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…six-part blog series ‘Building the Business of Grand Challenges Canada’ Once establishing the values and the boundaries of the sandbox which the organization operates in, it’s important to try new ideas.[1]As long as these ideas align with organizational goals and don’t raise any red flags from the legal department, they can be the brand differentiators…if you consistently are willing to try new ideas, that some of them will turn out immensely useful is not an anomaly but rather a statistical certainty.[2] For example, one of the areas of focus that we identified right from the beginning was how to improve the ability of innovators from the developing world to access our resources and those of other global health funders. While there are plenty of promising innovators to support in the developing world, many of them may not have the necessary skill or experience submitting funding proposals. Since we were not willing to compromise on funding excellent projects, the logical step was to develop mechanisms to help them articulate their ideas. To meet this need, one idea which we have implemented was to invite selected innovators to ad hoc proposal development workshops to further develop ideas. Because the cost of doing live sessions (both time and money) is significant, another initiative to post and develop publicly available content on our website was suggested. We also created a LinkedIn group titled ‘Global Health Innovation’ with the goal…

…still 703 million individuals in need of them globally? 77 percent of whom require nothing more than a simple pair of reading glasses that can be sourced for as little as $1? And why are more than 90 percent of these people bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers (those living on $4 per day) in emerging and frontier markets? The cost of impaired vision[i] to the global economy has been estimated to be a whopping $202 billion[ii], and low-income individuals are disproportionately affected by this loss. It’s time we change this. Uncorrected…favorites accomplishments from this year: 20/20 Workplace at West Elm: With West Elm, a home furnishing company that sources from artisan collectives and fair trade factories, we were invited us to screen 200 workers at its rug factory in Haryana, India. Now these talented artisans can see their up-close work clearly. Safe Roads with Apollo Tyres: See…they collect) will be able to pick more efficiently, and increase their earnings. That’s tea-riffic! [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="516"] A VisionSpring customer working on a tea estate.[/caption] Up next, our team will be launching projects that will bring tens of thousands low-income school–aged children and female micro-entrepreneurs in India, vision screenings and access to affordable…

On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the social, economic and political achievement of women, and pledge to take action to accelerate gender parity. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize that supporting gender equality and the rights of women and girls is an important objective of international development. Development innovation can accelerate the attainment of the…program supports innovators from Canada and low- and middle-income countries who are ready to take their bold ideas to big impact in global health. To be eligible for the Transition to Scale program, innovators must have met a number of key milestones, and must have solutions that are ready to sustainably go to scale. At…anticipates training 160 healers and workers, identifying more than 6,000 suspected cases of mental illness, and developing a community mental health care model that can be scaled up and implemented across Kenya. [caption id="attachment_20604" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Dr. Victoria Mutiso leads a community psycho-education session in a school.[/caption] Led by Dr. Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu, Makerere University’s Group…to reach and assist the highest number of mental health patients. When scaled up, 325,000 people could experience Group Support Psychotherapy care and over 65,000 could experience significant improvements in depression and functioning by 2030. [caption id="attachment_20603" align="aligncenter" width="550"] Women attending a Group Psychotherapy Support session in Paibona village, Uganda.[/caption] Led by Audra Renyi, Hearing…

…a team of innovators from University of British Columbia, and a group of doctors in Kenya have in common?  They are all pushing the boundaries of innovation to save the lives of women and newborns during their most vulnerable hours -- from the time of labor to the 48 hours after a baby is born. And they will be in Washington, DC this week for the Saving Lives at Birth DevelopmentXChange, world’s preeminent maternal and newborn health innovations Marketplace and Forum. Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), USAID,  the…tools and approaches to help mothers and newborns during their most vulnerable hours. Through the “Muskoka Initiative”, the Government of Canada has been a world leader in promoting the health and reducing mortality rates of women and children in developing countries. In May of this year, Prime Minister Harper convened “Saving Every Woman, Every Child:…of August 1, innovators – both Round 4 finalists and current grantees- will showcase their devices, tools, programs, and ideas. Immediately following the Marketplace, the public is invited to hear from out-of-the-box thinkers and entrepreneurs and learn which innovation was nominated to receive the People’s Choice Award, the Peer Choice Award, and nominations for Round…to the Saving Lives at Birth website on and after August 1 for additional information about the 2014 award nominees and videos from the DevelopmentXChange. To receive automatic updates, sign up for the newsletter. We encourage you to post your questions and comments about this blog post on our Facebook page Grand Challenges Canada and on Twitter @gchallenges.

