Phoenix Solar

SOLAR LAMP; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps with built-in phone charging capabilities. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Phoenix Solar will distribute affordable solar lamps that provide lighting and mobile phone charging to rural households in five off-grid villages outside of Ibadan South Weest Nigeria. The organization will work closely with women's savings and loans groups and youth corps members who conduct their mandatory national youth service program in remote off-grid communities. 

Youth corps members participating in the National Youth Service Program will be recruited for this last mile distribution strategy to identify women's savings collectives popularly called Esusu. In Nigeria, college graduates are expected to work for one year in various parts of the country to help bridge the skills gap particularly in remote locations that have lost manpower due to rural urban migration. They will be trained on the distribution model, marketing to undeserved communities, and communicating behavioral change to potential customers.

Orders will be communicated via text messages or phone calls to Phoenix Solar's operational center in Ibadan. Orders received will be dispatched via buses that ply the routes leading to the pilot villages bi-weekly. Phoenix Solar will form an arrangement with the local bus union to negotiate standard charges for delivering the solar lamps at different locations. Solar lamps will be sold in bulk to the Esusu groups with an option for a bulk discount. They will also be sold directly to group members with an installment payment option with payments guaranteed by the group. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Sell 500 solar lamps in 6 months
• Distribute lamps in 5 locations in 6 months 
• Reach 1,500 individuals during the pilot phase 

FOUNDING TEAM

Adedotun Eyinade - Director

Sola Fagorusi - Strategy Officer

Bright Renewables

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; ZIMBABWE

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps and solar energy products. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Bright Renewables (BR) will enter the market by distributing high-quality, pico-solar products from a Lighting Africa approved supplier, d.light design to households and small businesses direct sales through a direct sales model. Informed by preliminary market research, the priority of the pilot is to invest in building the brand, trust, and perception of BR's name within communities. 

BR's target customer segment is women. Women make the financial decisions for household needs. 10 sales agents will be trained during the pilot; the sales agent distribution model shortens channel length in a price-sensitive market, educates consumers about the products, and allows consumers an opportunity to interface directly with a person who can answer their questions and note their concerns. BR will recruit youth through church networks which have a strong and respected status in communities and play a key role in organizing community resources to support members' business and opportunities for youth. A two-day training for sales agents will focus on: expectations and core business values, product technical details, responses to customer concerns, sales pitching, sales ethics, leadership, financial literacy, and record-keeping. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Distribute 400 products by the end of the pilot phase
• Reach 10,000 households by the end of year 1 
• reach 30,000 households by the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Allison Lee - Co-Founder

Tinotenda Ganga - Co-Founder

Kouzin Dlo

CUSTOM CHALLENGE; HAITI

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Affordable water purification technology with chlorine. 

Learn more about the Custom Challenge and why we only fund ideas that focus on distributing proven poverty interventions.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Kouzin Dlo is a social enterprise combating the spread of cholera by increasing access to affordable water purification technology in Haiti. The organization is building a network of clean water entrepreneurs across the country to provide clean water for Haitians by Haitians. 

Kouzin Dlo entrepreneurs are trained in household water treatment, clean water and hygiene education, and marketing techniques. First, the entrepreneurs identify households in their communities to recruit as customers. They conduct door-to-door outreach to introduce potential customers to the benefits of chlorination, each them how to treat their own water supply, and sell chlorine. In addition, entrepreneurs will teach families about safe water storage and provide 5-gallon buckets with lids and taps for purchase. Entrepreneurs will return to families every two weeks to provide bottles of chlorine and answer any questions. Kouzin Dlo entrepreneurs can ear additional income by recruiting new entrepreneurs as the program grows and demand increases. The referring individual receives a percentage of the revenue of the chlorine purchased by the new agent from Kouzin Dlo. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Establish two hubs with 15-20 agents each during the pilot phase
• Expand to 6 communities during the pilot phase 
• Reach 500 households within the pilot phase 
• Build a nationwide network of 110 hubs within 3-5 years 

FOUNDING TEAM

Jessica Laporte - Founder and Director

 

Qorax

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; SOMALIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Qorax  (“ko-rah") enters the Somaliland energy sector with a partnership-based model emphasizing education and a local brand as the basis for establishing trust, rapid adoption and long-term stewardship for domestic solar lighting products. Qorax will address both the distribution and capacity building challenges by functioning as a holding company, investing in and providing technical support to locally branded subsidiaries in East Africa, first in Somaliland. 

