# Sightsavers offers £1 million innovation fund to solve development problems

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/05/09/sightsavers-offers-1m-innovation-fund-solve-development-problems/
- Published: 2012-05-09T09:06:10+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Development organisation Sightsavers has created a £1 million innovation fund to
support innovative approaches which illustrate ways to overcome barriers in the 
promotion of eye health, inclusive education and social inclusion. The funding is
available to NGOs, academic institutions, the private sector and disabled people’s
organisations.

The winning initiatives will receive up to £75,000 each to implement the suggested
proposal over 18 months. Lessons from these projects will be shared widely within
the development sector, as well as being used to inform Sightsavers’ own programmes.

This is the first time that Sightsavers has funded programmes in this way. It is
being run as part of a three-year Programme Partnership Arrangement with the UK 
Government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

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Director of Policy and Strategic Programme Support for Sightsavers Dominic Haslam
said: “Investigating new methods and practices is essential to improving the quality
of Sightsavers’ work and the work of the wider development sector. We’re hoping 
that by bringing different organisations together to overcome these barriers, we
can create lasting large-scale change.”

The Sightsavers Innovation Fund was run internally last year as a trial.

Applications must be received by 30 June 2012.

www.sightsavers.org/innovationfund

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