Today is World Health Day 2019! This year, the WHO is focusing its efforts on the goal to achieve universal health care coverage for everyone and everywhere. On this special day, we want to congratulate all the amazing NGOs that work in this sector and do important work to support people all around the world. In this article, we want to give you a couple of tips for your next proposal in the health sector – maybe they can help you to finally win a big grant to make an even bigger impact with your great projects and programs.
When you work in the health sector and write proposals for health projects, it is especially important that you have a clear strategy about what you want to achieve and how you want to go about it. Some health issues are best tackled quickly, i.e. when you work in a current outbreak zone. Others need a more long-term strategic approach, like when you try to better the general hygienic conditions. You need to have a very clear picture of your objectives in mind to be able to fit activities into this – if you just have fragmented plans, your work looks like it is all over the place.
When you apply for a project in the health sector, make sure that your concept is up to date with the newest research. Medical research is developing quickly and new procedures and medication is developed all the time. You need to know about these things and be able to make an informed decision as to if this could be helpful for you or your project.
As this is a very specialized field, you should consider having health professionals and maybe even researchers on your staff, not only for implementation, but also for project development. They can monitor current developments and make sure, that your project proposal aligns with the current state of the art in the health sector.
When planning a project in the health sector, you should always keep marginalized groups in mind and think about accessibility for them as well. Do some research before you design your project to make sure that you are not excluding anybody without realizing it. This can be spatial, social or any other exclusion. Have a good plan in place to make sure that everybody in the community you want to work with has the same opportunities to access the benefits of your project.
It is always important to look at your project in the bigger scheme of things, but particularly so in the health sector. Improving the health situation of communities has many effects on other areas. At the same time, many times the reason for health issues are related to many different factors and influence different groups in very different manners. When you look at your project in a holistic manner, you might be able to benefit from synergy effects. You can show the donor, that your work will not only influence indicators directly related to health, but that you also think about cross cutting themes. You will also be able to better identify risks and assumptions if you look at things in the bigger scheme.
Make sure that your project is aligned with global and regional strategies. The Sustainable Development Goal 3 is directly related to health and the strategies used to achieve it can give you important input. Make sure you check the strategies of your local and regional government as well and try to align your project with them. Synergy effects and potential partnerships can be very helpful in combining resources while working for the common goal.
Eva is based in Germany and has worked for nearly a decade with NGOs on the grassroots level in Nepal in the field of capacity development and promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. Before that, she worked in South America and Europe with different organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in geography and her field of research was sustainability and inclusion in development projects.
Thanks a lot for your contributions Eva,I got numerous hints on the field from your article.