Innovation Challenge: Innovative Responses to Intimate Partner Violence in Humanitarian Settings

Where possible, we will support applicants search for partners, but we are not able to commit to securing partners for applicants. If you have a particular type of partner in mind, get in touch with us and we will see how we can help.

One of our core criteria is for your innovation to be implemented in a humanitarian setting (see glossary in the Handbook for more detail). We recognise that in existing humanitarian settings there may now be new or amended humanitarian programming to prevent and respond to Covid-19. Innovations implemented as part of Covid-19 response activities in an existing humanitarian setting will be eligible. Implementation as part of Covid-19 response activities outside of an existing humanitarian setting, ie in the general population of a country, is not eligible.

To apply for the Challenge, fill out the Expression of Interest (EOI) via our Common Grants Application platform. Already have an account? Login to start an application Don\'t have an account? Sign up to open an account and start an application.

We know that the global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted ‘business as usual’ operations in many humanitarian settings, and for many humanitarian organisations and responders. We’re confident that the problems set out in this Innovation Challenge are still relevant, solutions are still needed and that progress towards developing them can still be made. We encourage you to share any specific considerations or potential adaptations to your approach in response to the current global context in your application.

Applicants are welcome to submit proposals to any of the open Innovation Challenges. One organisation can apply for more than one Challenge. One organisation may also submit multiple applications to the same Challenge. However, please note that you may only have one application in progress in the Common Grant Application system at a time. You can either:

• Prepare your applications offline using the \'Key offline questions\' word document. Then for each application you can paste your answers into CGA and submit one application at a time.
• Create a new log in for each application.

For help using CGA please watch this video.

We’re here to help. For any questions that are not covered by the Challenge Handbook or FAQ section, please email us at [email protected], referencing ‘IPV Response Challenge’ in the subject line.

The Challenge opens on 8 July 2020. The deadline for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) is 7 August 2020 (23:59 BST). Apply via the Common Grant Application platform. For further information about the application process and timelines, see the Challenge Handbook.

Overheads may be included up to 10% of the direct costs listed in the budget. They should not exceed this amount, nor be calculated as a percentage of both the direct and indirect costs combined. For more information, please see the Eligible Costs Guidance document on our Application Guidance page.

We have a totalbudget of 500,000 GBP available for this Innovation Challenge.From this, we envisage funding a selection of IPV response interventions with varying budgets, generally between 50,000 and 175,000 GBP per project. Please consider the range provided as suggestive, and align proposed budgets and timelines with your project’s ambition. Each project is expected to last between 12 and 21 months; all project-related activities must be completed by 30 November 2022 without the possibility of extension. The total duration of projects should cover all project activities including any adaptation/development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, as well as sharing learning and uptake. For details about the funding for this Challenge, see the Funding section in the Challenge Handbook.

You will be expected to generate learnings on the effectiveness of your intervention and/or improved performance compared to current practice by the end of the funding period. Given the project timelines, this can be indicative effectiveness. This means that, while we expect projects to be at different levels of development when applying (eg, from early stage ideas to existing interventions in need of adaptations), you will be expected to justify how you will be able to speak to the (indicative) effectiveness of your IPV intervention by the end of the grant period.

We welcome applications from any legally registered entity (eg, INGO, NGO, UN, academic, private company). Your application must include a partnership with at least one operational humanitarian organisation and a local organisation with experience providing services that specifically support women and girls (either organisation could be the lead, or a single organisation could represent both). Applicants are not expected to have confirmed partnerships in place for the EOI stage, but will be expected to provide evidence to demonstrate partnerships by the Full Proposal stage – such as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or similar. Our portfolio of funded innovations reflects the wider bias in the humanitarian sector where funding is mainly allocated to larger, international organisations, likely to be based in places not usually affected by emergencies. To address this imbalance, we are working to better localise our funding and support, and to increase the number of grants we award to organisations with headquarters in regions affected by crisis and especially to women-led civil society organisations. With this in mind, we strongly encourage applications from and partnerships with women-led organisations and organisations based in regions affected by crisis to apply and to reach out to us with any questions. For further information about requirements and success criteria, see the Challenge Handbook.