CommunityFirst Perpetual Fund: Designing Alternative Funding and Aid Distribution Model for Effective Humanitarian Health Crisis Response

Communities and local non-governmental organizations experiencing health crisis have had multiple barriers between their response strategies such as community workshops on how to treat an illness, and funds. Long, bureaucratic, and competitive processes to apply for funding from governments and international NGOs immobilize community action and leave them vulnerable when stricken by health emergencies. Funding barriers arise from many inefficiencies in the humanitarian aid system such as the existence of many intermediaries between investors and donors, and communities needing aid. We will thus research what exactly causes inefficiencies in the humanitarian aid sector, and what financial models have worked in the past for community health response in times of emergency. With this research, we will develop a CommunityFirst Perpetual Fund, so that communities can respond to crises their way with easily and quickly accessible funds. Through social impact finance we aim to financially include vulnerabilised communities in crisis.

Faculty Supervisor:

Sanjith Gopalakrishnan

Student:

Partner:

SeeChange Initiative

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Other services (except public administration)

University:

McGill University

Program: