In 2021, The Rotary Foundation added a new grant opportunity to its District, Global, and Disaster Grants. It created Programs of Scale to support Rotarian-led, evidence-based programs that have already demonstrated success. Scaling up already proven programs can benefit more people and foster policy development and sustainable programs. Each year, Programs of Scale supports a competitive grant process resulting in at least one award of $2 million, distributed over a three- to five-year period to a club- or district-sponsored program.

This year’s recipient is Partners for Water Access and Better Harvests in India, a five-year evidence-based program designed to improve livelihoods of over 60,000 rural farmers across four states in India through the implementation of sustainable agriculture and water management practices. Farming communities will gain knowledge and skills in resilient agricultural practices such as drip irrigation, layered cropping, and fruit tree cultivation. The program will also use rainwater harvesting systems such as check dams and retention ponds to increase groundwater availability for farming by 40%, with a goal of improving crop yield and productivity.

Prior recipients were:

• 2021 Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia, a malaria elimination program that aims to reduce cases of malaria;
• 2022 Together for Healthy Families in Nigeria, fostering the health of mothers and newborns to reduce maternal and neo-natal mortality rate by improving health seeking behavior and quality care for pregnant women, mothers, and newborns in Nigeria;
• 2023 United to End Cervical Cancer in Egypt, a Rotary member- led program to reduce the number of cervical cancer cases in the greater Cairo region by implementing a four-year campaign to increase awareness about cervical cancer and how to prevent it.