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Communities

Social and Behavioral Research Grants

Our Social and Behavioral Research Grants Program funds locally led research to explore the social and behavioral drivers of vaccine acceptance and demand in low- and middle-income countries.

Multidisciplinary teams design, pilot, and evaluate community-based and social media interventions and deliver contextualized evidence and approaches to improve vaccination uptake.

  • $1.2M+
    Our grants program awarded over US$1.2 million to grant partners to support community-based research.
  • 25
    Since 2019, we have awarded grants to 25 research projects.
  • 15
    Our grant partners consist of a diverse multi-disciplinary group of researchers from 15 countries.

Our program encourages collaborative partnerships between academic researchers, health officials, and communities. Submitted proposals go through a rigorous selection process that includes assessment through an external, multidisciplinary peer review committee and a two-part internal review.

As part of the program, grant partners:

  • Use quantitative and/or qualitative methods to illuminate the social and behavioral dimensions of vaccination at multiple levels
  • Pilot and evaluate community-informed public health interventions to increase vaccine acceptance and demand, optimize vaccine delivery, and boost vaccine uptake
  • Share evidence-based recommendations for immunization policy, programs, and practice
  • Collaborate with other grant partners through the Grant Partner Coalition and share work through the Vaccination Acceptance Research Network (VARN)
Initial Case Study Report

Community-led Strategies to Aid Vaccine Acceptance

2021-2022 Social and Behavioral Grant Partners produced nine case studies to inform action and investment in three thematic areas: Structural Inequities in Vaccine Acceptance, Demand, Delivery, and Decision-Making; Perceptions Around Vaccines & Demand Generation; and Health Systems and Vaccination: Trust, Healthcare Workers, and Lived Experiences.

Grant Partner Coalition

More than 40 public health researchers and practitioners who are members of the current and former cohorts of the Social and Behavioral Research Grant (SBRG) Partners Program met in Bangkok in June 2023 to share experiences and knowledge toward finding solutions to address the gaps and obstacles for immunization in their communities and beyond.

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Video Narrative Project

See the grants in action

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In part one of our four-part series, we introduce the eight research teams funded by the Sabin Vaccine Institute that have been working over the past year to understand and address the social and behavioral drivers of vaccination acceptance, demand, delivery, and decision-making in their communities.
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In part two, we learn about the methodology – how they designed their studies and interventions to uncover the rich and nuanced findings we can achieve with social science and respect for community knowledge
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In part 3, our partners detail the emerging findings from their projects.
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Moving forward, what are the next steps to boost vaccinations in communities worldwide?

“Showing how you can do research, small-scale research, in a small context so that you can generate information for that setting and similar settings and then apply it to implementation, I think is great, it’s wonderful.”

Dr. Chizoba Wonodi

Founder/Convener, Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA) Nigeria

Hear From the Grantees

Relevant Resources