Our Local Action Fund provides small grants to government and civil society organisations, enabling locally led action to reduce lead exposure and protect children’s health.

To celebrate International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, we are pleased to announce the first 16 grants to 15 organisations in 10 countries. These grants support work on lead paint, used lead-acid battery recycling, and lead in drinking water, as well as medical training, awareness campaigns, and stakeholder dialogues.

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African Climate-Health and Environmental Action (ACHEA): This five-day health outreach blitz will promote lead-safe markets and neighbourhoods in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The team will screen products for lead, carry out household risk assessments and distribute protection kits, and train community health workers.

African Climate-Health and Environmental Action (ACHEA): Running in October and November 2026, this project will verify used lead-acid battery recycling facilities in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and classify them by risk. Source-control audits, worker protection training, and a traceability pilot will follow.

Alert India: In late October 2026, Alert India will run two half-day continuing medical education sessions in Ahmedabad, training 80 or more doctors on childhood lead poisoning.

Association Rwandaise des Ecologistes (ARECO-RWANDA NZIZA): Beginning in late October, this project will consult paint manufacturers and regulators in Rwanda, hold a technical stakeholder workshop, and run a TV and radio awareness campaign.
Bridge Connect Africa Initiative: In Nigeria, this project will run a radio campaign on Arewa Radio starting in late October 2026. In early November, it will hold a lead-safe workshop for painters, paint sellers, and Ministry of Health staff, followed by a walkthrough of stores and markets.

FARAJA Rwanda: This project opens in October 2026 with a community awareness and action event for more than 300 people, featuring a technical briefing, dialogue, prevention demonstrations, and school engagement. Through November, it will deliver lead-safety education in five schools and 10 community groups, run a worker awareness and media campaign, and distribute materials.

Green Planet Plan (GPP): This project in Tanzania combines a paint market assessment and meetings with paint manufacturers with a stakeholder dialogue. The dialogue brings together regulators, manufacturers, retailers, academia, and civil society to agree priority actions. Its public campaign, “Before You Buy – Check the Paint”, runs for two months and aims to reach more than 4.5 million people.

Grupo GEA: This project will hold awareness sessions and a mural design competition at two schools in Peru: one in Villa María del Triunfo (Lima) and one in Ollantaytambo (Cusco). Two student-designed murals will then be painted and unveiled with school communities and local partners in October 2026.

Kasham Community Development Initiative: Starting in October 2026, this project will train 25 young Lead Safety Champions in Kano State, Nigeria. Sessions in three communities, a radio and digital campaign, and a stakeholder dialogue will follow, running into November.

National Agency for Risks Assessment (ANER): In late October 2026, ANER will hold a half-day lead awareness and advocacy workshop in Tunisia. It will feature presentations on national lead exposure studies and the country’s draft lead paint measure, followed by a round-table discussion.

Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST): Through its LEAD-WISE project, NM-AIST will test about 24 drinking-water samples from six primary schools in Arusha, Tanzania, for lead. It will survey teachers and caregivers on lead awareness and hold a stakeholder dialogue with about 50 people in November 2026.

Research Gender, Family and Environment in Development Joint Stock Company (CGFED): In October 2026, CGFED will consult and survey paint manufacturers and preschools in Hanoi and Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam. A multi-stakeholder workshop in Hanoi will follow in November.

Resilience Initiative For Sustainable Empowerment Foundation (RISE): RISE will hold Lead-Free Pakistan Week 2026, with household awareness visits in Hattar, industrial site mapping, and stakeholder consultations that include regional sessions in Islamabad and Lahore. It will train health workers and teachers on lead poisoning from used lead-acid batteries.

Shifa Foundation: In October 2026, this project will run awareness sessions on lead in paint for parents and caregivers in Pirwadhai and Dhoke Hassu, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, alongside a local stakeholder dialogue with health and environment departments. Leaflets, posters, and digital content with a QR code will support the work through November.

Together to Protect Human & the Environment Association: This project in Iraq will study the paint market between October and December 2026, testing 20 to 25 samples in a laboratory. It will run awareness sessions and a digital campaign in Arabic and Kurdish, convene a national stakeholder dialogue, and produce a policy brief.

Western Media for Environment and Conservation (WEMECO): During October 2026, WEMECO will interview Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) on lead paint regulation and enforcement. Through early November, it will turn the interviews into TV or radio, print, and social media content.