Small Grants for Scaled Impact
Building on the success of Phase 1 in South and East Asia, CORE Group is proud to launch Phase 2 of its participatory small grants program—this time focusing on East Africa. Over the next three years, this initiative will advance Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (SRMNCAH) programming, policy, and interventions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, and Malawi.
Phase 2 will provide critical financial support alongside technical and organizational resources to local women-led, youth-led, people with disabilities-led, and other community-based organizations. By prioritizing locally driven solutions and inclusive leadership, this initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of national and grassroots organizations to design and implement sustainable, community-based responses to SRMNCAH challenges. The program places a strong emphasis on gender transformation, health equity, and quality of care.
Core Outcome:
Community-based solutions developed through this project will contribute to a stronger, more sustainable national health system in each participating country.
Key Objectives:
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Objective 1: Strengthen the technical and organizational capacity of selected partners implementing SRMNCAH programs.
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Objective 2: Provide targeted financial support to women-led, youth-led, disability-led, and other marginalized organizations implementing SRMNCAH initiatives.
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Objective 3: Establish a more effective, inclusive, and participatory grantmaking mechanism for RMNCAH.
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Objective 4: Implement successful SRMNCAH interventions in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Madagascar, with a particular focus on improving outcomes for women and girls.
Learn More About The Phase Two Subgrantees; January 2025 – December 2027
The following are the subgrantees awarded small grants for the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP) phase two in the Small Grants for Scaled Impact (SGSI) program.
The seven subgrantees are located in Kenya (Two), Malawi (Three), and Ethiopia (Two) and were selected from a competitive process where approximately 400 concept notes were received and reviewed.
Betty Adera Foundation
Betty Adera Foundation, founded in 2019 and based in Nairobi, Kenya, is dedicated to driving transformative and sustainable change in Kenya. Their mission is to empower vulnerable populations, enhance resilience, and promote equity through six core themes: reducing sexual and gender-based violence, increasing school retention for adolescent girls and young mothers, enhancing economic independence for women and youth, increasing access to sexual and reproductive health services, empowering communities through climate action, and fostering innovative solutions through research and development. They believe that every life matters and that small, consistent changes can lead to significant positive impacts over time.
Project Title: Enkishu Naipurr (“Girls’ Future”) Project
Project Goal: Reduce early marriage and adolescent pregnancy among girls aged 9–18 in by scaling culturally grounded Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights (SRHR) education, mentorship through Auntie Circles, adolescent-responsive service delivery, and community-led gender norm transformation
Project Location: Narok South, Kenya
The project addresses the barriers of early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and school dropout among adolescent girls, compounded by harmful gender norms, low access to youth-friendly SRHR services, and weak community support systems
Betty Adera aims to address the barriers above by scaling the Auntie Circles model, an intergenerational safe space where trusted women mentor girls on SRHR, menstrual health, self-confidence, and resilience. The intervention will combine: (i) girls’ safe spaces (ii) training of Community Health Promoters to deliver adolescent-responsive Sexual Reproductive and Health Rights (SRHR) information, services, and products; and (v) engaging men and boys in dialogues to shift harmful norms.
Website: https://bettyaderafoundation.org/
LinkedIn: Betty Adera Foundation
Beza Posterity
Beza Posterity Development Organization (BPDO) was established in 2000 as a youth-led initiative responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis in northeastern Ethiopia.
Over the past two decades, BPDO has evolved into a multi-sectoral public health and development organization. Its portfolio now covers reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH); nutrition; HIV/AIDS and TB prevention and care; livelihoods; migration; child protection; youth empowerment; climate change; peacebuilding; community systems strengthening; and emergency response.
BPDO is headquartered in Addis Ababa and is supported by fully functional regional coordination offices in Bahir Dar, Kombolcha, Semera-Logia, Harar, Jigjiga, and Dire Dawa. Additional project offices operate across target regions, ensuring strong sub-national presence and implementation capacity.
Project Title: Collaboration for Increased Vaccination for Children Under Five, Including Zero-Dose Children in Afar Region
Project Goal: To contribute to national efforts by supporting and strengthening the reach of zero-dose and under-vaccinated children in the high-burden Afar region.
