Research Funding

Template P Content Blocks
In this image:Participants in an IPA study on teacher transfers digitize marks from copies of students' tests in Kampala, Uganda. © 2018 Aude Guerrucci
wave
Body Copy

IPA's research funds provide competitive funding for rigorous research on understudied topics of global policy interest.

Our funds are managed by in-house experts and supported by guidance from leading academic researchers. IPA has managed large-scale competitive funds for rigorous research (randomized controlled trials or RCTs, and other rigorous evaluation methods) on numerous topics, including financial inclusion, human trafficking, intimate partner violence, peace and recovery, and small and medium enterprises, along with funds for developing and improving research methods.

IPA has developed robust systems for soliciting, selecting, and managing awards, ranging from travel awards and seed funding for partnership development, to pilot studies, to full RCTs. We have also funded add-ons to existing studies, meta-analyses, policy outreach support, and infrastructure and public goods creation such as panel datasets. IPA research awards are made with the expectation that the funding will eventually lead to a high-quality impact evaluation, publishable in an academic journal.

IPA staff work with academic advisors to form selection committees composed of experts in the topic and research methodology, along with members with deep policy knowledge. Proposals are generally scored based on academic contribution, policy relevance, technical design, project viability, and value of research.

Awards can be made to projects in IPA country offices (with research managed by IPA) or outside of IPA country offices. Applicants may be from any institution so long as they have sufficient expertise to carry out the work. We encourage applications from researchers from multiple disciplines and historically underrepresented groups, and we strongly prefer research teams include researchers from the countries where the project will take place.

 

Features Section Title
Open Funding Opportunities

Features Repeater

Repeater Feature Title
Human Trafficking

Repeater Content Feature

The Human Trafficking Research Initiative has launched its newest call for proposals for seed grants for partnership building, pilots, and data analysis. We invite proposal from researchers and organizations that intend to design and carry out impact evaluations exploring interventions to reduce human trafficking or respond to the needs of human trafficking victims but need some additional time and support to push the research project to the next stage. The objective of these small grants, ranging between $10,000 and $50,000, is to advance early-stage discussion between researchers and implementing organizations to the point where they have viable research project designs and plans that can lead to a full impact evaluation in the future. The submission deadline for proposals is Friday, March 31, 2023 at 11:59 pm EDT. For more information on eligibility criteria and how to apply, click to read more.

Read More

Features Section Title
Closed Funding Opportunities

Features Repeater

Repeater Feature Title
Consumer Protection

Repeater Content Feature

IPA's Consumer Protection Research Initiative is a four-year research initiative, which partners with policymakers, financial institutions, and civil society to develop new consumer protection solutions in digital financial services. The Initiative focuses on key consumer protection themes relevant to digital financial services.

Read More

Repeater Feature Title
Intimate Partner Violence

Repeater Content Feature

IPA's Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Initiative seeks to inform global development policy and practice on IPV reduction by expanding knowledge and improving research methods. By building on existing studies, the IPV Initiative aims to generate insights on the development programs that shift IPV outcomes and what factors drive these changes.These include studies of programs that impact household finances, increase women’s empowerment, and improve socio-emotional skills. The IPV Initiative's research fund leverages existing research studies to advance our understanding of the underlying causes and influencing factors of intimate partner violence. For reference, see past funded projects.

Read More

Repeater Feature Title
Peace & Recovery

Repeater Content Feature

IPA's Peace & Recovery Program (P&R) sector supports field experiments and related research in several broad areas: reducing violence and promoting peace; reducing "fragility" (i.e. fostering state capability and institutions of decision-making); and preventing, coping with, and recovering from crises (focusing on conflict, but also including non-conflict humanitarian crises such as COVID-19). Through its competitive fund, P&R supports full randomized evaluations, pilot studies, exploratory and descriptive work, travel grants, and (in rare but deserving cases) quasi-experimental evaluations. For reference, see past funded projects.

Read More

Repeater Feature Title
Research Methods

Repeater Content Feature

The Research Methods Initiative is a collaboration between IPA and the Global Poverty Research Lab at Northwestern University.The initiative supports systematic studies into how to improve the methods and measurement of key outcomes in global poverty research. The initiative was created to examine sources of measurement error in research studies including in questionnaire design, sampling, fieldwork implementation, and validation of key indicators. It is organized around three themes: (1) research design, (2) questionnaire design, and (3) fieldwork implementation and data quality.

Read More
Load More