18 Health Innovations Funded by Grand Challenges Canada to Empower World’s Most Vulnerable Women and Girls

Toronto, Canada – Grand Challenges Canada today announced 18 projects extending innovative forms of health-related lifelines to some of humanity’s most acutely impoverished, neglected and vulnerable women and girls, supported by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada.

The undertakings — in Africa (Kenya (5 projects), Rwanda, Sierra Leone (2), Togo, and Uganda (3), Asia (Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, and the Philippines), the Caribbean (Haiti), and Central America (Nicaragua) — embrace a range of creative products and services to advance gender equality, promote human dignity, and empower women and girls worldwide.

The new Grand Challenges Canada projects help bring to life the Canadian government’s recently adopted Feminist International Assistance Policy. The Policy embraces a feminist approach, one that advances gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, as the most effective way to reduce poverty and to build a more inclusive, peaceful and prosperous world.

“The conditions facing women and girls in low- and middle-income countries almost defy belief but constitute daily reality for millions. Grand Challenges Canada is proud to work with the Government of Canada to enable innovators with bold new ideas to test concepts that may hold the key to a better life for women and girls worldwide, and to scale-up the innovative approaches to empowering women and girls that are already showing promising results.”

– Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada

The projects will receive CAD $2.7 million in funding from Grand Challenges Canada, supported by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The funding will be complemented by dozens of partner contributions, as well as the collaboration of government and non-governmental agencies in each country, creating a total investment of $3.9 million.

You can learn more about the projects in Grand Challenges Canada’s Project Descriptions PDF.

This Press Release was originally posted on the Grand Challenges Canada website.