Note: This page summarizes the rationale behind a GiveWell grant to IRD. IRD staff reviewed this page prior to publication.
Published: June 2023
In August 2022, we recommended a $1 million grant to IRD Global (IRD) and a $102,732 grant to Johns Hopkins University to plan and scope a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of IRD's tuberculosis (TB) screen-and-treat program, Zero TB, in Karachi, Pakistan. We also made grants of $262,000 in November 2021 and $300,000 in April 2022 to support IRD's TB team in Karachi from January to December 2022, as we conducted an investigation for potential scale-up funding to the Zero TB program.
We decided in March 2023 not to move forward with recommending funding for the proposed RCT of IRD’s Zero TB program or scale-up of that program. Also in March 2023, we recommended an exit grant of $736,000 to maintain Zero TB’s field team in Karachi and its core technical teams for a period of 8 months (through December 2023).
We are recommending this funding a) to allow the possibility that IRD finds other sources of funding to support this program and b) in keeping with our typical practice of providing exit funding. In general, we believe it is a good practice to offer exit grants, in order to:
- Enable organizations we have supported to remain operational long enough to seek out other sources of funding.
- Reduce potential harms to the staff, partners, and program beneficiaries of organizations that we have supported which might result from a sudden shut down.1
- Act as a responsible funder.
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We have been told by IRD leadership that the Zero TB team would shut down in one month without additional funding. IRD, email to GiveWell, March 8, 2023 (unpublished)Providing a longer funding runway may reduce potential harms to the staff, partners, and program beneficiaries which might result from a sudden shut down.