FUNDING ALERT! Applications for the Advocacy Fund Open on August 14

The Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) will launch its 2023 Open Call for its Healthy Food Policy Advocacy Fund on Monday, August 14. Applications will be accepted through September 4th, 2023. 

The Healthy Food Policy Advocacy Fund provides critical support to advance promising legislative or regulatory efforts on healthy food policy. Areas include: taxes on sweetened beverages and/or ultra-processed food, front-of-package warning labeling (FOPL), restrictions on marketing of unhealthy food and beverages, and healthy food environments & food procurement and service policies in the public sector, including schools.

Applicants from civil society organizations or other applicable not-for-profit institutions in low and middle-income countries are encouraged to apply via submission of a concept note online. GHAI recognizes the benefits of working in a coalition or collaborative manner and therefore encourages joint applications from organizations with a common policy goal. At times, GHAI has been able to fund the work of coalitions of 2-4 organizations via 1 or more funded grantees in the same country/region. All concept notes are assessed and scored by a committee of external reviewers who are food policy advocates and researchers. Decisions on submissions, as well as invitations for a full proposal will be issued between November and December 2023.

GHAI launched the Food Policy Program Healthy Food Policy Advocacy Fund (AF) in 2020. So far, CSOs in 13 countries (Argentina, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, St. Kitts & Nevis, Uruguay, Vietnam, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala) have received support to advocate for healthy food policies. In addition, the Advocacy Fund has led to important programmatic and policy achievements, such as:

• Expanding the Food Policy Program’s (FPP) geographic scope and population impact
• Supporting the approval of evidence informed food policies in five countries
• A comprehensive healthy food policy law covering FOPL, marketing and the school food environment in Argentina
• FOPL in Uruguay
• SSB tax policies in Nigeria, Pakistan and Ghana
• Assisting organizations to strengthen their advocacy capacity to promote healthy food policies that will address diet-related NCDs.

GHAI looks forward to continuing this momentum by supporting new and promising advocacy campaigns.