Spark Grant Lights the Way

Every parent knows that caring for young children doesn’t leave you with time that is truly your own. In the case of mothers who are pursuing entrepreneurship, time can be the difference between just getting by and creating a better future.

In 2021, a Paul Polak Innovation Fund Spark Grant was awarded for the development of a community- led child care centre in Nepal to support mothers tending to their businesses, providing them with the reassurance that their children are being cared for in

a safe and nurturing environment.

One of the roles you help iDE play is carrying the success of initiatives from one part of the globe to another. When Innovation Accelerator meetings were taking place in Zambia, the success of the Nepal child care centre was brought forward as an idea that could potentially benefit women in the Her Time to Grow project, as women across Ethiopia, Ghana, and Zambia noted a lack of safe and affordable child care as a barrier.

Bringing an idea from one place to another doesn’t mean creating a carbon copy of it. Adjustments allow for ideas to adapt to the unique needs of each country and community, aligned with iDE’s Human-Centred Design approach.

Bringing child care to help the women of Her Time to Grow also means looking for generous donors to help make it happen. The Nepal project was made possible by the Paul Polak Innovation Fund. Small increments add up – whether it is time in a mother’s day, or a donation of only $67 to the fund. 

If everyone on our mailing list contributed $67, it would equal the amount of a Fail Fast grant. You can help power another great idea like a community-led childcare centre, an idea that can have a positive ripple effect around the world.

Head to idecanada.org/polakfund for a simple and easy way to make a donation.