Funding opportunities

Explore our funding opportunities and what support could be available for your innovation project or research study.

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Crisis Response Funding

We have previously launched ‘Responsive Calls’ that aim to fund rapid research, usually 3–12 months in length, to inform the response to an unforeseen health crisis in real-time. We first did this for Ebola in 2014, and again in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, funding 15 studies to contribute to COVID-19 response in humanitarian settings.

We are constantly seeking new ways for integrating emerging evidence and innovations into live responses. We recently funded the adoption of an innovation in Gaza through our Rapid Response innovation funding and have simultaneously been supporting the uptake of innovations into the response to five ongoing crises in Haiti, Yemen, Mali, Somalia, and the Central African Republic.

Check this page regularly for updates on the latest funding calls.

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Previous funding

Explore our archive of closed funding opportunities and the work we have funded. Each funding opportunity provides an insight into the learning from the successful grants, as well as the challenges, helping you refine your approach for your own applications.

WASH Innovation Challenge: Exploring the barriers to inclusion faced by people living with incontinence

The aim of this Challenge is to build on existing evidence and insights to further understand the barriers to inclusion that people living with incontinence face, so that more holistic, effective and inclusive WASH programmes can be developed.

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WASH Innovation Challenge: Safe, dignified and inclusive menstrual hygiene management (MHM) programming in emergencies

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is an often-overlooked aspect of humanitarian response. Providing safe, dignified and inclusive MHM programming will require the humanitarian sector to address a range of complex problems that no one product or service can solve.

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Innovation Challenge: Understanding the barriers to inclusion faced by people with disabilities and older people in GBV humanitarian programming

We’re looking to understand the barriers to inclusion faced by people with disabilities and older people in GBV humanitarian programming: including needs assessments, programme design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

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GBV Innovation Challenge: Driving the adoption of GBV M&E approaches

We’re looking for innovative solutions to overcome the barriers that humanitarian actors face in adopting M&E approaches that measure GBV programme effectiveness.

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Research in the context of the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

This is an urgent funding call in response to the on-going Ebola outbreak. The window to submit proposals is 3 weeks. Research teams should be able to start activities from June onwards. Research activities will last 3-6 months.

View call details

Image credits

1. Ebrahim Kutty tells the WRI researcher about how flooding in 2018 impacted his family and him in Kavalappara village, Nilambur, Kerala; photo by Niyaz (community member)

2. Group of people students sitting at table doing writing task; photo by Pressmaster