By distributing solar lanterns direct to consumers using a local sales team that is already familiar with the primary market data, Qorax's local commercial entity called EnerSom will help address the critical energy needs of Somaliland's population. EnerSom will handle inventory control, trasportation, customer service, and order processing through cash and mobile payment services. A university partner has agreed to provide a secure room for initial inventory and an office space for the team. 

EnerSom will build and manage a network of company-owned outlets, with the future potential to establish small, company-owned kiosks in existing retail outlets in urban centers and establish regional small offices to serve additional rural communities. Working from the central store in Hargeisa, the sales team will visit sub-communities locally, including the livestock market, and identify key community influencers - clan leaders, business people, and political leaders - to demonstrate the solar lighting products and communicate the value and benefits. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• The Hargeisa retail outlet will sell 150 GLP Sun King Eco lanterns and 150 GLP Sun King PRo 2 lanterns during the pilot phase
• Sell 2,625 Sun King Eco lanters and 2,625 GLP Sun King Pro 2 lanterns by the end of year 1 
• EnerSom will open additional stores in Burco, Berbera, and Booroma to sell 25,000 lanterns by the end of year 2

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Nigel A. Carr - Co-Chief Executive Officer, Qorax

Christian Nicolas Desrosiers - Co-Chief Executive Officer, Qorax 

Abdishakur Mohamoud - Chief Operations Officer, Qorax and Chief Executive Officer, EnerSom

Eric Verploegen - Chief Technology Officer, Qorax 

1Room

FLIPPED CLASSROOM CHALLENGE; KENYA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

A self-directed, digital learning program. 

Learn more about the Flipped Classroom Challenge and why new education models, like flipping the classroom or deskilling a class curriculum, offer a solution to the vast teacher shortages in the developing world.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

1Room will operate modular learning pods where students pursue individual study plans using tablet PCs and other media, under the guidance of a pod leader. 1Room's pods will be albe to operate in rural and remote environments with limited infrastructur and at half the cost of regular high schools. 

1Room's approach is guided by departures from traditional education: 1. students will study at a content level and pace that is right for them; 2. student activities and responses to questions will be recorded digitally and inform educational decision-making at an individual and institutional level through cutting-edge data analytics; 3. staff decisions on scheduling access to study resources, scheduling one-on-one time, and assigning study content will be supported by data-rich models and optimization methods accessible with a few clicks on a smart phone; 4. staff compensation will be linked to objective measures of effort and effectiveness. 

We will curate our content library and eventually develop original content in close partnership with two research labs in India which are pioneering table and phone-based education for students in developing countries. Pod Leaders will help students set goals, form study plans, offer remedial teaching when students hit difficulties, and deliver certain content not covered sufficiently by othe rresources. Geographically proximate clusters of 8-12 pods or classrooms with students using our tech enabled education at various levels, will be supervised by a cluster manager. 

 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 400 students during pilot phase 
• Scale to more than 450 students after year 1 
• Reach 50,000 students by year 4 

FOUNDING TEAM

Michael Beeler - Founder and Director

Julius Tapper - Strategy and Business Design 

Sadia Rafiquddin - Resource Development 

ALTech

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar lamps and other clean energy solutions. 

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

About 90% of the population of the DRC does not have access to electricity. It is estimated that the country hosts more than 11 million off-grid households and 2 million under-electrified households, encompassing about 70 million people. The less than 15 percent grid-connected population experiences over 17 power blackouts per month. 

