WHO AFRO/TDR Impact Grants 2026-2027
WHO Regional Office for Africa
Up to US$15,000 for African-led implementation research addressing practical health-system and service-delivery challenges in the WHO African Region.
Last checked 23 August 2026
This call is closed. The deadline was 15 September 2026. This page remains available for reference.
At a glance
- Funding / main benefit
- Up to USD 15,000
- Deadline
- 15 September 2026, 17:00 CEST (18:00 EAT)Europe/Paris
- Duration
- 12 months
- Location / format
- Not stated
- Career stage
- Early-career researcher, Established researcher
- Geographic eligibility
- Not stated
- Application deadline
- 15 September 2026
- East Africa equivalent
- 15 September 2026
- Expected notification
- Within approximately three months of the deadline
- Project completion
- 1 January 2027
Is this for me?
Best suited to: Researchers embedded in universities, ministries, NGOs or health programmes who already know the implementation problem they want to solve.
Uganda relevance: Uganda is in the WHO African Region and is eligible. The Principal Investigator must be based at an eligible institution in the region.
Not suitable if
- Your main objective is to estimate prevalence without testing or studying implementation
- You are proposing a large clinical trial or expensive new intervention development
- The work cannot realistically be completed within 12 months
- You do not have an eligible African-region institutional base
- You cannot secure the required programme or service-level acknowledgement
Methods Bench fit considerations
- You can point to a real implementation bottleneck in an existing programme, intervention or service
- Your study can generate an actionable solution within 12 months
- You have a clear link to the health programme or service that would use the findings
- Your question fits implementation or operational research rather than purely descriptive research
- You can work within a US$15,000 ceiling
Editorial guidance, not an eligibility verdict. Confirm requirements with the funder.
What the opportunity provides
- Person-centred service delivery across the life course, including integrated primary health care, TB, malaria and neglected tropical diseases, referral systems, quality improvement and scalable service-delivery models
- Health systems strengthening, innovation and digital transformation, including essential medicines and diagnostics, laboratory systems and supply chains, digital health and health information systems, data use for decision-making, appropriate AI-supported tools, emergency preparedness and community-system strengthening
- Environmental health, climate change, One Health and emerging threats, including climate-sensitive diseases, WASH integration into primary health care, antimicrobial resistance, rational use of medicines, zoonoses, surveillance and preparedness
No-cost extension is not permitted.
Methods Bench application considerations
This is a small grant with a large thematic scope. Competitive proposals need to be sharply focused rather than trying to solve an entire health-system problem with US$15,000.
A descriptive health study is not automatically implementation research. The proposal should clearly identify an intervention or service, an implementation bottleneck and how the research will inform delivery.
- Is the study located in the WHO African Region?
- Is the PI based at an eligible African-region institution?
- Is the question genuinely implementation or operational research?
- Is there an existing programme, service or intervention the question relates to?
- Can the work be completed within 12 months and US$15,000?
- Do you have the required programme acknowledgement and any service-level authorisation?
Eligibility checklist
- Where the research happens: The proposed research must be conducted in the WHO African Region
- Principal Investigator: Based at an institution in the WHO African Region, with most of the team also based in the region
- Eligible institutions: Ministries of health, disease-control programmes, universities, research institutes and NGOs
- Experience: Demonstrated experience in operational and/or implementation research
- Encouraged applicants: Early-career researchers, women and applicants from least-developed countries
What to prepare
Required at this stage
- Completed and signed WHO/TDR research proposal form
- One-page PI CV
- Project budget in US dollars
- Signed acknowledgement letter from the relevant health programme or service
- Health-centre authorisation if implementation will take place in a health centre
- Ethics documentation as required by the call and relevant committees
- One combined PDF prepared according to the funder’s naming instructions
- eTDR account for online submission
How to apply
- 01
Define a focused implementation problem within one of the call priorities
- 02
Engage the relevant health programme or service manager early
- 03
Complete the prescribed WHO/TDR application form
- 04
Prepare the PI CV, budget, acknowledgement letter and relevant approvals
- 05
Combine the required documents into one PDF
- 06
Submit through the eTDR Community Site before the deadline
- 07
Competitive review on scientific quality, public-health impact and implementation planning
Sources and verification
Last checked: 23 August 2026.
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