Sightsavers has announced it will be awarding grants totalling £1m to innovative eye health projects in the developing world.

The development charity launched the ‘Sightsavers Innovation Fund’ yesterday and is now inviting organisations to make applications for funding. Successful bidders will receive up to £75,000 with the aim of implementing their proposals over the next 18 months.  The fund is part of a larger three-year partnership that Sightsavers holds with the Department for International Development.

Director of policy and strategic programme support for Sightsavers, Dominic Haslam outlined the importance of innovative projects and how sharing information can improve organisations. “Investigating new methods and practices is essential to improving the quality of Sightsavers’ work and the work of the wider development sector. We’re hoping that by bringing different organisations together to overcome these barriers, we can create lasting large-scale change,” said Haslam.

NGO’s, academic institutions, private institutions and disabled people’s organisations will all be able to bid for funding, with applications due to close on 30 June 2012.

The fund commenced last year although it was only open to Sightsavers' projects. Successful initiatives given funding included a programme in Bangladesh which looked to help disabled people affected by climate change and natural disasters and examine how their needs were taken into account in relief procedures.