ALTech has designed and developed a community-based pay-as-you-go business model for the distribution of modern energy solutions that provide the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) energy poor with clean, safe, affordable energy for lighting, phone charging, and power, leading to steady increases in household incomes and tangible improvements in health, education, and environmental outcomes. 

ALTech will distribute d.light $100, a multi-function solar lamp. The venture will recruit sales agents and area sales managers as well as solar community ambassadors, offer trainings, pay commissions to sales agents, and offer after-sales services. The venture uses an innovative distribution model that consists of on-lending clean energy solutions to primary and secondary school teachers, health workers, health centers, and hospitals. The model also involves reaching out to pregnant women, nursing mothers, and students’ parents.

 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Operate in four provinces of the DRC 

• Distribute more than 50,000 clean energy solutions prior to pilot phase 

• Reach 5 million households within 5 years 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Malango Washikala - Co-Director and Co-Founder, Business Development, Finance, and People

Iongwa Mashango - Co-Director and Co-Founder, Logistics and Operations

 

Novotera

COOK STOVE CHALLENGE; VIETNAM

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Rua clean cook stoves. 

Learn more about the Cook Stove Challenge and how clean cook stoves reduce health and safety risks, lower fuel expenses, and help reduce poverty.  

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The popular Rua Cook Stove will be promoted through the Novotera sales force and distribution network. To maximize distribution and to meet different budgets, customers will have the option of different stove grades (high grade stove, low grade stove, refurbishment of existing stove) and different payment plans at fair market prices. Novotera will utilize the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstove's verified selling startegy: use the stove for a few weeks and then return it or purchase it if satisfied. Customers will also have the option to purchase a stove on credit. 

Distribution will rely on door-to-door sale-by-motorcycle which as previously proven effective as a sales system in Northern Vietnam. Group sales will take place in markets and in stores. Network partners will reach out to informal dealers in villages and stores. The Rua Stove will be promoted through visually rich flyers and stove demonstrations in outdoor markets where salted popcorn (unfamiliar in Vietnam) will be handed out to attract attention. A salesforce will be trained to speak about every aspect of the stove including its ability to produce biochar, to operate on rice husk, and to replace a rice cooker. An emphasis will be put on an after-sale service were customers can call in or have a broken stove repaired. A monitoring system using three key metrics will be put in place to better evaluate progress and projections. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 250 households during the pilot phase 
• Sell 920 stoves per month by the end of year 1 
• Have 25,000 low-income households using the Rua Stove by the end of year 2 
• Employ 15 sales people with their own motorcycles by the end of year 2 

FOUNDING TEAM

Dylan Maxwell - Co-Founder 

Olivier Kolmel - Co-Founder 

vChalk

FLIPPED CLASSROOM; INDIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Remedial education and progress tracking. 

Learn more about the Flipped Classroom Challenge and why new education models, like flipping the classroom or deskilling a class curriculum, offer a solution to the vast teacher shortages in the developing world.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

vChalk offers remedial educaiton and progress tracking services to affordable private schools in semi- and per-urban India. The problem is the inability to support all children in India with diverse learning needs in keeping up with the formal curriculum and in preventing them from falling behind.  This inefficiency translates into poor learning outcomes for millions of young learners in India, many of them first generation, who are enrolled in primary school but have not achieved the minimum benchmarks for learning. 

Remedial programs that help students catch up have been, for years, directed only toward government schools. As affordable private schools spread to meet the growing demand for education in India, vChalk fills an important learning gap by distributing the proven Balsakhi (now called Read India) remedial education model to these schools. We help mitigate their problem by offering a bundle of two services: in-school remedial programs start and support (targeted at children who do not master basic numeracy and literacy skills) and learning progress tracking service (targeted at children who are subscribed to the remedial class). 

