About the Initiative and Vital Strategies’ Role:
The Bloomberg Philanthropies Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative works with global partners to prevent lead poisoning across three core strategies:
- Passing and enforcing policies to strengthen regulation
- Identifying and removing lead sources
- Improving blood lead level testing and data collection
As part of the initiative, Vital Strategies will work with government stakeholders to develop robust, country-specific data systems that reduce reliance on modeled global estimates and, in turn, will better inform policy, programming, and resource allocation. In brief, Vital Strategies’ key activities are to:
- Design and conduct representative blood-lead surveys to characterize lead exposure and identify sources associated with exposures.
- Integrate survey data and other relevant information to identify at-risk populations and inform policy priorities.
- Support governments in adapting the World Health Organization’s clinical guidelines for timely identification and management of lead exposure cases.
- Raise awareness and promote evidence-based reporting on lead poisoning through journalist training.
- Engage government officials and stakeholders to identify the best practices and frame evidence-based policies to address gaps in solutions for lead exposure reduction.
Purpose of the Opportunity Fund
The purpose of this fund is to provide support for short-term, strategic projects or pilot initiatives that may fall outside the scope or target locations of our core program but are critical for advancing lead poisoning prevention in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). The fund will support testing of new ideas, technologies, and/or methodologies that may inform broader policy or programmatic interventions. It also provides a mechanism to quickly address emerging issues or urgent data gaps related to lead poisoning in LMICs to complement its work around strengthening blood lead level (BLL) surveillance and health systems strengthening.
Opportunity Fund Grants
Vital Strategies Opportunity Fund will provide grants of short duration to support projects that directly or indirectly strengthen public health systems’ response to the problem of lead exposure in LMICs. We expect to make 5-10 awards each year of this 5-year project.
Eligible Projects
Priority will be given to proposals that explore the possibility of initiating and advancing efforts similar to Vital’s current efforts:
- Advance public health systems engagement
- Building and advancing best practices in lead surveillance capacity
- Enhance the roles of poison control centers or equivalents
- Improve clinical systems’ ability to detect and respond to cases of lead poisoning
- Publish key findings otherwise undisclosed
- Formulate/promulgate policies that address key gaps in public health systems’ response to lead
- Acquire and utilize point of care (POC) Pb testing for a known project
- Leverage existing representative surveillance data to advance the understanding of lead exposure, risk factors, and/or impacts
- Pilot-testing or advancing the adoption of lead poisoning clinical guidelines
- Collecting and publishing evidence that promotes the adoption of public health preventive policies
Two of Vital’s consortium partners, Pure Earth and LEEP, have their own Opportunity Funds under the Bloomberg Initiative. We encourage applicants to only apply to the fund that best fits their proposed activity or project.
- Pure Earth’s fund focuses on activities associated with lead exposure source assessment and the research and implementation of mitigation activities for various sources, such as used lead acid batteries (ULABs), food items, and consumer products, excluding paint. Please contact oppfund@pureeath.org for more information.
- LEEP’s fund focuses on activities associated with reducing lead exposure from paint and lead chromates, as well as research to design, test, and evaluate practical and scalable solutions to reduce lead exposure from any source. Please contact oppfund@leadelimination.org for more information.
Eligible Applicants
Vital Strategies will accept applications from governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions. Organizations may include institutions of higher learning and other schools, local and international NGOs, government ministries and agencies, and non- and for-profit registered businesses.
Applicants must be eligible to receive, manage and report on funds from a US-based not-for-profit organization. Individuals who are not affiliated with an organization are not eligible to apply. Applicants must be a legally registered and incorporated organization in good standing, with the capacity to implement the proposed project and comply with Vital Strategies’ standard grant conditions, U.S. 501(c) 3 funding requirements, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ donor terms, and local laws. They must hold an active organizational bank account (or for government entities, an account managed in accordance with its country’s applicable laws), maintain transparent financial records, and be able to provide appropriate due diligence information (including but not limited to policies, governance, and key staff details) which relate to the use of any grant funds, and at least one verifiable reference if not already known to Vital Strategies.
Project Duration
We will favor projects that can be completed within a 12-month period. Projects of longer duration may be considered.
Eligible Expenses and Project Cost Ceiling
Applicants may request funds for salaries, equipment, local travel, sub-contractors, and other direct expenses directly related to the program. Costs may not be used to pay the salaries of government-employed personnel. The maximum award will be USD $75,000, inclusive of indirect costs (not to exceed 15% of direct costs). There is no minimum award.
Permissible Spending Mechanisms
Vital Strategies can issue contracts to governments, organizations and institutions which in turn can spend in accordance with an approved budget. In some cases, Vital Strategies can serve as a fiscal agent, issuing sub-awards or procuring services and goods.
Proposal Selection Process
Step 1: Vital Strategies requests a preliminary application, including a brief description of the project concepts. Applicants are requested to answer all questions to the best of their ability at this early stage. Please note, if you are applying from an academic institution, the lead investigator can submit only one application, and if you are applying from an organization or government, we encourage you to coordinate your application into one submission.
Follow the link here to start the application.
Step 2: Vital Strategies will review your initial proposal. If the project aligns with our grant criteria, the Vital team will work with applicants to further develop activities, timelines, and budgets, and will help evaluate the best funding mechanisms and contracting procedures.
Proposals will be reviewed and funded on a rolling basis. We encourage early applications. Proposals may be deferred until the following program year if funds are unavailable at the time of application. In some cases, if Vital Strategies determines that your initial project description is better aligned with one of our consortium partners (i.e. Pure Earth and LEEP), with your permission, we will forward your project description to them for consideration.
For further inquiry, please contact leadopportunity@vitalstrategies.org.