Creating Hope in Conflict – A Humanitarian Grand Challenge: Transition to Scale Funding

Funding is available for innovators who have achieved proof of concept to address pressing issues affecting communities impacted by conflict.

Creating Hope in Conflict (CHIC) – A Humanitarian Grand Challenge (HGC) is a partnership of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Government of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Global Affairs Canada (part of the Government of Canada), with administrative support from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC). HGC’s aim is to identify, fund and accelerate solutions that are local or engage local communities and draw from the experiences of affected communities to significantly improve and save the lives of vulnerable people affected by conflict.

This Transition to Scale Funding scheme focuses on supporting people who have been affected by conflict, with a particular focus on populations that are the hardest to reach. Innovations may be suitable for camp and/or non-camp settings. Innovations are encouraged that focus on the needs of women and girls, and people who are socially marginalised because of their gender, sexuality, religion, age or income, as well as people with disabilities, minorities and people who are stateless.

Innovations should strengthen local institutions, civil society organisations and service suppliers. Preference would be given to innovations that are locally owned or locally led, with the majority of the management and governance comprising people from affected communities. The order of preference in terms of relevant populations are:

1. Non-displaced people (ie people in conflict zones).
2. Internally displaced persons.
3. Refugees.

Areas of focus for the funding are:

• Access to energy innovations that enable more equitable and affordable access to climate-smart solutions and/or renewable energy products or services for the most vulnerable populations affected by conflict.
• Health supply and service innovations that address barriers related to inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and healthcare workers’ skills and limitations of existing disease surveillance and response.
• Life-saving information innovations that improve reliability and safety of critical or lifesaving information and/or improve two-way communication.
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) innovations that target a complete lack of basic services and/or target maintenance and service issues for lack of access to safe water and poor systems of waste disposal, especially human waste, including innovations that provide solutions to faecal sludge management, water scarcity, water system maintenance, cholera response and water quality testing.

Innovators must have a bold idea with big impact potential, and must have achieved proof of concept with sufficient evidence of the effectiveness and feasibility of the innovation. There must be a plan in place for scaling up and sustaining the innovation, and applicants must have considered the ethical, social, environmental and gender equality implications of the innovation.