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Global Financing Facility and partners launch a call for proposals to scale up innovations to save women and newborns’ lives

March 18, 2019 | About the Global Financing Facility

The call for proposals will support countries with the highest maternal and newborn mortality rates reach the Sustainable Development Goals

WASHINGTON, DC – The Global Financing Facility (GFF) today announced a call for proposals to support countries with high maternal and newborn mortality to scale up proven innovations to reduce maternal and newborn mortality around and just after birth. This responds to increasing demand from countries to expand and sustain innovations that support their health and nutrition priorities by tackling critical bottlenecks to improved outcomes at scale.

This call for proposals—a partnership with Laerdal Global Health, a Norwegian not-for-profit company dedicated to helping save the lives of mothers and newborns—seeks to advance innovations for maternal and newborn mortality that are evidence-based, proven, and can be effectively delivered in low-resource conditions to achieve quality and improved outcomes at scale. Five grants are expected to be awarded through this call for proposals, each up to US$5 million over three years. The application deadline is April 30, 2019.

“Innovation is all about impact. We believe there is a particularly big opportunity to help save more lives by better, faster and more efficient scale-up of proven interventions. We are therefore delighted to partner with GFF on this initiative,” said Tore Laerdal, Executive Chairman of Laerdal Global Health.

This call for proposals is part of the GFF’s broader approach to innovations to improve the health and well being of women, children and adolescents. The GFF’s innovation work funds the uptake of innovations through eligible country governments and a broad range of implementing partners, with a focus on sustainability and integration into national health systems. These innovations also address critical gaps in health systems for achieving impact on health and nutrition, as identified in GFF investment cases, or national health development plans and strategies.

“The private sector is helping countries leapfrog and tackle bottlenecks in their health systems. The Global Financing Facility is proud to work alongside Laerdal Global Health and other GFF partners to help countries scale up innovations for women, children and adolescents,” said Mariam Claeson, Director of the GFF.

The GFF will also work with UNICEF, which will provide a unique value-add through their innovation expertise and strong operational presence in GFF-supported countries.

To read the call for proposals, please visit here.

About the Global Financing Facility

The GFF is a multi-stakeholder partnership that is helping countries tackle the greatest health and nutrition issues affecting women, children and adolescents. The GFF partnership supports countries in three specific ways:

  1. developing an investment case and implementation plan for prioritizing reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition and a strong primary health care system;
  2. strengthening a country-led platform that aligns all key stakeholders around this investment case and plan; and
  3. mobilizing and coordinating the financial resources needed to accelerate progress for the most vulnerable populations, often in the hardest-to-reach regions.

The GFF was founded in 2015 by the World Bank, the governments of Canada and Norway, the United Nations and other partners. The GFF Trust Fund is supported by the Governments of Burkina Faso, Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, Denmark, the European Commission, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, and the United Kingdom; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Laerdal Global Health; MSD for Mothers; and an anonymous donor. The GFF supports governments to bring partners together around a country-led plan, prioritizing high-impact but underinvested areas of health. The GFF Trust Fund acts as a catalyst for financing, with countries using modest GFF Trust Fund grants to significantly increase their domestic resources alongside the World Bank’s IDA and IBRD financing, aligned external financing, and private sector resources. Learn more: www.globalfinancingfacility.org and @theGFF