothesis underlying the proposed approach to improve immunization programs and/or improving the service delivery experience of beneficiaries;
  • Details on the design and pilot testing of the approach in their application;
  • A plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the approach for improved measurement of the immunization program and/or improving the service delivery experience of beneficiaries;
  • Outline of the design of the proposed approach/intervention; and,
  • Innovations that involve building on, disrupting, or adapting existing systems. Successful proposals will describe how their approach would work within existing health systems or what change would need to occur within health systems for their approach to be effective.
• Additionally, GCE will consider proposals in low-income countries that:
  • Consider user needs, do not increase burden upon frontline health workers;
  • Minimize perverse incentives (including incentives for falsification);
  • Minimize human and system errors in data collection/analysis/use;
  • Are relevant in multiple developing country settings;
  • Data types of interest: all immunization system indicators, e.g., supervision, planning, finance, supply chain, management, demand, coverage, dropout; and,
  • Constitute transformative rather than incremental improvements and are deliverable and scalable in low-income countries.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply online via given website.

For more information, please visit Grand Challenges Explorations.