The remedial program would look like this: a female Community Instructor who has completed at least 12th grade and who is motivated to work with children (ideally from the parents' community) works with lower perfornace students in 3rd and 4th grade for two hours each day. The instructor goes through a two week training program before teaching and receives further on the job training during the year from vChalk's Monitoring Manager. The intervention runs for two years at the school. vChalk's tracking system of children's learning progress is a focus of the project and makes longitudinal data available for each student. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 30 active schools during the pilot phase
• 360 total students in remedial classes during pilot phase
• 160 active schools at the end of year 1 
• 3,220 students in remedial classes at the end of year 1
• 360 active schools at the end of year 2 
• 7,620 students in remedial classes at the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Daniela Gheorghe - Team Lead

Anil Bishnoi - Chief Technical Officer 

Jody Tian - Management Consultant 

Suma Nagaraj - Product Development Consultant 

Jeunes Braves

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; TOGO

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar daddy awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

A proven solution to the sugar daddy problem was fond in Kenya but a a solution will fail in another location if not adapted to the correct context. Jeunes Braves will remain true to the original classes but design a program well adapted to the Togolese setting to make the program more attractive to the youth in Togo, using videos in French which have already been created. The class discussion will discuss how poverty, cross-generation relationships, and teenage pregnancy are all connected. 

The project will be implemented in two phases: a three month preliminary phase, or pilot phase, and phase two. For both phases, a three-fold strategy will be implemented: top-down, grassroots, and marketing. Jeunes Braves will train facilitators to lead the sugar daddy awareness classes. Participants will include female leaders of youth organizations. The organization will also run 10 conferences during which students will be divided into small groups for classes and workshops. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 10 schools during the pilot phase

• Reach 5,500 students during the pilot phase 

• Reach 100 schools by the end of year 1 

• Reach 200,000 students by the end of year 1 

• Reach 500,000 students by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Komi Begedou - Co-Founder

Som Tang'ma Kpante - Co-Founder 

 

Dazin

COOKSTOVE CHALLENGE; BHUTAN

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Efficient cook stoves and fuel cookies. 

Learn more about the Cook Stove Challenge and how clean cook stoves reduce health and safety risks, lower fuel expenses, and help reduce poverty.  

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Dazin manufactures and distributes Fuel Cookies made from manually collected forestry wood waste such as tree branches, locally known as 'lops and tops'. Abundant available raw material is collected based on the requirements of each household and delivered at our extended network of collection points. Dazin fuel cookies will reduce the forestry wood required for cooking by 84%, reduce time spent collecting fuel by half, cost less than what customers use currently, allow for a healthy gross profit margin from fuel sales to allow the organization to expand. 

The fuel and cook stove combination system is affordable, even for the poorest families, through the cross subsidized revenue model. Dazin provides free fuel cookies and free smokeless gasifying stoves in exchange for the rural households supplying free forestry wood waste. Due to the efficiency of the combined fuel and stove system, an excess of fuel cookies is produced compared to the wood waste provided. The surplus fuel cookies are sold in nearby cities to offset free services in rural areas and expand to new areas. For example, a woman living in a rural area collects 40-50% lesser forestry waste and provides to Dazin at the nearest collection point. She gets in return enough free fuel cookies to meet her cooking requirements. She also gets a smokeless gasifying stove on lease to use the fuel cookies. Remaining fuel cookies made from her wood waste contribution provides enough fuel for three equivalent urban households. These are sold at urban markets as a cost-effective and reliable fuel supply to offset her free services. Stoves are leased with a nominal yearly maintenance fee of $15-30 depending on the stoves. These inventories also supply directly to commercial customers such as restaurants and schools. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Set-up fuel production infrastructure over the pilot phase

• Reach 4,000 households by 2016 

• Reach 28,000 households by 2017 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Deepak Ashwani - Co-Founder

SponsorHer!

SCHOLARSHIP CHALLENGE; ETHIOPIA

PROVEN INTERENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

A scholarship program via a social fundraising platform. 

Learn more about the D-Prize challenges and why we focus on distributing proven poverty interventions that can help millions. 

