GiveWell is launching a new request for information (RFI) to expand and strengthen our malaria grantmaking in Africa and help our donors make a greater impact. Expressions of interest can be submitted through one of two tracks, the first for malaria chemoprevention and vector control pilot programs and the second for research and evaluation. Submissions are due June 24.

Malaria kills around 600,000 people annually, mostly children under five in Africa.¹Source: Our World in Data To date, GiveWell has directed more than $1 billion in donations to malaria prevention programs. As our research capacity grows, this RFI aims to pilot promising malaria prevention strategies and generate evidence to address a range of questions in malaria prevention and epidemiology.

We’d like to reach as many organizations as possible—please share with your network and consider applying!

What We’re Looking to Fund

The first track seeks proposals for pilot programs related to malaria chemoprevention and vector control. We are interested in funding programs that test promising interventions and include a strong research or evaluation component, with the goal of generating evidence to inform our future grantmaking.

Funding decisions will be primarily based on:

1. The likelihood of the program to meet our high cost-effectiveness threshold for funding.
2. The potential to learn from the pilot or program through accompanying monitoring, evaluation, and research.
3. The feasibility of pilot programs to be scaled or replicated in other settings.

The second track seeks standalone research and evaluation proposals with potential to improve GiveWell’s future malaria-focused grantmaking. We call these “value of information” grants—opportunities we fund to try to reduce a key uncertainty and improve our impact estimates, which in turn can inform how we direct funding and help people in need.

Through this track, we are interested in funding research and evaluation on a variety of topics that could help us improve our cost-effectiveness estimates, generate evidence on promising new interventions, or better understand effective strategies for implementing seasonal malaria chemoprevention and insecticide-treated net campaigns.

Funding decisions will be primarily based on:

1. The likelihood of the research findings to impact future funding decisions.
2. The strength and feasibility of the research or evaluation design.
3. The degree to which the proposal aims to maximize impact per dollar spent.

Both tracks focus exclusively on Plasmodium falciparum malaria in African countries with a high burden of malaria. We will not consider proposals focused on low-burden settings, settings outside Africa, or other Plasmodium species. Other decision factors, such as the team’s qualifications, experience, and partnership compatibility with GiveWell, will also be considered in funding decisions.

How to Learn More

We are hosting webinars to answer applicant questions for both RFI tracks:

• Pilot program track: Friday, May 15 at 9:00am ET.
• Research and evaluation track: Monday, May 18 at 9:00am ET.

We hope you will register and join us then! Questions can be submitted via this form or emailed to us at malariarfp@givewell.org.