Implementation Location: Afar, Ethiopia
The project addresses vaccination barriers by co-creating sustainable and locally-led solutions that can reach zero-dose and under- immunized children and increase immunization coverage through integrating routine immunization into MNHTs, ensuring REC/RED micro-planning in each health facility, classifying the community settlement and applying appropriate service delivery approaches such as fixed, outreach, mobile, periodic intensification of routine Immunization, applying community-led identification/ registration (defaulter tracing mechanism), encouraging male engagement (MAKAFTA/ DA’ALA leaders, clan & religious leaders), & Zero-dose mapping.
Website: www.beza-posterity.org
LinkedIn: Beza Posterity Organization
Futures Hope Integrated Development Organization
Future Hopes Integrated Development Organization (FHIDO) is an indigenous, nongovernmental, non-profit and legally registered Ethiopian resident charity organization established in 1986.
Project Title: Title of the Project: Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Access to Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) in Rural Ethiopia
Project Goal: The project is addressing the limited access to emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EmONC) in rural Ethiopia, exacerbated by post-conflict disruption, lack of trained health workers, and poor referral systems.
Implementation Locations: Afar and Tigray, Ethiopia
By strengthening rural health systems through demand creation, health worker training, including community health workers, and robust referral systems, FHIDO hopes to increase access to quality emergency obstetric and neonatal care for women and children.
The project also has a component of community sensitization on danger signs and facility-based deliveries, and gender-sensitive interventions to empower women in decision-making.
Website: https://fhid.org/
LinkedIn: Futures Hopes Integrated Development Organization
Malawi Hope for Change
Malawi’s Hope for Change (MAHOC) is grassroots, feminist, youth- and women-led organization founded in 2022 and based in Dzaleka Refugee Camp.
Their mission is to advance the health, dignity, and development of refugee and stateless girls and women. They have direct experience implementing SRMNCAH education, contraceptive distribution, and livelihood programs, serving over 3,000 beneficiaries, and have successfully managed small-scale grants, building robust financial accountability and reporting systems.
Project Title: Addressing Unmet Maternal and Child Health Needs Among Refugees and Stateless Populations in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi
Project Goal: To improve the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) outcomes and empower refugee and stateless women and girls in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi.
Implementation Location: Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi
The project addresses the barrier of unmet maternal and child health needs among refugees and stateless populations in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi. These include limited access to quality, youth-friendly, and refugee-responsive maternal and child health services, antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care, due to overstretched facilities, supply shortages, and structural exclusion of adolescent girls and young mothers.
Through a community-led, integrated approach, the project (i) delivers peer-led SRMNCAH education and community outreach, (ii) strengthens service delivery with Dzaleka Health Centre (FP, ANC, skilled delivery, PNC), (iii) establishes safe spaces for adolescent girls and young mothers, and (iv) engages UNHCR and district authorities for systems integration and sustainability
Parents Association of Disabled Children Association in Malawi (PODCAM)
PODCAM represents and supports the interests of children with disabilities at all levels of social, economic, political, and cultural activities in Malawi. They mobilize parents of children with disabilities towards the upliftment of their living conditions while lobbying government and the private sector on the aspirations of children with disabilities.
PODCAM creates awareness on the plight of children with disabilities through provision of information on the development, protection and survival of children to facilitate provision of a conducive learning environment for children with disabilities.
Project Title: Health Access, Advancing SRMNCAH for Women, Youth and Adolescent Girls with Disabilities in Rural Blantyre and Rumphi Districts
Project Goal: To improve access to inclusive, respectful, and responsive SRMNCAH services for women, youth and adolescent girls with disabilities including those with intersecting identities.
Implementation Locations: Rural Blantyre and Rumphi Districts
The SRMNCAH barrier being addressed is the compounded exclusion of women, youth, and adolescent girls with disabilities from accessing sexual and reproductive health services in Malawi, driven by stigma, discrimination, inaccessible infrastructure, and limited provider capacity to deliver inclusive SRMNCAH services
The project is using the rights-based approach to capacitate people with disabilities to understand their SRMNCAH rights and be able to demand for themselves. The project will also apply Human-Centered Design by empathizing with persons with disabilities PWDs including those with intersecting identities, co-designing interventions with them, and iteratively testing and refining solutions to improve access to SRMNCAH services
Website: https://www.podcam.org/
Pastoralist Girls Initiative (PGI)
Pastoralist Girls Initiative (PGI) is an indigenous, Garissa-based Non-Governmental Organisation registered in 2008. They work to enhance the capacity of women and girls from Arid and Semi-Arid
Land (ASAL) communities to develop resilience, economic growth, and adaptation to climate change.
