The new MHID small grants programme is a proactive investment scheme for projects and innovations by service users and their supporters. The emphasis of the programme is on projects that promote the voice and power of service users to play an active role in their communities and influence policy and practice.

Application to the fund is by invitation only and through a tendering process for specific thematic priorities.

The first investment grant has already been made by MHID for projects in India and we hope to announce further grants in December 2006.

The experience of MHID is that small grants are a highly effective way of empowering local groups and are more sustainable than large, complex projects. The grants programme is designed to be non-bureaucratic and to encourage participatory local evaluation and learning.

Paul Cutler states,"...we have wanted to re-look at the way funds are provided to small scale user led organisations. We were concerned that these groups are often by-passed by large scale international projects, as they lack the presence and resources to build relationships with international funders and consortia. By making the grants programme proactive, and by invitation only, we are able to target our resources to those groups we believe will benefit the most and who will be able to use their local relationships to effect change. Also, by funding local groups with a strong track record of empowerment we are able to ensure that resources go directly to service user activists..."

The grants programme is funded by the surplus trading income generated by all MHID's activities. As a not-for-profit organisation we are committed to re-allocating any additional income we generate to the small grants programme.

MHID will be publishing more information and procedures for its grants programme in December 2006.

Evidence and good practice from the work funded by MHID will be written up by local people and published to promote wider dissemination.