Scaling Care Innovations: Strategic scaling synergy grants

This project deepens scaling efforts of care solutions supported under the Scaling Care Innovations in Africa (SCIA) initiative. In particular, it will enable two existing Scaling Care projects to respond to emerging opportunities that strengthen the impact of their work by engaging new strategic partners. Through these partnerships, the project will further and sustainably scale their policies, programs, models or approaches beyond the ambitions outlined in their original project plans.

This builds upon existing work to expand access to childcare services in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Through this strategic scaling phase, researchers will partner with local stakeholders to institutionalize a financially sustainable, quality-assured nation-wide childcare system in Ethiopia through the generation of fiscal evidence, development of a national regulatory framework and strengthened inter-ministerial governance.

The project also focuses on expanding the network of unpaid family caregivers across Africa and undertaking research to support care advocacy at national, regional and continental levels. The research team will analyze existing care policies and identify policy and implementation gaps across multiple country contexts. It will co-create a strategy with key care stakeholders across the continent to advance the formal recognition of unpaid care work by African Union institutions and establish a care working group for sustained engagement.

This project is supported under the SCIA partnership co-funded by Global Affairs Canada and IDRC. SCIA is a five-year initiative aimed at scaling tested and locally grounded policy and program innovations to redress gender inequalities in unpaid care work in sub-Saharan Africa.