Project Title: Community-Led Integrated Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (SRMNCAH) and Gender Empowerment Model in Garissa County
Project Goal: To improve access to quality, culturally appropriate, and equitable SRMNCAH services for women, newborns, children, and adolescents in Waberi, Ijara, and Masalani Wards of Garissa County.
Implementation Locations: Waberi, Ijara, and Masalani Wards of Garissa County, Kenya
This project aims to address the cultural and systemic barriers that limit access to quality (SRMNCAH) services, particularly among adolescent girls and women in remote pastoralist areas. These factors, exhibited through poverty, restrictive gender norms, traditional beliefs, and weak health systems are deeply interconnected, creating persistent obstacles that prevent women and girls from receiving the care they need.
Socio-cultural barriers are being addressed through community education campaigns that challenge harmful norms and misconceptions, complemented by partnerships with influential traditional and religious leaders who can champion positive health practices.
At the systemic level, the project is strengthening local health systems by training community health promoters and healthcare workers, improving quality of SRMNCAH at the community and facility levels, and applying a data-driven monitoring framework to ensure quality and responsive service delivery.
Website: https://pastoralistgirls.org/
LinkedIn: Pastoralist-girls-initiative
Youth Initiative for Community Development
We are a dynamic and impactful youth-led Non-Governmental Organization headquartered in Malawi, dedicated to creating positive change to children, adolescent girls and young women, young people and women through community-driven initiatives. YICOD (Youth Initiative for Community Development) is registered with a host of esteemed regulatory bodies in Malawi.
Project Title: Improving access and utilisation of modern contraceptive methods among women and youth in rural areas in Dedza
Project Goal: To reduce the unmet need for modern contraception among young people and women in their diversity in rural areas in Malawi.
Implementation Locations: Kachere, Kasumbu, Tambala and Chilikumwendo in Dedza district, Malawi
The SRMNCAH barrier being addressed in this project is the unmet need for modern contraception among women in rural areas.
The project is strengthening the capacities of youth leaders as community champions (volunteers) on modern contraception, creating awareness and service provision through community mobilisation, bonanzas, mobile outreach services and clinics, radio programs, IEC materials, and social markets to provide correct information and debunk myths associated with modern contraception, and improve access and uptake of modern contraception.
The project will identify and build the capacity of Youth Community-Based Educators (YCBDA) aged 10-24 years to cascade their learning and ensure that young people have services at their doorstep. Furthermore, the project will build the capacities of HSAs, Community Midwife Assistants, and Community Health Nurses to increase modern contraceptive methods access hence strengthening the very backbone of our community’s health system.
Project Website: https://www.yicodmalawi.org/
Learn More About The Phase One Subgrantees; January 2023 – Dec 2025
Below were the selected grantees from Round 1 of the Small Grants Project. They were selected in a competitive process, with over 114 concept notes received from the three priority countries.
Center for Karnali Rural Promote and Society Development (CDS-PARK)
Project title: Comprehensive Disability and Health Program
Center for Karnali Rural Promote and Society Development (CDS-PARK) has worked on youth issues since 2004. CDS-PARK is a leading national and regional organization committed to progressive societal change through awareness, counseling, and program support. Our organization’s main mission is to work for good governance, sustainable peace, development and good health and well-being to bring positive social change, particularly among the underprivileged community, by awareness raising, capacity strengthening and, providing opportunities for 17 years now in the rural Karnali region of Nepal.
Summary of the Project
CDS Park wants to work on the unmet sexual and reproductive health needs of women with disabilities. With this project entitled Comprehensive Disability and Health Program (CDHP), we tend to bridge the knowledge gap and sensitize government and other organizations to take into account the intersectional SRHR issues of women living with disabilities and reduce and mitigate the barriers prevailing in today’s context through the gender-sensitive approach. This project aims to generate evidence on SRH issues of women living with disabilities through research, developing disability-friendly infrastructures and advocating for progressive laws and facilities for people living with disabilities and addressing specific health-related issues of women with disabilities.
