Grand Challenges Senegal is a not-for-profit innovation fund, hosted by the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) foundation. The purpose of Grand Challenges Senegal is to advance the ecosystem for public health innovation in Africa. Grand Challenges Senegal will deploy grant funding to test new ideas led by innovators working in the region and African scientists in the diaspora.   

Grand Challenges Senegal was launched by the Government of Senegal in October 2022 with a vision to enable the next set of breakthroughs in discovery and translational life science in West Africa, with seed funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and ELMA Philanthropies.  

Senegal is rapidly advancing with its strategy to manufacture countermeasures for epidemics, starting with vaccines and diagnostics, and the ecosystem the country builds post-COVID represents an unparalleled opportunity to simultaneously enhance its research and development (R&D) environment.  

Grand Challenges initiatives are united by their focus on fostering innovation, directing research to where it will have the most impact, and serving those most in need. Grand Challenges Senegal will be no different and prioritize innovators that a) integrate across disciplines and converge solutions, b) prioritize Senegal as a setting to exemplify the work but with regional impact and potential for reach, and c) apply the very latest science into an ecosystem that is evolving into a hub for translational impact and production.  

Up to 8 proposals will be supported with a grant of $50,000 over a period of 18 months. On completion, successful projects will be eligible for assistance with additional resource mobilization, project planning and grant monitoring.  

Deadline: Jan. 31, 2023