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

In Ethiopia, 80% of girls are enrolled in primary school but only 30% continue on to secondary school. It costs approximately USD 18 a month to keep a girl in high school, a sum that most families cannot afford. The aim of SponsorHer! is to support poor and bright girls in Ethiopia to go to high school through a scholarship program funded by a network of expatriate (and other) mothers as well as their families and friends at home. Believing that this target group wants to be more than passive donors, SponsorHer! is going to enable them to build a personal relationship with the sponsored girls through a social fundraising network and to easily motivate others to participate. At the same time, SponsorHer! will enable foreign companies operating in Ethiopia to enhance their social responsibility by engaging in corporate sponsorships. Being able to build on the team's experience on the ground, pre-existing networks and social media, SponsorHer! is going to provide a cost-effective scholarship program for girls with extremely low overhead costs to maximize impact. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Fund 100 scholarships during the pilot phase
• Sponsor 680 girls by the end of year 1 
• Gain 10 corporate or institutional partners by the end of year 1 
• Support 5,000 girls through scholarships by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Viola Csordas - Co-Founder

Maria Zandt - Co-Founder

Asepsis

CUSTOM CHALLENGE; INDIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Low cost and durable squat toilets. 

Learn more about the Custom Challenge and why we only fund ideas that focus on distributing proven poverty interventions.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The sanitation crisis in India is one of massive proportions and the situation is particularly pronounced in Dharavi - one of the world's largest slums - right outside of Mumbai. With approximately one toilet for every 1,1440 people, it is not surprising that upwards of 4,000 cases of disease are reported every day. 

The goal is to design a fifteen gallon cylindrical toilet - similar in shape and design to the Well WaterWheel, but with an airtight seal to repel odor and lined with a bio-plastic bag - to be distributed to Dharavi families. The toilet, once filled, will be taken to central collection site to be emptied, cleaned, and returned for continuous use. The waste will them be sold to a local sanitation company that turns it into compost. For every barrel returned, the family will receive 1/3 of the price the waste is sold for, providing an economic incentive for doing so. The other 2/3 of the profit will be used to maintain and expand our operations. 

Community hubs that receive these toilets will be an essential forum for allowing partner NGOs a chance to distribute vaccines and health care to Dharavi residents. To determine the location for these sites, Asepsis will team up with the Development Planning Unit of University College London which has pinpointed certain "catalytic sites" within the slum. Using this as reference will ensure that our system is easily integrated into Dharavi. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Prototyping toilet design and establishing network during the first 6 months

• Create 1 community hub and distribute 100 toilets to pre-approved families during the pilot phase

• Distribute 400 more toilets by the end of year 2

FOUNDING TEAM

Evan Young - Co-Founder

Mas Obuz - Co-Founder

 

SoLight

SOLAR LAMP CHALLENGE; UGANDA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Solar Lamps.

Learn more about the Solar Lamp Challenge and how these lamps create enormous benefits for developing world families.  

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

SoLight partners with rural shopkeepers to drastically increase the use of solar lamps in Uganda through three usage programs: the Daily Rental Program, the Financing Program, and the Direct Sales Program. 

The Daily Rental Program serves as the foundation for all of SoLight's partnerships. Through this program, shopkeepers in a shopkeeper network rent out SunKing Eco Model solar lamps for just seven cents per day. This program is popular as it closely mirrors the current reality of most kerosene and candle usage: small daily purchases. It allows families to test, use, and trust a superior lighting source risk-free with zero financial or lifestyle change requirements. 