- Website: https://cdsparknepal.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cdsparknepal/
Visible Impact (Visim)
Project title: Youth Empowerment for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (YES)
Visible Impact (Visim) is a young-women-led not-for-profit organization that aims to create a ‘visible impact’ in the lives of youth, adolescent girls and women and their immediate families and communities with a focus on leadership development, advocacy, and realization of their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Established in 2015, Visim has directly reached 23,000 adolescents and youth. One hundred fifty-seven social champions have been empowered to be the voice in the community – advocating for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and leading towards community-led local development as mandated in the federal setup by the Constitution of Nepal 2015.
Summary of the Project
Youth Empowerment for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (YES) is an initiative that aims to reduce the unmet needs of special groups in accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The project’s target beneficiaries are adolescents and youth in their diversity, women with disabilities and the LGTBQ population. Through this project, 28 young people from all seven provinces of Nepal will be unleashed as champions of their province who will further cascade their learning through peer and community sessions. The youth champions will also conduct a series of meetings with their local government and key stakeholders to advocate for the availability and accessibility of youth-friendly, stigma-free and inclusive sexual and reproductive health information and services.
The project also aims to target healthcare professionals from different provinces of Nepal to clarify their values on youth-friendly and inclusive SRHR information and services. Different social media campaigns and language-inclusive public service announcements will also be developed to bridge the gap in information and generate public support for inclusive SRHR information and services.
- Website: https://visim.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisibleImpact
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vis_Im
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visibleimpact2015/
- Linkedin: https://np.linkedin.com/company/visible-impact-2015
Bangladesh Rural Economic Development (BRED)
Project title: Improving Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescents Health
Bangladesh Rural Economic Development (BRED) was established on 15 March 1995 as a non-government, non-political and non-profit voluntary development organization by a social activist to improve the socio-economic and livelihood status of the poor and underprivileged people of its working area through building up their capacity and establishing social rights. BRED is mainly a grassroots-level NGO, but it contributes to developing society by implementing projects/activities and conducting advocacy at regional and national levels to formulate pro-people policies, networking and partnerships.
Summary of the Project
From time immemorial, girls have been married at an early age, which is related to dowry, divorce and poor treatment of girls. BRED will address adolescent girls’ early marriage and pregnancy because this issue exacerbates severe health such as increased maternal and child mortality. After the country’s independence, the government has given much attention to the health sector. INGO and NGOs are also working to reduce this problem. A substantial number of facilities are built, but those are not adequate to meet the growing demands. Thus, despite government and NGOs’ efforts, early marriage and women’s health care problems are increasing. The project will help reduce trends in early marriage, dowry practice, and maternal and child mortality by mobilizing the community and building their knowledge, capacity and skills.
- Website: www.bredbd.net
Below are the two selected grantees from Round 2 of the Small Grants Project. They were selected in a competitive process, with 76 concept notes received from the three priority countries.
NFCC
The CAMA* Project *Contraception Among Married Adolescents
Project title: Increasing Uptake of Modern Contraception Among Married Adolescents in Selected Municipalities of Madhesh Pradesh of Nepal
NFCC was established in 1988 as a national non-governmental, non-profit organization that has followed a multi-level approach to make reproductive health available, accessible, and affordable to people in Nepal. This mission of NFCC has manifested through direct technical assistance and partnerships with the government, INGOs, NGOs and CBOs from the center right up to the ward level. Having worked for more than three decades in all seven provinces of Nepal, NFCC has made its presence felt across Nepal, working on pertinent issues of sexual and reproductive health like family planning, HPV, STIs, adolescent health and life skills, Gender-Based Violence, FP, etc. NFCC has provided technical support on SRH to national and international counterparts and conducted extensive research in family planning, HPV/cervical cancer, menstrual health, hygiene, and rights, including developing tool kits and job aids and providing real-time guidance to support field practitioners.
Summary of the Project
The project aims to improve the overall status of sexual and reproductive health and rights of married adolescents through fulfilling their needs for family planning information, counseling, and services in marginalized communities of selected municipalities of 8 districts with a high AFR in Madhesh Pradesh. The intervention is based on Supply-Enabling Environment-Demand (SEED) Model for Family Planning and all intervention activities will follow the Human Centered Design (HCD) approach.
