Charities Aid Foundation has launched “Step Up!” – The Part of AstraZeneca Young Health Global Grants Programme to help small, innovative, youth-focused non-profits develop and deliver effective health promotion programmes – with an emphasis on under-resourced and marginalized communities in low- and middle-income countries.

They wish to ensure the next generation of formal and informal healthcare workers can increase their knowledge of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors and prevention strategies, and create practical methods to increase equitable access to training, employment and entrepreneurship in NCD prevention.

To further their commitment to gender equity, in 2022 they will award 50% of grants to projects which are women-led (either one person, or a group of people with the majority being female/identifying as female), with a preference for young women leaders (18-35 years old).

Aims

• With Step Up!, AstraZeneca aims to
  • Have a positive impact on the young people involved in the programmes that they support and the communities that they serve
  • Learn about what really works in youth health promotion
  • Increase wider understanding of health and wellbeing initiatives for young people
• And to generate:
  • Case studies and other evidence of promising approaches
  • Opportunities for future collaboration and investment

Priorities

In selecting applications, they will prioritise a project if it:

• Aims to prevent NCDs among young people
• Empowers young healthcare leaders to address the primary risk factors – tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, and exposure to air pollution – that contribute to NCDs
• Develops the knowledge and capacity of future healthcare leaders (under 35 years old) through NCD prevention education. This might include working with medical students, community health workers, caregivers or young people following a healthcare career pathway.
• Is sustainable (eg can be scaled up or implemented in other communities/settings)
• Is working to improve equitable access for diverse members of the community
• Can show existing partnerships at a local level which will lead to a strengthened local or national health systems
• Is run by an organisation with an income and capacity to deliver a grant of this size
• Is structured to provide evidence of at the conclusion of the project of what has been delivered, outcomes for young people and what has been learned in preventing NCDs

Funding Information

Grants of up to USD $10,000 will be awarded to support the delivery of approximately 20 projects which:

• strengthen health systems
• improve equitable access
• enable the next generation of young healthcare leaders (age 18-35) to prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among young people (age 10-30 years)
• can be completed within a 12 month period, not starting before January 2023

In addition to the funding, Step Up! grantees will be invited to join AstraZeneca’s Young Health Programme (YHP) Alumni Group. This offers learning and development opportunities, as well as networking between Step Up! grantees and young leaders who have received YHP Scholarships.

Eligibility Criteria

• The fund is open to registered non-profit or charitable organisations with strong experience of working with young people to increase awareness of NCD risk factors and NCD prevention strategies.
• Organisations must have been registered and operational for at least 3 full years, and have had total reported income in the last financial year of more than USD $50,000 and less than USD $1,000,000.
• Organisations must be ‘funding-ready’ and able to provide appropriate documentation (in English) to verify their organisation’s charitable status, governance and financial situation.
• They will support organisations from under-resourced communities worldwide. These are likely to be in low-income or lower-middle income countries or settings.
• Organisations which have been funded previously by AstraZeneca are welcome to apply, but not for the same project that was previously supported.
• Unfortunately, they will not be able to support every organisation that applies and they will choose those projects which most closely fulfil the priorities.

Application

• You will be asked to upload a copy of your governing document and most recent financial accounts (both in English) with your application.
• If selected, you will be asked to supply further information for due diligence/verification checks.

Deadline: 8-Jun-22

Click Here to Apply

Also Read: Other Opportunities to Apply

Also Apply for the Strategic-Technical Support Program – Capacity Building for NGOs and CBOs