Over the past decade, a number of the world’s leading thinkers have expressed concern about the inability of traditional governance mechanisms to deal with complex and rapidly changing global challenges. Anne-Marie Slaughter, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department, has coined…and self-organization. Others also embrace this network concept. Jean-Francois Rischard, former Vice President of the World Bank, has argued that conventional governance methodologies and institutions are not up to the task of identifying and addressing complex social issues like global health, as they are too rigid and inflexible to enable the kinds of coordination and cooperation that are necessary to address such challenges. Instead, he argues instead for what he calls networked governance, which is based on two key principles: (1) that membership in any new problem-solving vehicle (what he calls "issues networks") is based…a commentary to the National Post in June 2010, we suggested that emerging economies like India, China, Brazil and South Africa are poised to play an increasingly significant role in development. They are less likely to have an interest in traditional aid approaches (with the exception of humanitarian emergencies) and more likely to embrace approaches…

—Through their ‘Healthy Village’ approach, Max Foundation is creating lasting change for children and their communities in Bangladesh — Toronto, December 14, 2023 —The Max Foundation has been awarded the prestigious Rotman Innovation of the Year Award for their work to ensure healthy growth and prevent stunting for children in Bangladesh. The CAD $10,000 award is given annually by Grand Challenges Canada, a not-for-profit organization that invests in…and maternal care at the village level. Max Foundation provides initial funding, support, and training for local NGOs, who then enlist community members to act as health promotion agents, educating their village about the benefits of better nutrition, handwashing, toilets, enclosed bathing areas, piped water supply, maternal care, and menstrual products. They create demand for…90% of the community meets key WASH, nutrition and health criteria, and maintains those practices for a full year. To date, there have been 409 Healthy Villages designated in Bangladesh, with an additional 1,265 villages working toward certification. Max Foundation’s impact is possible because the ‘Healthy Village’ approach enlists the community, entrepreneurs, and local governments…Canada, Grand Challenges Canada has supported a pipeline of over 1,400 innovations in 102 countries. Grand Challenges Canada estimates that these innovations have the potential to save up to 1.78 million lives and improve up to 64 million lives by 2030. Visit www.grandchallenges.ca to learn more. Media Contact: For more information, visit www.grandchallenges.ca Contact: Gillian Mathurin, Director,…

To improve the health of women and girls in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America, Grand Challenges Canada and partners launch or scale-up 18 projects, bringing Canada’s new Feminist International Assistance Policy to life Toronto, Canada – Grand Challenges Canada today announced 18 projects extending innovative forms of health-related lifelines to some of humanity’s …Asia (Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, and the Philippines), the Caribbean (Haiti), and Central America (Nicaragua) -- embrace a range of creative products and services to advance gender equality, promote human dignity, and empower women and girls worldwide. The two projects receiving large “Transition to Scale” investments will empower young women and girls, and protect and preserve…sexuality, and other areas critical to the healthy growth and empowerment of young women. (Sustainable Health Ventures – Kigali, Rwanda – $1,000,000) In Kenya, the Bold Idea for Girls project will seek to reduce HIV infections among 500 vulnerable adolescent girls and young women in informal settlements through a unique combination of HIV/STI education, gender…

…Sanitation Challenge” address the dangers of inadequate sanitation worldwide, which disproportionately affect women and girls Affordable toilets with innovative self-closing trap door minimize odors, insects, and contribute to LIXIL’s goal of improved sanitation for 100 million people by the end of 2020 New York City — The Water Innovation Engine, a pioneering partnership led by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign…being used in 14 countries, with more than 1.2 million toilets installed, improving the lives of 6 million people. With today’s new funding, production will be scaled up to reach 15 million additional users. Across its global sanitation and hygiene activities, LIXIL aims to provide safe sanitation for 100 million additional people worldwide by the end of 2020 — a 4 percent reduction in the 2.3 billion worldwide who lack access to basic sanitation. That would represent a significant acceleration of the world’s pace towards a key United Nations Sustainable Development Goal for 2030: ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Each…