Women Saving for Resilience (WS4R) is a two-year program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by the SEEP Network in partnership with MarketShare Associates. The program aims to improve the technical, adaptive, and collaborative capacity of Savings Groups, and organizations that work with them, to respond to and recover from the gendered effects of COVID-19.

Within the WS4R program, SEEP is excited to announce a challenge fund to support innovations in gender intentional COVID response and recovery efforts related to Savings Groups. SEEP will award four to six, 18-month grants, worth a total of US$600,000.

Applications are due on January 22, 2021.

ABOUT THE FUND

Women are disproportionately affected by disease outbreaks. COVID will be no different, with gendered primary and secondary effects across multiple dimensions. Savings Groups are the primary safety net for millions of women in Africa, especially in rural areas. As such, they have a critical role to play in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts implemented by governments, funders, civil society organizations and the private sector.

The fund will be responsive to promising innovations of diverse types and scope. Activities and interventions the fund might support include:

• Technologies or adaptations in Savings Group methodologies that better meet the needs of women to mitigate the effects of health, economic, and social shocks;
• Technologies or approaches that enable Savings Groups to effectively adapt to physical distancing requirements;
• Partnerships and disruptive collaboration between Savings Groups and market actors (government, civil society and private sector) as part of gender intentional COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.

Successful projects will increase the resilience of Savings Groups and their members in times of crisis by reducing gender gaps and barriers in access to resources and improve the capacity of sector stakeholders to engage them in emergency response efforts.

HOW TO APPLY

Click here for more information about the fund and how to apply for a grant.

Questions? Explore Frequently Asked Questions or contact the team at SavingsGroups@seepnetwork.org.