The project would facilitate access to and linkages with family planning information, counseling and services. A special Family Planning Rupantaran (FPR) package using Human Centered Design will be developed and implemented in active collaboration with local governments. In addition, the project will focus on strengthening the capacity of local public sector health facilities for equitable and adolescent-responsive SRH service delivery by promoting the role and coordination of local governments.
Since adolescents are more likely to rely on private sector sources for FP than their older counterparts in Nepal, private sector FP service providers will be mapped and linked to the married adolescents participating in the project. Hence, they can exercise choice when accessing FP services. To overcome SRMNCAH barriers, specially designed Social Behavior Change Communication activities like digital media suitable for married adolescents and their migrant spouses, distribution of IEC materials, and inclusive community interactions between local FP service providers and married adolescents will be conducted. The project will ensure that married adolescents are aware of their sexual and reproductive health rights as guaranteed by the constitution, act, and regulation of Nepal. Local health facilities provide quality family planning services to married adolescents and the existing environment where married adolescents access and utilize family planning information and services without any barriers is improved.
- Website: nfcc.org.np
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nfccnepal
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nfccinnepal/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nfccint/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nfccnepal325
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nfccnepal
- LinkedIn: NFCC Nepal | LinkedIn
Nari Maitree
Project title: Unmet Maternal and Child health needs for refugees or internally displaced population
Nari Maitree is a women-led non-governmental organization based in Bangladesh that promotes gender equality, women’s rights, and community development. Founded in 1983, the organization has a long history of working with marginalized women and girls in rural, urban and refugee areas. Nari Maitree works to improve the lives of poor people, especially children and women, through education, health and nutrition, food security, livelihood, skill development, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), child protection, advocacy, network building, women empowerment and disaster risk reduction. Through various programs and initiatives, Nari Maitree has served over 10 million people in Bangladesh. Nari Maitree is run by a team of committed women leaders passionate about creating a more equitable and just society for all.
The vision of Nari Maitree is to “create an equitable society where women and girls can live a life free from violence, exploitation, and discrimination.” Nari Maitree’s work in Bangladesh has significantly impacted millions of people’s lives, contributing to the country’s social and economic development and helping to create a more equitable and just society.
Summary of the Project
The health status of Rohingya refugees or Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs), especially women and children, is a significant challenge for humanitarian workers in Bangladesh. The project is important for several reasons: maternal and child mortality rates are often high in refugee populations due to inadequate access to healthcare and poor living conditions; malnutrition is a significant problem in the FDMN communities in Cox’s Bazar, with many children suffering from acute malnutrition. The project aims to improve the health and well-being of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (Rohingya) and other host communities living in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh by addressing their SRMNCAH needs.
The project aims to address the SRMNCAH barriers by improving access to quality MNCH and nutrition services by establishing service delivery points within the FDMN communities and preventing maternal and child deaths by providing timely and quality MNCH and nutrition services, including prenatal care, skilled birth attendance, postnatal care, and child health services. The project will provide essential health care to Rohingya mothers and children, including host communities with potential health risks.
- Website: narimaitree.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/narimaitreebd
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/narimaitree
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/narimaitree/
- LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/nari-maitree-158660244/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@narimaitreebd
Partners for Development in Action (PfDA) Project title: Sexual Reproductive Health for Adolescents in Koh Kong Province (SRHAK)
Partners for Development in Action (PfDA) was registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior as a Cambodian non-governmental organization in 2007. PfDA is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of five members. Currently, PfDA has a central office in Phnom Penh, the capital city, and provincial offices in Kampot, Koh Kong and Pursat. PfDA works to improve the living standard of vulnerable and underserved communities through interventions that promote overall development, including, but not limited to, collaborative activities in health, education, agriculture, food security and nutrition, environment and women empowerment.
Summary of the Project
With funding support from Core Group, the SRHAK project will be implemented in Mondul Seima and Botom Sakor Districts, Koh Kong Province, focusing on contraception, sexual and reproductive health among in and out-of-school youth for the period from September 2023 to December 2024. The project has three specific objectives:
- To increase knowledge of young women (in and out of school) by at least 30% on contraception, sexuality education, sexual reproductive health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, and other general health subjects.
- To increase access to contraception and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Services at health facilities by 30% for young women.
- To create enabling environment for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in all target villages and schools.
- Website: http://www.pfdakhmer.org