Local demand is stimulated by the Daily Rental Program while risk is reduced for SoLight by providing a period to train, test, and build trust with partners before larger transactions and larger systems are implemented through the Financing Program and Direct Sales Program. When a SoLight representative is completing bi-weekly shopkeeper visits, users will have the option of purchasing solar products outright. This reduces the inventory SoLight needs to hold and drastically reduces risk by preventing solar products from going missing. Shopkeepers will receive  a commission for any of their customers who purchase a solar product directly during one of SoLight's "rolling promotions". 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Engage 10 shopkeepers and sell 75 lamps during a three month period of refining the model
• Engage 100 shopkeepers and sell 1,100 lamps during the pilot phase 
• Engage 350 shopkeepers and sell 4,000 lamps by year 1 
• Engage 2,150 shopkeepers and sell 28,000 lamps by year 2 

FOUNDING TEAM

Adam Cameron - Co-Founder, Managing Director

Dorothy Lsoto - Co-Founder, Operations Director 

Steffen Wassler - Co-Founder, Advisor 

Vianney Tumwesige - Co-Founder, Advisor 

 

GiftedMom

MATERNAL HEALTH CHALLENGE; CAMEROON

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

An SMS and voice application which sends free, customized and stage-based education and reminders to pregnant women (antenatal care) and new mothers (baby vaccinations). 

Learn more about the Maternal Health Challenge and how the distribution of Misoprostol, a $3 drug that can prevent maternal deaths from postpartum hemorrhage, could save thousands of lives.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

GiftedMom uses innovative and low-cost technologies to send life-saving and educational reminders to pregnant women and new mothers. They develop channels through which to education pregnant women and new mothers specifically in rural areas to help them know the availability of medical resources. The channels include the automated SMS and voice application which send free, customized, and stage-based education and reminders with messages in English, French, and four widely spoken traditional languages, and the Android application and web platform which contain content for teenage mothers and first-time mothers.

Subscription to GiftedMom takes place at hospitals (data collected from these hospitals is sent to a centralized database), through a short code number (with GiftedMom running as Cameroon's first help line for pregnant women and mothers), or through community health workers (community workers and medical students are engaged and trained by GiftedMom to assist in subscribing women who have never been to a hospital). 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 1,200 users during the pilot phase

• Reach 500,000 users and scale nationwide in Cameroon by the end of year 2

• In the future, scale across Central Africa and reach 5 million users

FOUNDING TEAM

Alain Nteff - Co-founder and Executive Director 

Dr. Conrad Tankou - Co-founder and Medical Director

Serra Lem - Head of Operations

Power2Girls

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; GHANA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes, a proven solution to address high teenage HIV and pregnancy rates. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The proven sugar daddy awareness intervention that empowers girls, the Sara Communication Initiative (SCI) developed by UNICEF, will be the cornerstone of the pilot training program in Ghana. Within the pilot, Power2Girls will distribute the curriculum in Ghana through localizing and centralizing SCI curriculum with a team of change agents who are personally motivated and have a demonstrated commitment to girls' empowerment. Power2Girls will train the change agents to maximize impact. The organization will connect with schools and grassroots organizations to deliver quality curriculum in classrooms, build a network of future change agents within schools and communities, and provide mentorship via phone, website, the network of change agents, and on-site visits. Change agents will share curriculum with local teachers via USB drives and content will be distributed to girls' phones. Paper copies of the Sara comic book will also be distributed. 

Distribution ultimately rests with students themselves who can harness the power of mobile technology and social media to spread ideas and influence cultural norms within their own communities and their country. 

The main goals are to increase awareness of the risks of sugar daddies to 100%, improve girls' confidence to say "no" to cross-generational relationships, and enhance girls' ability to think critically about challenges facing them as well as how current choices can shape the future. Power2Girls will measure and analyze results through pre- and post-assessments and provide reports for schools to show their students' progress to the Ghana Ministry of Education and the public. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• The curriculum will reach 5,000 junior high school girls in Central Ghana during the pilot

• Change agents will visit 100 schools during the pilot

• Reach 50,000 girls across 1,000 schools by the end of year 1

• Build a network of 2,000 public school teachers ready for training by the end of year 1

• Reduce teen pregnancy by 25% during year 1

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Sheena Lahren - Curriculum Development and Human Resources Director

Nick Pernisco - Technology Director 

Sophie Danner - Research and Results Director 

Melissa LaFayette - Partnerships Director 

 

Blueprint International

VACCINE CHALLENGE; SOUTH AFRICA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Advanced, low-cost mobile app technology to track and assist vaccine supply chain drivers. 

