SPARC Grants: Call for Proposals for Metastatic Breast Cancer Projects Now Open

In 2019, 10 SPARC grants will be attributed to cancer organisations around the world bringing the SPARC network to a total of 50 organisations. SPARC stands for Seeding Progress and Resources for the Cancer Community: Metastatic Breast Cancer Challenge (SPARC MBC Challenge), an initiative launched in 2015 by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and Pfizer to support the needs of MBC patients.

The SPARC grant includes:

• Seed-funding: A maximum of USD 25,000 provided to an organisation to launch of a new project in one of the SPARC focus areas
• Peer-to-peer learning: The grantee organisation will be included in the SPARC network, a group of 50 organisations tackling MBC across the world and will exchange best-practices with them
• Conferences: The grantee will be given the opportunity to attend relevant international conferences related to MBC
• Mentorship: Renowned experts in breast cancer will mentor each SPARC project individually
• Training: Grantee organisations will access the SPARC Master Course, including online and in person learning around MBC and insights on project management skills

Through the previous SPARC projects 8,000 patients from 30 countries have already been reached directly and more than 125,000 people were reached by awareness campaigns. Individual projects funded include the creation of the first patient navigation programmes in Nigeria and in Trinidad & Tobago; online apps for MBC patients in India, Greece and Canada; a sustainable education programme for nurses in Australia; and advocacy efforts to influence national policies in Brazil and Kyrgyzstan. 

“Very simply, without the SPARC grant, the training and navigational programme we launched in 2018 would not have been possible. The credibility of UICC, the networks we gained across the world, the mentorship through conferences and webinars and of course the financial support enabled us to open many doors”.
– Kimberly Badal, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Caribbean Cancer Research Initiative.

SPARC applications will be selected through a Selection Advisory Group chaired by Dr Fatima Cardoso. The criteria to assess the application include the organisational capacity to deliver against the project objectives, the project relevance in its local context, the potential for impact, the feasibility of the proposal and its sustainability.

Read the SPARC Application Guidelines and apply for a SPARC grant until 15 April 2019.