With Montaser Kamal by the IDRC
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are fundamental to people living fully healthy lives. When people have access to quality SRHR information and services and have the decision-making power to exercise their rights, they can effectively contribute to the well-being of themselves and their families and communities.
Opportunities to realize improved SRHR are complicated by the impacts of emerging and existing infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, and the direct and indirect impacts of climate change, on already weak health and education systems. Such pressures lead to increased demand, reduced supply, and increased barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services.
These challenges are greater among populations who already face discrimination in securing SRHR. Despite these challenges, many governments and civil society organizations are building more responsive, resilient and integrated responses to address intersecting needs. Targeted investments in SRHR can be an important catalyst for strengthening existing momentum building in many communities, countries and internationally.
International Development Research Center (IDRC)and other funding partners announce a new initiative, Addressing Neglected Areas of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa (ANSRHRA), to support gender transformative implementation research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Focused on investments to to transform the design and delivery of services, to enhance the development and implementation of fair and sustainable movementsANSRHRA will contribute to improving health and realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights, while also building systems and structures that enable and support underserved populations, including women and girls, to demand and enjoy the full range of SRHR.
Preliminary information about this intended funding opportunity is now available to allow applicants time to prepare their applications. The funding opportunity is expected to start on February 23, 2024. Through the preliminary call, up to 15 successful teams will be invited to submit full proposals September 2024.
Priority areas of the ANSRHRA initiative:
The ANSRHRA initiative will prioritize projects that address the following five priority areas of SRHR:
· improving access to family planning and contraceptive services
· Expanding access to safe abortion where permitted by law and post-abortion care
· upholding SRHR rights and ensuring access to services for adolescents
· preventing and improving services for people experiencing sexual and gender-based violence
· strengthening SRHR advocacy
This Initiative incorporates innovative approaches to address neglected areas of SRHR, including: mainstreaming gender transformative implementation and research that lays the foundation for sustainable and systems-level change, valuing the experience and expertise of civil society organizations , particularly those leading and/or prioritizing underserved populations, including women and girls, and building capacity for evidence-based advocacy and accountability mechanisms that cut across the public, political, health, economic and legislative spheres.
Application process
This anticipated funding opportunity will involve a two-stage process. In the first stage, interested candidates should submit a Letter of Intent (LOI). Only applicants who are successful at the LOI stage will be invited to submit a full technical proposal. Full proposals will call for submissions for a first cohort of research projects that integrate implementation and gender-transformative research and lay the foundations for sustainable and system-level change.
Successful projects will address at least one of the identified SRHR priority areas. Project teams must include a researcher at an African institution in an eligible country as principal investigator, a senior member of a civil society organization leading and/or prioritizing underserved populations, who has been active in supporting SRHR priority areas as principal investigator , independent researcher based in a Canadian institution as a principal investigator and at least one relevant decision-maker at the local, regional or national level as a co-investigator from the same country as the principal investigator’s institution.
Specific requirements for the application process, including the LOI stage, will be outlined in the intended funding opportunity when it is formally announced in February 2024. All applications will be reviewed externally.
LOI should be done April 5, 2024with up to 15 successful teams invited to submit full proposals September 2024. The launch of the ANSRHRA initiative is expected to take place in autumn/winter 2024.
More information is available:
You can view the pre-announcement of this funding opportunity here Englishand French language.
