Illustration by Afroditi’s Art

Share-Net International (SNI) is delighted to announce the grantees of the 2023 Knowledge Activation Grants! More than 150 proposals were submitted, with 13 proposals selected through the participatory-selection procedure, handing the selection process to the applicants and Share-Net Community.  

Dorine Thomissen, Coordinator of SNI shared ‘We are very proud to announce the 2023 batch of activation grantees. The diversity of SRHR topics which will be addressed is exciting and aligns perfectly with our renewed strategy in which we emphasize our ambition to put rights first. We wish all grantees success starting their projects and are there for accompaniment where needed.”  

Amie Ndong, Grant lead at SNI continues – ‘the 2023 Activation Grants were again an opportunity to dive more into the participatory grand-making process we initiated two years ago. We are delighted to see how the applicants and the SNI staff dedicated their time and energy to support the process. As aimed, the decision-making is in the hands of the community that our grants want to fund and empower without leaving anyone behind.”  

This year’s grantees will conduct a variety of groundbreaking[exciting/interesting?] projects covering  topics including transmen’s and non-binary peoples access to abortion services, facts about condoms and sex between women beyond penetration, a mobile app offering women and girls facing gender-based violence (GBV) and gender inequality access to support and services, breaking taboos on sexual assault in universities, research around effective treatment responses for problematic chemsex in the LGBTQIA+ community, reforming colonial-era abortion law in Sierra Leon, and disseminating sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information via digital art.  

2023 Grant Projects 

The full list of the 2023 grantee projects can be found below, as well as links to the grantees websites for further information.  

Share-Net Bangladesh 

Grantee: The Center for Men and Masculinities Studies and Men Engage

Project: Breaking the Frame: Questing Marital Rape involving Men in Bangladesh 

A knowledge collaboration project addressing the question of marital rape and how to engage men in advocacy dialogues in the communities.  

Share-Net Burkina Faso 

Grantee: Association Colibri Sud 

Project: Community response for removing human rights and gender barriers that hinder access to SRHR services for LGBTQI+ communities, sex work, and drug users. 

This knowledge collaboration project aims to facilitate the adoption of knowledge and practices to build the capacity of providers, decision-makers, customary and religious leaders on the needs of LGBTQI + communities, sex workers, and drug users, and development and implementation of SRHR policies and programs. 

Share-Net Burundi 

Grantee: Action pour la Promotion de la Santé Publique au Burundi  

Project: E-Baza Mobile Application: Digitizing community data on the sexual and reproductive health of young people and adolescents. 

This collaborative project will address the lack of data reporting the sexual and reproductive health of young people and adolescents at a community level. The project builds awareness that digital technologies can provide accurate information to people when needed, the consortium will create the E-Baza mobile application for triangulating and storing data on SRHR Youth and adolescents in the Kayanza province, Burundi. 

Share-Net Colombia 

Grantee: Comunican SA – El Espectador

Project:  Primiparous 

This knowledge translation project documents doubts about sexuality among young people and youth early on by making video podcasts: the chapters will address the chemistry of sexual desire and pleasure, what you should know about the first time you are going to have sex, sex between women beyond penetration, and facts about condoms. 

Grantee: Manodiversa 

Project: Legal Barriers fully exercising Sexual and Reproductive Rights, including the right to abortion in trans and non-binary men in Bolivia 

This project will demand urgent changes and eliminate barriers to access to abortion, sexual and reproductive rights in the various maternity and paternity or (mapaternidades), and talk about abortion needs of transgender-men to eliminate gender roles, combatting the idea that men do not get pregnant.  

Grantee: Liga de Salud Trans de la Fundación Sextante and Red Comunitaria Trans

Project: Metamorphosis: Tales of Exploration, Transitions, and Sexual and Reproductive Health

Focusing on the promotion and inclusion of SRHR for Trans* people in Colombia through disseminating scientif evidence, international standards, and good practices for care and attention of Trans* people, the project aims to increase available information, through knowledge products assisting with self-care management, addressing common myths and misconceptions, translation of scientific information into accessible and appropriate language, include Trans* peoples testimonies and lived experience, and share information via outreach strategies designed to reach Trans* and non-binary people, sex workers, youth and adolescents, health professionals, and family and support networks of Trans* people.

