Overview

IPA aims to ensure our work is equitable for, empowering to, and driven by people living in the countries where we work. This commitment extends to shaping our policies, practices, and culture to mirror the diversity of our workforce. We aim to do so by generating opportunities for staff, partners, and researchers in the countries where we work, and influencing others involved in global poverty research to do the same.

In mid-2021, we began to implement our strategy to diversify our research network, given that only 27 percent of our research network came from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This number reflects the development industry trends, where most research is produced by researchers in High-Income Countries (HICs).

We recognize that the success of IPA's research network relies on increased diversity and inclusiveness. Thus, we intend to leverage the expertise of researchers living in countries where we work, contributing diverse perspectives and contextual knowledge to enrich research studies and policy contexts. As part of this strategy, we are committed to addressing barriers that challenge early-career and LMIC researchers from participating in research opportunities. Therefore, our strategy is focused on four key objectives:

1. Expand development research networks to include more researchers from LMICs, with a focus on our own research network

2. Enhance access to funding for researchers from LMICs

3. Promote pipeline development of researchers from LMICs within our country offices

4. Support researchers from LMICs with research communications and policy engagement

To further these objectives, we formed the Researcher Diversification Strategy Advisory Board in 2021. This Advisory Board provides strategic advice and guides the design and implementation of IPA's strategy to diversify our research network. The activities under the strategy are currently being implemented across IPA country offices in Africa and will expand to additional LMICs where IPA has offices. This advisory board is chaired by the Executive Director of IPA.

Achievements to Date

• Strategic Initiatives
  - Constituted an advisory board of leading researchers from LMICs to guide the strategy and are currently working on adding additional members for diversity and depth
   
• Partnership & Collaborations
  - Established various partnerships with universities and research institutions across Africa. Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) outline areas of collaboration, including the co-creation of research evidence, mutual capacity building, promoting the uptake of evidence among policymakers, and structuring internship opportunities.
   
• Capacity Building, Matchmaking and Project Development Support
  - Provided proposal development support to researchers from LMICs to develop and submit proposals for new research projects
  - Conducted direct training sessions on impact evaluation and proposal development for researchers from LMICs from government and private institutions
  - Created opportunities for collaboration between researchers from LMICs and HICs
   
• Access to Funding
  - Increased the availability of small grants by soliciting proposals under the researcher diversification exploratory small grant fund opportunity
   
• Pipeline Development
  - Established an internship program for capacity building and skills transfer designed for Master's and PhD students in Burkina Faso. Through the experience and knowledge gained through this program, an intern from IPA Burkina Faso successfully won an exploratory grant funding to work on his thesis that explores the impact of the economic exploitation of non-timber forest products (NTFP) on poverty and income inequalities in Burkina Faso.