GiveWell is launching two new requests for information (RFI) to expand GiveWell’s funding for vaccination outreach and anemia control programs. We’re excited to replicate the success of last year’s water chlorination RFI and explore how to reach even more people in low- and middle-income countries with programs to save and improve lives.

The first RFI seeks organizations that would like to implement targeted vaccination outreach or mobile vaccination programs in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, or Somalia. The second seeks programs that reduce iron deficiency anemia through large-scale food fortification, targeted iron supplementation, and iron biofortification in Africa.

These RFIs are just one component of our expanding efforts to find and fund high-impact ways to help people in need. We’re making them public in an effort to reach as many organizations as possible, and we encourage you to share them with your networks. Submissions for both RFIs are due March 27.

Targeted vaccination outreach and mobile vaccination

GiveWell started supporting vaccination programs in 2015 and has made over $200 million in vaccination-related grants to date. Our vaccination team is especially interested in finding ways to make it easier for caregivers to have their children vaccinated, such as by bringing vaccines closer to where parents and infants are. We think that vaccination programs like these are likely to be highly cost-effective because vaccines substantially reduce child mortality and these programs may be able to reach children who have been missed by other approaches. We also believe they have a high potential to scale.

For this RFI, we are only seeking applications for programs that meet the following criteria:

• Routine childhood immunizations: Programs should aim to increase uptake of the bundle of vaccinations that are routinely scheduled for children under two years of age in the program context;¹For example, if a program plans to work in an area in DRC where the malaria vaccine has been introduced, we would expect the program to target uptake of the malaria vaccine and all other vaccines that are part of the routine schedule for children under two. we do not plan to consider proposals for programs that deliver a single vaccine (e.g., outbreak-specific campaigns).
• Locations: Programs should operate in select areas of DRC, Nigeria, or Somalia.
  • Eligible provinces in DRC: Kasaï, Kwilu, Lomami, Sankuru
  • Eligible states in Nigeria: Sokoto and Zamfara
  • Eligible regions in Somalia: All
• Program type: “Targeted outreach” and/or mobile vaccination programs should both (1) identify undervaccinated communities, and (2) facilitate regular provision of vaccination services to those communities.²In Francophone countries, these programs are often referred to as “stratégie avancée/advanced strategy” or “stratégie mobile,” depending on the distance to the nearest health facility. Both of those program types are eligible for this RFI; when we say “outreach” and “mobile vaccination” we don’t have specific requirements in mind on the distance at which these vaccination sessions would take place.
• Scale: Programs should serve areas where at least 40,000 children are born each year. Grants will fund activities for two to three years.

We’ve recently made a few grants that support programs like this. For example, in July 2025, we approved a grant to Malaria Consortium to implement a community-based mobile vaccination program targeting remote areas in South Sudan. In January 2026, we approved a grant to PATH to work with local officials in Kebbi state, Nigeria, to develop microplans identifying hard-to-reach communities, then hire, train, and deploy mobile immunization teams to conduct monthly vaccination outreaches to those communities.

We’re excited about these grants and would like to fund even more programs like them to increase the uptake of routine childhood vaccinations. By funding similar programs across a variety of implementers and geographies, we’re also hoping to learn more about the conditions under which this type of program can be highly cost-effective.

Iron fortification, supplementation, and biofortification

Since 2017, GiveWell has made over $41 million in grants for iron fortification and supplementation programs, mostly in India. We are now exploring whether similar programs could be cost-effective in Africa and are seeking expressions of interest from organizations implementing or positioned to implement these programs, either as pilots or at scale. We’re interested in funding programs in areas where iron deficiency anemia is prevalent and malaria prevalence is low enough that we believe programs can be delivered safely and cost-effectively.³Due to evidence of lower effectiveness and potential harms from iron interventions in high-malaria settings, particularly for young children, we are not considering programs in countries where national malaria prevalence exceeds 20% in children aged two to nine years old. As a result, the following countries are not eligible for this RFI: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda. All other African countries are eligible, though we expect to prioritize larger geographies where programs have greater potential to scale. We are also open to multi-country interventions. Programs should be designed to operate on an ongoing basis; we are not considering one-time distribution campaigns.

For this RFI, the following programs are of particular interest:

• Large-scale food fortification programs: We plan to prioritize large-scale food fortification programs, as we consider these programs, which work with food processors to add iron (and potentially other micronutrients) to staple foods, to be the most promising. Key activities might include providing technical assistance to mills or government programs, supplying premix or equipment, quality assurance and testing, and monitoring consumption of fortified products.
• Iron supplementation programs: We are interested in programs that distribute iron supplements to at-risk populations. Key activities might include procuring and distributing supplements, training for delivery personnel, providing technical assistance, and tracking coverage and adherence. Given evidence of reduced effectiveness and potential harms from supplementation in young children in high-malaria settings, we are particularly interested in:
  • Programs targeting adolescent girls or women of reproductive age, as these populations may benefit from iron supplementation and are at lower risk of malaria-related harm.
  • Programs targeting school-aged children (5-19 years), following WHO guidelines for supplementation in this age group.
• Biofortification programs: We aim to support programs that involve developing or distributing crops bred for higher iron content, such as iron-biofortified beans or maize.