Advocacy Award - Now closed for applications

The ICHG advocacy award is a great opportunity for funding people & projects advocating for specific child health matters anywhere in the world. It is released yearly. 

Applicants are invited to apply for a award to support the development or implementation of a child health advocacy project that aligns with the ICHG advocacy values:

The project can be on any subject related to child health but must demonstrate a clear, feasible and well-described advocacy approach in order to bring about a defined change/objective.

Imaginative and original advocacy strategies are very welcome, and although the issue must be of importance to child health, the advocacy route can be non-health sector focused. 

Total funding available for this year’s award(s) is £1500. Depending on the nature of the applications this may be given to one applicant or split between 2 or more applications.

You may apply for any amount of funding ‘up to’ £1500, but applications requiring smaller amounts of funding are also welcome. Those with clearly explained budgets will be prioritised.

Application Criteria:

  • Evidence and process of problem identification for advocacy

  • Clearly defined objectives

  • Clearly described strategy pathway to achieve objectives

  • Viability 

  • Sustainability

  • Value for money

Award Timeline:

Applications are now open.

Application deadline: 28th September 2024

Winner announced: 18th October 2024

To apply for this award you must be a member of the ICHG. Not a Member? Join now. Please contact us if you would like to discuss discounted membership.

Please fill out this form below to submit your application. Please note you are only able to submit one form per project. The form cannot be changed once submitted.

For any questions please contact intchildhealth@gmail.com or ichgawards@gmail.com 

Previous Award Recipients:

2023: Susilo Wulan - 'Protection of Children’s Rights to a Healthy Life through the Smoke Free Area Policy in Central Bengkulu Regency, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia'

  • The mandate of the health law in Indonesia is that local goverments are required to establish smoke free areas through local regulations. Of the 10 regencies/city in Bengkulu Province, Central Bengkulu is the only one of the regions that does not yet have a smoke free regional regulation.

    This project will advocate for the local goverment (regent) as well as legislation council to initiate the establishment of a smoke free area policy. It is hoped that the passing of a smoke free area will take better changes in tobacco control in Central Bengkulu Regency. Through the formation of a tobacco control task force team, increasing the announcement of smoking free area signs, smoking ban warnings as well as reducing the number of smokers.

2021 (joint winner): Erva Nur Cinar - 'Improvement of Vaccination Coverage for the Children Under Protection in Turkey'

  • The National Immunisation Programme in Turkey has been successful in vaccinating over 95% of children between the ages of 0-12 in the past decade. However, this success has not been replicated in the population of looked after children. While accurate data is lacking, reports from social workers and health care professionals indicate that vaccination coverage among this group is decreasing, with an estimated trend of approximately 65%.

    This project, aims to address the issue of lower vaccination coverage among looked after children compared to the overall population in Turkey, has two main phases. The first phase will focus on gathering reliable data on the vaccination access of looked after children, while the second phase will involve advocating for change and providing capacity building support to relevant parties involved in the vaccination services, such as social workers, health care professionals, and as well as consultation process with relevant institutions in order to improve vaccination coverage among this group.

2021 (joint winner): Helen Brotherton & Lamin Makalo - 'Kangaroo Mother Care in The Gambia: Accelerating Progress Towards Improved National Coverage’

  • Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is an evidence based package of care recommended for all small vulnerable newborns and is an entry point for improved hospital small and sick newborn care. Despite strong evidence of benefit, global and national KMC roll-out is slow and improving KMC coverage is a key priority as stated in the Every Newborn Action Plan. The aim of this project was to promote accelerated progress in KMC coverage at local, regional and national level in The Gambia via an intersectoral conference addressing 3-themes: 1) Global evidence update to outline global priorities and KMC coverage targets; 2) National action for policy makers to outline progress and priorities; and 3) Local progress at Gambian health facilities with inter-facility sharing of challenges and solutions for KMC implementation. This advocacy project built on an existing collaboration between Paediatric Association The Gambia, LSHTM, Gambian Government Ministry of Health and UNICEF The Gambia.

2020: Priscila Sato - ‘Children’s Right to Adequate Food: Promoting Health Complementary Feeding Practices through Primary Healthcare Services in Western Brazilian Amazon’

  • Eating habits are crucial during childhood, especially up to 2 years of age. Although reductions in child undernutrition have been observed in recent decades, chronic malnutrition is still highly prevalent in vulnerable groups, such as children living in the Northern regions of Brazil. The goal of the project was to strengthen the promotion of healthy complementary feeding practices in the context of the primary health care (PHC) in the Western Brazilian Amazon through: 1) workshops with PHC professionals and 2) creation of an inter-sectoral network among municipal institutions to ensure food security during the complementary feeding process. All steps of the project were monitored for strategic learning. Evaluation took place at several moments: during the interventions 1) formative evaluation, which measures a strategy’s quality and efficiency, examining what was done and how well it was done - and after it is over - 2) impact evaluation, which measures a strategy’s results for people and communities.

2019: Vicky Thomas + Ilana Levene - ‘Creating the Hospital Infant Feeding Network (HIFN) as part of a UK Breastfeeding Alliance’

2018: Cally Tann - ‘Let Hope Grow: Communicating Family Experiences of Caring for Young Children with Disability Through Imagery’

  • Over the last decade improving neonatal survival has been increasingly recognised as a public health priority, but less focus has been placed on the longer-term outcomes after neonatal conditions i.e. supporting children to thrive. Since 2010, the ABAaNA studies have been investigating risk factors for, and outcomes from, newborn brain injury in Uganda. Formative work developing a community-based, participatory, group early intervention programme for affected children and their caregivers (the Baby Ubuntu Early Intervention Programme) has shown improvement in quality of life for families receiving the programme. The aim of this project is to raise public awareness around caregivers' experiences of child disability in Uganda using artistic imagery to promote inclusion and support early intervention. More information about this project including the artwork involved can be found here