Who can apply
- Researchers based at institutions in countries or territories of the WHO African Region
- National tropical and communicable disease control programmes
- Ministries of Health and public-health programmes
- Universities and academic institutions
- Research institutes
- Non-governmental organisations
- Principal Investigators based in an eligible African institution
- Research teams where most members are based in the WHO African Region
- Early-career researchers are particularly encouraged
- Women researchers are particularly encouraged
- Applicants from least-developed countries are particularly encouraged
Focus areas
- Primary health care and person-centred service delivery
- Tuberculosis
- Malaria
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Referral systems and continuity of care
- Quality improvement in integrated health services
- Access to essential medicines and diagnostics
- Laboratory strengthening
- Health supply chains
- Digital health
- Health information systems
- Data use for decision-making
- Appropriate AI-supported health tools
- Community health systems strengthening
- Emergency preparedness
- Climate-sensitive diseases
- Community-based climate adaptation
- WASH integration into primary health care
- Antimicrobial resistance
- One Health approaches
- Zoonotic and emerging diseases
- Surveillance and outbreak preparedness
- Health-system resilience
Requirements
- Research must be conducted in the WHO African Region
- Principal Investigator and most of the research team must be based at an eligible institution in the African Region
- Proposal must address the scope and priorities of the current call
- Applicant must demonstrate experience in operational research or implementation research
- Proposal must be submitted in English, French or Portuguese
- Application must use the official prescribed research proposal form
- Principal Investigator CV must not exceed one page
- Project budget must be presented in US dollars
- Proposal must include an acknowledgement letter signed by the relevant health-programme manager or responsible public-health authority
- Projects implemented in a health facility require authorisation from the relevant health manager or director
- Funding is conditional on obtaining relevant ethical approval
- All required documents must be combined into one PDF file
- Project duration may not exceed 12 months
- Research must be completed by the end of 2027
- No-cost extensions are not permitted
Application steps
- Review the official WHO AFRO/TDR call and confirm that the proposed research fits one of the implementation-research priorities
- Develop a practical implementation-research question linked to a real health-system or programme bottleneck
- Secure the required acknowledgement letter from the relevant health-programme manager and any necessary facility authorisation
- Complete and sign the official research proposal form, prepare the one-page PI CV, budget and required supporting documents
- Obtain or prepare for the relevant national and institutional ethical approvals required before funding
- Combine all required documents into one PDF and submit through the official eTDR Community Site before 15 September 2026 at 17:00 CEST
This is a specialised implementation-research grant, not a general NGO project grant. Applicants need a clearly defined research question linked to a real health-system implementation problem and should be able to demonstrate previous operational or implementation-research experience. Ordinary service-delivery proposals without a research design are unlikely to be competitive. The programme is particularly suitable for NGOs and health institutions that already work closely with public-health authorities and can obtain an acknowledgement letter from the relevant programme manager. Collaboration with a university, research institute, District Health Office or Ministry of Health programme can significantly strengthen research design, ethics readiness and uptake of findings. Applicants should keep the scope realistic for the US$15,000 ceiling and 12-month maximum duration. Strong proposals will generate actionable evidence that can improve implementation, service delivery or health policy rather than attempting large-scale clinical research or broad programme expansion.