TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) has successfully been awarded two grants in one week. The first, becoming a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
(GCE) supports innovative thinkers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mould in solving persistent global health and development challenges.
For Girl Effect’s GCE research project, TEGA will be getting to the heart of why girls ages 15-19 in Northern Nigeria are not accessing modern contraception.
TEGA is one of 28 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 18 grants announced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this week. Launched in 2008, over 1,285 projects in more than 65 countries have received Grand Challenges Explorations grants.
Separately, NetHope, a global consortium of over 50 of the world’s leading nonprofits, announced Girl Effect as a winner of its NetHope 2017 Device Challenge – a collective impact sub grant programme for nonprofits that can advance their respective missions through the use of phones, tablets, and other hardware.
The NetHope 2017 Device Challenge sub grant will contribute to the TEGA programme, ensuring the provision of TEGA devices in countries such as Rwanda, Malawi, India and Nigeria for all of FY18. In so doing, this will enable the TEGA team to test and pilot brand new research innovations. Girl Effect is one of 17 winners that also include Mercy Corps, Save the Children Federation, Pact, and Plan International USA. NetHope received over 300 applications from 233 organisations in 61 countries.
Each application went through a comprehensive evaluation conducted by the NetHope 2017 Device Challenge team, along with a review panel consisting of NetHope leaders and other external sector experts.
The NetHope 2017 Device Challenge programme was made possible thanks to a $5 million award from Google.org, the charitable arm of Google.