New York, USA / Paris, France – Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), two research organizations supporting evidence-informed policymaking, were jointly awarded a $10 million grant from the IKEA Foundation to create the world’s first dedicated research fund to generate evidence on livelihoods programs for displaced populations and host communities.

The fund will generate evidence to inform the design of policies and programs that enable refugees and others forced to flee to rebuild their lives, create sustainable livelihoods, and achieve self-reliance. Our inaugural call for proposals is now open. In addition to supporting research, both IPA and J-PAL will conduct extensive outreach to share results with policymakers and practitioners and equip them to use results to inform policy and practice.

“Creating sustainable livelihoods is crucial to enable people affected by displacement to rebuild their lives. By generating much-needed evidence on the impact of livelihoods programs, this initiative will inform the IKEA Foundation and others’ efforts towards sustainable solutions for displacement-affected communities,” said Hayley Kornblum, Program Manager at the IKEA Foundation.

Dr. Jeannie Annan, Chief Innovation Officer at the International Rescue Committee and IPA Academic Lead for the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative, sees the grant as timely. “There are few rigorous impact evaluations of livelihoods programs for displaced populations and hosts. This grant will enable us to support dozens of evaluations of promising programs, conducted by partnerships of researchers and implementing organizations, building the evidence base on how to best support these communities. Thanks to the IKEA Foundation, we will know much more five years from now than we do now,” said Dr. Annan.

Dr. Sule Alan, Professor of Economics at the European University Institute in Florence and J-PAL Academic Lead for the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative adds, “Most population movements today concern forced displacements involving people seeking refuge abroad due to regional conflict and war. Forced displacements are humanitarian tragedies that strip people of their fundamental right to lead a dignified life. This grant will enable us to design scientifically informed programs aimed at supporting these vulnerable populations, providing them with the assistance they need to rebuild their lives.”

For more information about IPA, visit www.poverty-action.org. For more information about J-PAL, visit www.povertyactionlab.org. For more information about the IKEA Foundation, visit www.ikeafoundation.org.