IPA announces new funding for research on Soft Skills for Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development, in collaboration with J-PAL

In 2024, IPA announced new funding in collaboration with J-PAL for research on soft skills for entrepreneurship and workforce development. Through this funding, IPA aims to support research in low—and middle-income countries that examines the relationship to soft skills and employment-related outcomes, prioritizing projects that respond to existing evidence gaps, incorporate a common framework for measuring soft skills and economic outcomes, and generate implementation-relevant evidence.

In fall 2025, IPA sourced research projects through a competitive call for proposals as well as a curated portfolio of research projects, both of which are now closed. For more details, please continue reading below. For more information, please contact epsd@poverty-action.org.

1. Curated Portfolio of Research Projects

Through this funding opportunity launched and closed in fall 2025, we leveraged IPA’s extensive experience and strong partnerships to develop a portfolio of full-scale research projects. These projects will be co-designed with leading implementers and researchers, focusing on:

• Developing research questions
• Collecting and analyzing implementation data
• Thoughtful use of soft-skills measurement
• Projects will be selected on a rolling basis by an internal committee, prioritizing:
• Alignment with the research agenda
• Potential for policy impact
• Collaboration with interdisciplinary teams that are flexible, knowledgeable, and strategic in using soft-skills measures

2. Competitive Open Call for Proposals

This call, launched and closed in fall 2025, identified high-potential projects focused on implementation questions, coordination in soft-skills measurement, and best research practices. Priority was given to projects that:

• Use interdisciplinary teams
• Develop open-source tools
• Conduct psychometric analysis
• Collect long-term labor outcomes

The call supported:

• Nimble RCTs
• Additional data collection for ongoing projects
• Implementer-driven research initiatives

Advancing Comparable Soft Skills Research

Despite growing research, the nebulous and multifaceted nature of soft skills inhibits the development of actionable policy recommendations. Programs and researchers often use popular but not necessarily appropriate terms and measures. We seek to encourage a common language among research projects by promoting:

• Common skills framework
• Measures of soft skills that fit the intervention
• Common outcomes measures for labor
• Common implementation and process data: with details on which soft skills are in the intervention, the curricula used, details of the target population and its aspirations, dosage, mode, and cost