Learn more about our six Global Health Challenges that address immunization, patient identification, maternal health, and other issues and why we focus on poverty interventions that are proven to save lives. 

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Blueprint International seeks to improve vaccine distribution within the developing world by implementing VIVE (Vital Improvements in Vaccine Efficiency), a simple and scalable web management platform for a mobile phone. This tool will enable better management, planning, and tracking of vaccine supplies from central stocks of primary-through-tertiary health care facilities. In addition, it will identify vaccine supply chain failures and highlight needed improvements. 

Almost 50% of vaccines are lost in the transition between manufacturer and the desired delivery point. Vaccine supply chains and logistics management capabilities of many countries have been shown to be ill equipped to manage not only the current vaccine supply, but also the increased vaccine volume in the future. Tracking individual vaccine vials is extremely costly and complicated. As a proxy, tracking drivers and collecting data on the vaccine journey will allow for the creation of a customize-able, holistic, and cost-effective approach to fixing supply chains. The technology has already been developed and proven successful within the private sector. The pilot will be rolled out in partnership with Biovac, a vaccine distributor in the Western Cape, South Africa. The model will utilize a three-pronged revenue approach including a monthly rental of the mobile device, advertising, and fees to other suppliers for integration within the system. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• During the pilot, gain proof of concept with five devices and extend the pilot site to all chains in the target area 
• Track and monitor 50 devices across two sites in South Africa by the end of year 1 
• Identify and target new countries and sites by end of year 1 
• Have 300 devices in the field in at least two countries by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

• David Clark - Technology Director 

• Catharine Young - Operations Director

• Colin Young - Director of Business Development

Breakfast Revolution

CUSTOM CHALLENGE; INDIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Nutritious foods and other essential nutrition interventions for those facing malnutrition. 

Learn more about the Custom Challenge and why we only fund ideas that focus on distributing proven poverty interventions.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The problem of malnutrition is more common in India (~43%) than in Sub Saharan Africa (~26%).  Anemia (low levels of hemoglobin) affects 74% children in India under 3 years, more than 90% of adolescent girls and 50% of women. More than 50% of all childhood deaths in India are attributed to malnutrition. The Breakfast Revolution tackles micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) and protein deficiency in children, adolescents and women from the poorest communities by leveraging proven interventions of food fortification, deworming, and vitamin A prophylaxis. To successfully distribute their fortified products, The Breakfast Revolution ensures they are low-cost, tasty, easily accessible, and evidence based. Their products are: 

• Supercookie: Cookies made of whole wheat and oats, fortified with 70 -100% RDA of vitamins A, D, Calcium, Iron, Folic Acid, naturally rich in protein and fiber.

• Supermilk: Vitamin A and D fortified, organically produced soy milk

• Suberbeans: Air-roasted and flavored soybeans, intrinsically rich in protein

• Superdrink: Similar to tang, fortified with vitamins C and B complex and electrolytes

The manufacturing is outsourced to Indian FDA-approved manufacturers and The Breakfast Revolution focuses on behavior change communication, distribution, and monitoring and evaluation. Consumers / beneficiaries are put on a program that begins with a baseline health evaluation, deworming and vitamin A prophylaxis, and 3-6 months of our food products 3-5 times a week. Health evaluations are repeated 3-6 times monthly. The Breakfast Revolution will utilize several distribution channels including selling directly to consumers through female entrepreneurs based in slums, selling products to NGOs offering meal programs, and through public-private partnerships with government nutrition programs to get their fortified products to the people who need them on a mass scale.  

 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Serve 1,400,000 meals in the first year

• Reach 60,000 beneficiaries in 2 years

FOUNDING TEAM

Neelam Jethwani - Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer 

Dr. Pankaj Jethwani - Co-founder 

Manasvini Mehta - Director, Business and Micro-Franchise Development