€1.1 million awarded to 22 international projects to improve the wellbeing of parents

• The Good Start Challenge is a €2.6 million global challenge to advance innovative solutions that improve the wellbeing of parents and caregivers of young children.

• It received more than 1,000 entries supporting communities in disadvantaged circumstances across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

• 22 finalists have been awarded €50,000 each to develop and scale solutions that promote the wellbeing of parents navigating daily challenges in the early years of their child’s life.

• Finalists include solar-powered safe spaces for new mothers, parenting and cooking classes to promote gender equality in caregiving, support for fathers to bond with their newborns,  AI platforms that provide parenting advice, and mental health initiatives.

22 innovative projects and initiatives to improve the wellbeing of parents and caregivers who are navigating daily challenges in the early years of their child’s life across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia have been named finalists of the €2.6 million Good Start Challenge.

The Good Start Challenge aims to build and deepen the wellbeing of parents and caregivers from pregnancy through the first five years of parenthood. Launched in May 2025, it received more than 1000 ambitious entries from innovators across Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

The finalists' solutions feature AI-driven platforms that provide reliable parenting support and caring strategies to new parents, initiatives to support the mental health of young families from diverse cultural contexts, projects to provide fair access to breastfeeding support, and a mobile micro-insurance platform.

Successful entries include EKISIL CBO’s Solar-Digital SafeHubs in Ethiopia – community-run, solar-powered kiosks that provide mothers in conflict-affected regions with safe spaces for parenting support, trauma counselling, and access to digital maternal and child wellbeing resources.

Mama Bapa Setara, from Yayasan Selancar Arungi Indonesia, aims to support the wellbeing of disadvantaged parents and caregivers through practical parenting and cooking classes that promote more equality between women and men in sharing caregiving responsibilities to reduce stress, and improve the nutrition and development of children.

In Brazil, Daddy’s Embrace, from the Fundação Cultura e Medicina, is an initiative to foster father-baby bonding by including and empowering marginalized men living in urban areas of Brazil that are impacted by gang violence, who may find themselves excluded from health systems. The solution distributes its services in public hospitals, as well as through a digital 'doting daddy' peer mentoring network. 

Other finalists include programmes to empower refugee parents, support the wellbeing of people excluded or marginalised because of disabilities, and community-led play initiatives to help young families recover from trauma.

The Good Start Challenge was initiated by Van Leer Foundation with the support of FEMSA Foundation, Fundaçāo Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, and LEGO Foundation. It is designed and delivered by global challenge prize experts, Challenge Works.

Rushda Majeed, Chief Programme Officer at Van Leer Foundation, said:

“When a child is born, a parent is also born — and we’ve seen in our work how much support that transition truly requires. We were thrilled to receive over 1,000 entries to the Good Start Challenge. It is a clear signal that while many parents still lack the support they need, there is no shortage of ideas, commitment, and creativity to change that. The 22 finalists each bring a different way of strengthening parents’ wellbeing, and through the challenge we are helping them deepen and scale their solutions. I’m looking forward to seeing how they grow their work in the coming months. This feels like an important moment — a shift towards recognising and prioritising parents in a way that can transform how children get their good start in life."

Kathy Nothstine, Director of Cities and Societies, Challenge Works said:

“From AI-driven high-tech solutions to community-based support initiatives, the 22 finalists are each solving the myriad and diverse challenges faced by new families in different countries around the world in creative and thoughtful ways. The teams will now build on their work directly with parents and caregivers to strengthen and scale their solutions with support from the Good Start Challenge to create deeper and wider impact locally and globally. Six will be named winners in July 2026, each receiving a further €200,000, and will be linked with partners to continue to advance their scaling journey.”

To find out more about the Good Start Challenge and all 22 finalists, visit goodstart.challenges.org