About The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people - especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.
Water, sanitation & hygiene program goal
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Water, Sanitation & Hygiene team is working with partners to develop sustainable sanitation services that work for everyone. Our approach aims to expand the use of sanitation that does not connect to a sewer, as this is by far the most common type used by the poor. We invest in effective approaches that help end open defecation and unsafe sanitation and we help develop the tools and technologies that will increase access to sustainable non-piped sanitation for the urban poor.
What is the 'Reinvent the Toilet Challenge'?
The 'Reinvent the Toilet Challenge' is designed to prototype a means of dealing effectively and cost-efficiently with human waste for the 2.5 billion people on earth who currently lack access to safe and affordable sanitation.
Goal of this LOI
The Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Program will be disbursing a set of new grants to support its Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. These grants are intended for exceptionally high-qualified research groups interested in contributing to major advances in sanitation and hygiene in the developing world.
Within the scope of this solicitation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s interest is primarily in chemical and mechanical engineering approaches.
At present, the Foundation is soliciting letters of inquiry from groups who are well qualified to undertake research and development and execute pertinent program plans. This may include organizations in the academic sector, science and engineering non-profit organizations, and for-profit organizations. Submissions from multi-disciplinary teams representing science and engineering centers of excellence are highly encouraged.
- Successful applicants will participate in the next phase of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge by designing, prototyping and testing entirely stand-alone, self-contained, practical sanitation modules which intake bodily wastes or fecal sludge collected from pit latrines and septic tanks and swiftly dispose of them without any incoming water piping, outgoing sewer piping or electric or gas utility services.
- These modules must intake all outputs of the serviced population – ultimately at single-residence scales (smaller-scale individual family toilet solutions) or group of households (larger-scale neighborhood fecal sludge processor solutions)– with minimal module footprints and assured biosafety.
- The anticipated capital and operational cost for the final products (commercial units) is expected to be less than $0.05/user/day, both for the family and neighborhood solutions.
- The design should anticipate the effects and fate of complementary sanitary products entering the system such as paper, cloth, sand, and other personal hygiene products and chemicals.
How to apply
Please use this template to submit your Letter of Inquiry of up to five-pages. The review tool will only import up to 5 pages. If you submit more than 5 pages, the additional pages will be deleted and will not be reviewed.
- Please use 10-point font and 1-inch margins. Page size should be set to U.S. letter standard 8.5 x 11.0 inches.
- Applications are due by November 8, 11:00 PM PST, 2012. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
- By November 16, 2012 selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, which will be due to the foundation by December 20, 2012.
This should concisely declare:
- The project approach, key activities, and anticipated final outcome,
- Citations of any pertinent references,
- Organizational experience, collaborative partnerships, and relevant backgrounds of key personnel.
Contact details
Email: GDWSHInbox@gatesfoundation.org
Website: www.gatesfoundation.org
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