ViiV Healthcare's #EndFGM Positive Action Challenge 2018

Deadline: March 20, 2018

The ViiV Healthcare #EndFGM Challenge is now open. This challenge is looking for innovative interventions to bring about a sustained change in attitudes and social norms towards ending female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

They are looking for interventions that can demonstrate they have effected a sustained change in attitudes and social norms at community level towards ending the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting. This includes the attitudes of practitioners, boys and men, families, community leaders and the broader community.

Indicators of success include reported change in attitude, reduction in cutting, practitioners taking on a new role in the community and uncut girls not experiencing social or economic disadvantages or discrimination as a result of not being subject to the practice. Additionally, young parents not allowing their daughters to be cut, young men expressing their interest in marrying uncut women and influential community figures declaring their support for total abandonment are meaningful indicators.

Prize amount: up to three $25,000 prizes are available

Challenge Phases: There are three phases to all Challenges: Concept, Development and Judging.

• a. Concept Phase: Applicants will submit a concept note, providing a summary of their innovation, addressing the specific criteria described in the individual Challenge. Applicants may submit their concept directly or request input from the PAC Community to refine the concept prior to submission. All Challenge concepts submitted by the Challenge deadline will first be assessed by the Positive Action Challenges (PAC) team. The PAC team consists of three to five employees of ViiV Healthcare. Challenge concepts that, in the PAC team’s sole discretion, best meet the applicable Challenge criteria will be chosen to progress to the “Development Phase”.


• b. Development Phase: Those concepts that have been chosen to progress to the “Development” phase, will be invited to submit a Full Application, providing more detail about the proposed innovation. The Full Application will seek more specific details about how the proposed innovation meets the criteria of the applicable Challenge. All applicants must meet the Eligibilty requirements set forth in Section 3 below. Full Applications will be assessed for eligibility by the PAC team before being progressed to the “Judging Phase”. Applicants that do not meet the eligibility requirements in Section 3 below will not be progressed to the Judging Phase.


• c. Judging Phase: Eligible Full Applications will be reviewed and judged by an independent panel of judges, listed on the applicable Challenge section of the PAC Website. Judges have final discretion on the allocation of funding for prize awards. The PAC team reserves the right to withhold or withdraw prize funding in the event that winners do not meet the below eligibility criteria.

Eligibility

• Open to any individuals under 18 are eligible


• Also open to group of individuals or public or private entities, including, without limitation, universities, academic institutions, not-for-profit entities and private sector organisations.


• Applicants may be from any geographic area.

Entry requirements

• Entries must not infringe any copyright or other intellectual property rights of any third party or misappropriate any trade secrets of any third party.


• Entries may be new ideas or existing early stage prototypes that are ready for further development.


• Each Entry will include the title of the Entry project; the name of the Applicant; the names, field of expertise; information about how the Applicant found out about the Challenge; an Executive Summary of the proposal for solving the specific Challenge described, suitable for an informed lay audience; a complete online application form and any supporting information that would be helpful in understanding Applicant’s Entry.


• All Entries must be written in English.


• Application and supporting documents should:
  
  
  
  • Describe the proposed tool, technology or service (the ”Innovation”);
  
  
  • Highlight how the proposed Entry would utilise existing open content and data for further collaboration / advancement / enhancement, if applicable;
  
  
  • Provide web links to any existing prototype or other online presence of the Innovation;
  
  
  • Briefly describe the targets for developing the Innovation if the Applicant is successful in the Concept phase; and provide further detail on Challenge criteria for the Development phase.
  
  
  • If Challenge allows, submit updates of Phase concepts with data / evidence.
  
  
  • Outline if, how and under what license/arrangement the outputs (including any computer code) would be made available to the wider public.
  
  
  
  

Judging Criteria

In addition to the below criteria, solutions must demonstrate how the challenge statement is met in the context of resource-limited settings without contradicting national breastfeeding guidelines for women living with HIV in the resource-limited settings targeted.

• People Centred: Entries may focus on a process, technology or other method but the ultimate benefit must be measurable in terms of impact on people’s lives. Must ensure privacy, demonstrate an ability to not perpetuate stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and enhance active community participation in solution development.


• Replicable: Entries can be replicated and adapted by others at low cost to ensure broader implementation and uptake as quickly as possible in similar settings.


• Scalable: Entries must demonstrate how they can be scaled beyond pilot programmes to large scale responses that can be implemented at greater/national scale.


• Affordable: Entries must demonstrate affordability (low-cost or no-cost to the end users) within resource limited settings or other similar settings as detailed in the individual challenges.


• Sustainable: Entries must demonstrate how they are implementable in the longer term (beyond the lifecycle of prize funding) using the resources that already exist or which can be incremental to existing service delivery.


• Achieving substantive change: Successful entries are expected to change the thoughts, processes and other barriers that prevent people living in resource limited settings from receiving the best care possible within the resources (financial and other) available, demonstrating a clear benefit to the people and systems targeted.

Application

• Submit a Concept Note to provide a summary of your innovation. You can seek input/feedback from other community members or submit right away. Concepts are shortlisted to progress to the next stage by the PAC team based on the challenge criteria.


• The best eligible Concept Notes are invited to submit a Full Application. This stage requires more detail about the development and implementation of your innovation. This is the final stage for applicants before the judging process begins.

Click APPLY NOW to access the PAC Community portal where you can register or log in to start an application. Once registered you can connect with fellow solvers to share ideas, find collaborators and work on applications.

For more information, visit #EndFGM Challenge.