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Ammara Niyaz is an Investment Analyst with the Transition to Scale program at Grand Challenges Canada, identifying deals and conducting financial and operational due diligence of potential investments. Follow Ammara on Twitter: @ammaraniyaz “An estimated 663 million people drink water from unimproved sources, and millions more drink contaminated water from improved sources”.  Dr. Margaret Montgomery,…there are more mobile devices than humans, yet 750 million people (roughly 1 in 9 people) lack access to safe water. It is, in other words, easier for people to access mobile phones than clean water.  In 2010, the United Nation General Assembly declared that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization…Grand Challenges Canada has funded 58 projects in water hygiene and sanitation (WASH) which encompasses 30 water innovations including filters. Browse through all the relevant projects we support on our website. Grand Challenges Canada uses a systems approach to fund innovations in this space, where consideration of the entire value chain and process regarding water purification takes place. This involves factors such as the manufacturing process, distribution, after-sales service, user feedback, product design, etc. Grand Challenges Canada has supported innovators that are identifying solutions to solve this problem at various levels, such as the community, family, and individual level. Below…

Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. This means that by the time you reach the end of this blog post, four women have died giving birth. Additionally, for every woman who dies in childbirth, around 20 more suffer injury, infection or disease – approximately 10 million women each year. That’s not all, 99% of these…Canada’s leadership, maternal mortality rates are declining. But there’s a lot of work still to do. Grand Challenges Canada (which is funded by the Government of Canada) supports over 70 projects (a total investment of $39 million) that aim to eliminate preventable deaths among women in developing nations. On Mother’s Day (May 10), we want…phone or in person, two 2 days after giving birth, ensuring a safe transition from hospital to home. The checklist guided CHWs to identify and refer danger signs early. Supervised by Nurses, CHWs also counselled the new mothers on the importance of seeking timely care and troubleshoot common barriers low-income women face when seeking care,…mothers were almost twice as likely to return to the clinic for care in comparison to those who did not. Jacaranda was able to reduce health risks, promote healthy behaviour postpartum and ensure a safe transition home in these critical few days after delivery, including the use of postpartum family planning. Women who received a…

September 25, 2018, New York, USA – Today, the Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Honorable Mark Green, and the Secretary of State for the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, The Right Honourable Penny Mordaunt, M.P., announced 23 intended finalists for Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian…from 86 countries – 48 percent of which came from lower-middle-income countries. About one-third of the applications involved projects led by women. The finalists, who stand collectively to receive $5 million in funding, will now put their innovative ideas into action to implement solutions that will provide, supply, or generate locally safe drinking water and…private sector to work together alongside affected communities to address the unprecedented magnitude of suffering around the world. The 23 selected seed projects will receive grants of up to $250,000 each over a maximum of twenty-four (24) months to support the validation and testing of new approaches. Final grants, subject to negotiation, will be signed later this year. The following are the intended finalists: Iristick – Testing “smart” glasses that allow local health care workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo to…diesel fuel—by integrating solar power, electronic-vehicle ambulance systems, and remote telemedicine services. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute – Developing CareNetin Yemen, a community-based network of support groups that promote the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities. Comprehensive Community-Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania – Deploying 3-D printing technology to make high-quality lower-body prosthetics for people with…

Alice Emasu is Founder & Executive Director at Terrewode, Uganda. She is the lead innovator in a project in our Stars In Global Health program that aims to improve obstetric fistula awareness and create an advocacy network In Africa, Music, Dance and Drama (MDD) connotes courage, victory and heroism. It is also used to treat trauma and stigma. MDD is food to the ear and medicine for the soul. In African tradition, it is a perfect way to communicate and relevant to the people’s culture. Yet, the international obstetric fistula community has not utilized…in Uganda say; “End Fistula, Save Women’s Dignity.” Obstetric fistula awareness and advocacy network With the support of Grand Challenges Canada and the Government of Canada, I designed an innovative and holistic Obstetric Fistula program model that incorporated Music, Dance and Drama through Terrewode, a national not-for-profit organization which I founded 15 years ago and…the Fistula Soldiery groups actively engaged in the MDD program are women and girls that were successfully treated for fistula and have now taken on MDD to promote awareness and advocacy. Rendering results and generating impact In Teso, a sub-region in Eastern Uganda where the fistula campaign began, funding from Grand Challenges helped to setup…of a diverse volunteer workforce, ensures continued fistula education, while identifying the affected women and referring them for free treatment services. It also ensures a regular follow up of women that reintegrated after successful surgeries. The OFAAN is well recognized and recommended for replication by the Uganda ministry of Health in fistula treatment, social reintegration…

$2.5 million of new seed investments in 10 innovation projects to advance Indigenous gender equality, in partnership with Women and Gender Equality Canada Toronto, May 5, 2021—The Indigenous Innovation Initiative—an Indigenous innovation platform hosted by Grand Challenges Canada—is proud to announce the inaugural grant recipients for its Advancing Indigenous Gender Equality through Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Program. Ten projects, from across the country, are receiving a total of $2.5 million CAD ($250,000 each)…and built on a foundation of Indigenous ways of knowing and being. To do this right, we draw on the guidance of the Indigenous Innovation Council, made up of remarkable Indigenous leaders, Elders and Knowledge Keepers with a strong commitment to community engagement and co-creation. The Indigenous Innovation Initiative would like to acknowledge the invaluable…

…of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University, where she is conducting research on radio and ICTs, public health communication and impact evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa. The “Integrated Approach to Addressing Youth Depression in Malawi and Tanzania” project, funded by Grand Challenges Canada’s Global Mental Health program, is an interesting collaboration between somewhat unlikely partners: Farm Radio…also been engaged in many projects focused on scale because of the nature of radio and mobile phones where you can reach a large number of people for a very low cost. Dr. Kutcher has been instrumental in Canada and in many other counties in integrating mental health curriculum resources into secondary schools, and in…We began the project in central Malawi in 2012, and commenced the second phase in the Kiliminjaro region of Tanzania in 2014.  Early on we faced some significant partnership challenges in Malawi which caused ruptures to our early relationship with key policy makers in the country. As a result we needed to think creatively from…partners. We frequently involved policy makers in carrying out the activities across all of the three segments of our program:  In the radio campaign, policy makers were invited to review the drama scripts, and to sit on national advisory committees that meet quarterly to review the radio program and give suggestions.  For the school program,…improve knowledge and attitudes, but is a platform for young people to advocate for better mental health services. The scale of this platform ensured policy makers sat up and listened. As a result they are ensuring there are separate provisions for youth in their revised policies and plans. For tools to develop policy influence and…

…in the Stars in Global Health program. Every year in Vietnam, thousands of young people leave their homes in the rural areas of the country and migrate to urban centres such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to find work in factories, manufacturing products such as electronics, garments, footwear, and textiles for export. The 2009 Population and Housing Census, Vietnam, showed that 6.6 million people changed their place of residence between 2004 and 2009, an almost 50% increase from…closed by the time they finish work. The hotline was easily accessible at any time of day or night; all the clients had to do was pick up the phone and dial”. The project also opened a website and discussion forum, providing information about the project and a place for visitors to ask questions and…