Share-Net Ethiopia 

Grantee: Eshet Children and Youth Development Organization (ECYDO) 

Project: ASSIST- Access to Support and Service Information via Smart Technology 

This Knowledge Translation grant will aim to create a mobile app for safety, and SRHR promotion; ASSIST- Access to Support and Service Information via Smart Technology. ASSIST will create a user-friendly tool to help women and girls facing gender-based violence, lack of sexual health knowledge and resources, and gender inequality access to information on these topics, which are principal factors blocking their development and empowerment in Ethiopia. 

Grantee: Women Can Do It (WCDI) 

Project: Prevention and response to GBV in Lideta sub-city of Addis Ababa  

The project aims to contribute to effective prevention and response to GBV in Lideta, a sub-city of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, by influencing social norms and formal structure for the enhancement of Sexual and Reproductive Health and rights. 

Share-Net Jordan 

Grantee: Anonymous

Project: Breaking the Silence: Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Jordanian Universities   

This collaborative project will lift the taboo on sexual harassment in Jordanian universities, and encourage students to talk about it. 

Share-Net Netherlands 

Grantee: Stichting AFEW International  

Project: Bridging the gaps – effective sex treatment response for LGBTIA+ communities affected by problematic chemsex (use of drugs before/during sexual activity) as a way towards good sexual health 

This collaboratiopn grant will perform desk research, gather information about the needs and current experiences of existing services through Community Based Participatory Research, interview the individuals providing sexual health services for chemsex users, and collect good practices in the field. 

Share-Net International 

Grantee: Community Forum (COFO), Malawi 

Project: The In Real Life (IRL) project – 

The main goal of the IRL project is to improve and disseminate SRHR policy and practice among young people in the Chikwawa district in Southern Malawi through digital art, and seeks to address the significant challenges that young people face in the field of SRHR. IRL focuses on providing accurate and up-to-date reproductive health information as well as access to SRH services. 

Grantee: Unplugged – Safe Spaces, Kenya 

Project: Breaking Barriers: Accessing SRHR Services Among the LGBTQIA+ Community in Kenya 

This collaborative project will elicit public dialogue on LGBTQIA+ issues and lead to an investigation, discussion, and provision of further recommendations on appropriate remedial measures and substantive human rights investigation reports and solutions. 

Grantee: Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights Organization (WHRRO) 

Project: Shifting Power from the Health System to Women; Prevention of Morbidity and Mortality From Induced and Unsafe Abortion  

This project aims to reform the colonial-era abortion law present in Sierra Leone, where women face profound challenges in accessing maternal, abortion, and contraceptive services, by increasing Women and Girls’ access to Self-Manage Medication Abortion (SMA) in rural communities through awareness raising and Behavioral change. 

About the SNI Activation Grants 

SNI’s Activation Grants aim to support SNI in strengthening linkages between research, policy, and practice through knowledge sharing, generation, and translation, and promoting the use of knowledge to develop better policies and practices in SRHR. Originally, SNI’s grants program aimed to fund applied research, the documentation of practices, and the creation of knowledge products to improve policy and practice in SRHR. Even though there are still knowledge gaps in SRHR, our Activation Grants are shifting toward translating knowledge. Furthermore, SNI values like a rights-based approach, transparency, diversity, collaboration, integrity, safety, and courage, are reflected in the Activation Grants focus.  All SNI members can address diverse topics of the SRHR agenda and have the opportunity to participate in the decision-making of the Activation grants through the participatory approach used in the grant-making process.  

To find out more about the Knowledge Activation Grants, please visit our Grant Information page. All members of Share-Net International, including members of the seven Share-Net hubs in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, Jordan, and the Netherlands have access to applying for grants. Please see our membership information page for further information about joining Share-Net International, or find our membership registration form here.