GiveWell is launching two new requests for information (RFI) to expand GiveWell’s funding for vaccination outreach and anemia control programs. We’re excited to replicate the success of last year’s water chlorination RFI and explore how to reach even more people in low- and middle-income countries with programs to save and improve lives.
The first RFI seeks organizations that would like to implement targeted vaccination outreach or mobile vaccination programs in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, or Somalia. The second seeks programs that reduce iron deficiency anemia through large-scale food fortification, targeted iron supplementation, and iron biofortification in Africa.
These RFIs are just one component of our expanding efforts to find and fund high-impact ways to help people in need. We’re making them public in an effort to reach as many organizations as possible, and we encourage you to share them with your networks. Submissions for both RFIs are due March 27.
Targeted vaccination outreach and mobile vaccination
GiveWell started supporting vaccination programs in 2015 and has made over $200 million in vaccination-related grants to date. Our vaccination team is especially interested in finding ways to make it easier for caregivers to have their children vaccinated, such as by bringing vaccines closer to where parents and infants are. We think that vaccination programs like these are likely to be highly cost-effective because vaccines substantially reduce child mortality and these programs may be able to reach children who have been missed by other approaches. We also believe they have a high potential to scale.
For this RFI, we are only seeking applications for programs that meet the following criteria:
Routine childhood immunizations: Programs should aim to increase uptake of the bundle of vaccinations that are routinely scheduled for children under two years of age in the program context;1For example, if a program plans to work in an area in DRC where the malaria vaccine has been introduced, we would expect the program to target uptake of the malaria vaccine and all other vaccines that are part of the routine schedule for children under two. jQuery(‘#footnote_plugin_tooltip_16322_1_1’).tooltip({ tip: ‘#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_16322_1_1’, tipClass: ‘footnote_tooltip’, effect: ‘fade’, predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: ‘top right’, relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); we do not plan to consider proposals for programs that deliver a single vaccine (e.g., outbreak-specific campaigns).
Locations: Programs should operate in select areas of DRC, Nigeria, or Somalia.
Eligible provinces in DRC: Kasaï, Kwilu, Lomami, Sankuru
Eligible states in Nigeria: Sokoto and Zamfara
Eligible regions in Somalia: All
Program type: “Targeted outreach” and/or mobile vaccination programs should both (1) identify