Strategic initiatives: Localization & power-shifting

Over the last two years, we have undertaken several successful experiments to shift decision-making to partners who are closest to the challenges.

Localization and power-shifting experiments

Over the last two years, we have undertaken several successful experiments that aim to shift decision-making to partners closer to the challenges and the communities directly affected by them. Through our partnerships with the Ghana Country Innovation Platform (CIP) and Grand Challenges (GC) Senegal, we have successfully co-created seed funding calls in response to national priorities. One of the main goals of these partnerships is to explore new approaches to innovation funding, where local stakeholders are leading in determining the focus of innovation funding calls, with GCC coming in to provide guidance, technical support, and funding for the innovations.

Both Grand Challenges Senegal and the Ghana Health Service have adapted the selection process to better suit their needs and integrate their priorities. We are seeing continued progress and success with both partnerships and important learnings are emerging that will guide us as we look for opportunities to further our localization objectives.

Grand Challenges Senegal

Over the past two years, Grand Challenges Canada has partnered with Grand Challenges Senegal to launch two funding calls. The first focused on epidemic intelligence, surveillance and outbreak response, while the second focused on catalyzing the equitable use of AI to improve global health. This collaborative approach intends to share key lessons, tools, and procedures throughout all phases of the funding cycle so that the GC Senegal team can adapt and build their own processes to launch and manage their own funding calls independently in the future.

Round One: Epidemic Intelligence, Surveillance and Outbreak Response

GCC and GC Senegal first partnered in 2022 to launch a funding call focused on enhancing epidemic intelligence, surveillance and outbreak response. A total of 119 applications were received and reviewed, with 11 top-scoring proposals selected for funding.

GCC’s Stars in Global Health (Stars) team worked closely with GC Senegal and innovators throughout the negotiation process and signed eight deals ($75,000 per deal for up to 18 months) by the end of FY23-24, for a total commitment of $600K.

Round Two: Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence Use to Improve Global Health

Following the initial success of the first round, GCC and GC Senegal partnered again for a second round of funding in FY23-24, along with five other Grand Challenge Network Partners. The second Request for Proposals (RFPs) launched in October/November 2023 and focused on “Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence Use to Improve Global Health,” which was developed in response to the recognition of the potential of generative artificial intelligence in global health.

Grand Challenges Canada committed an additional $600K of funding to be directed towards projects selected by GC Senegal in this second funding call, with additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Institut Pasteur de Dakar through GC Senegal and the Pasteur Network.

Ghana Country Innovation Platform (CIP) Pilot

Grand Challenges Canada partnered with the Ghana Health Service, USAID's Center for Innovation and Impact and AMP Health on a funding call for maternal and newborn health

In 2022, GCC partnered with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (USAID-CII), and AMP Health to form the Ghana Country Innovation Platform (CIP) to co-create a funding call aligned with national maternal and newborn health priorities in Ghana. Starting with a co-creation workshop in early 2023 to determine the focus of the funding call. there was strong buy-in from all partners and clear roles and responsibilities for all involved.

Following a July 2023 funding call, we received 135 applications, with a high proportion (73%) coming from innovators in Ghana. The Ghana Health Service opted to adhere to GCC’s standard seed review process, where GCC managed application intake and organized the review process, and staff from all Ghana CIP partner organizations participated in the innovation screen.

GHS nominated and onboarded the majority of the expert peer reviewers and approved a list of high-scoring proposals which GCC subsequently endorsed. Through this funding call, Grand Challenges Canada will fund 10 GHS-prioritized proposals, each spanning 12-18 months and with award values up to CAD $250,000 each, for a total commitment of approximately $2.5M.

In the Ghana Country Innovation Platform Pilot (CIP), the funding call resulted in:

applications

The funding call requested applications for four priority interventions in maternal and newborn health, as chosen by the Ghana Health Service. Innovations must be implemented in at least 2 out of 6 priority regions of Ghana.

of innovators submitting applications were from Ghana

While the funding call was open to innovators from across Africa and beyond, the majority of innovation proposals were from Ghana.

Through the funding call, GCC (with funding from the Government of Canada) will provide a total commitment of $2.5M CAD

innovations selected

GCC is the lead for negotiating funding agreements and maintains regular engagement with GHS staff. As projects begin implementation in Ghana’s regional health systems, both GCC and GHS will provide project and grant management support.

CAD in funding each per innovation, over a period of 12-18 months

As projects begin implementation in Ghana’s regional health systems, both GCC and GHS will provide project and grant management support.

Key Lessons

Several key learnings have emerged from this partnership that will help guide us in our future localization efforts:

Deep engagement between Grand Challenges Canada and the Ghana Health Service, as well as dedicated in-country support from an embedded AMP Health management partner, were key to successful Request For Proposal (RFP) development and peer review processes. This deep collaboration is also critical for the negotiation phase so that all partners feel confident about the projects being funded.
Partnership- and trust-building takes significant time and effort, but these are critical to the successful implementation of a project like the CIP with a new partner.

The co-creation workshop with stakeholders from across the Ghanaian health ecosystem in early 2023 was a key milestone in relationship-building, as it established trust between partners, particularly with GHS, and helped pave the way towards further scale and sustainability in the public sector. Senior leaders from the GHS facilitated key sessions of the workshop, ensuring that participants clearly understood the connection between their work and the goals of the innovation funding call. Through the workshop, stakeholders determined the priority challenges in maternal and neonatal healthcare that would be addressed through innovation.

Innovator Council

This year, we initiated the creation of an Innovator Council, providing an opportunity for representatives from across GCC-funded innovations to provide input and feedback across a wide range of programs and initiatives.

The Innovator Council aims to include innovator perspectives in our programming and decision-making.

In late 2023, GCC established an Innovator Council to integrate innovator perspectives more systematically into our programming and decision-making. Council members will meet monthly and provide feedback across a range of initiatives, including GCC's strategic plan, grant management process, digital transformation, and more. By gathering innovator perspectives from across portfolios, we aim to reduce operational barriers and engage meaningfully with communities. Recognizing the importance of the innovators’ contributions, Council members will be compensated for their time.

GCC solicited applications for Council membership from innovations that are currently funded and received 82 applications. A dozen innovators were selected to participate, with representation from across our areas of impact, including representatives from Global Health Innovation (GHI), Humanitarian Innovation and the Indigenous Innovation Initiative (I3). In selecting members for the Council, we prioritized innovators who have lived experience of the challenge they are addressing, including those who are based in low-and middle-income countries, conflict-affected countries or Indigenous communities. The final selection of members also considered representation across regions and stages of innovation, including both early- and late-stage innovations.

Localization and powershifting in the innovation for impact community

We are committed to sharing our learning around power shifting and localization with the wider innovation for impact ecosystem. GCC has held a co-chair role on the International Development Innovation Alliance’s (IDIA’s) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion spoke, which focused on shifting power through innovative practices and building equity metrics to provide evidence for change.

IDIA is comprised of 14 core partners, including GCC and three of our main funders (Global Affairs, USAID, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)). GCC’s leadership in the EDI spoke culminated in the publication of an Equity Framework, which provides a set of principles, institutional actions, and metrics that donors and other stakeholders can adapt and adopt to drive greater equity and more meaningful localization.