Deadline: 19 April 2024
The Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is seeking applications to provide an opportunity for African researchers to gain experience in the preparation of grant applications and management.
In early 2021, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) began implementing a strategy to diversify its research network. While they have conducted more than 900 impact evaluations—alongside an extensive network of researchers and institutions from all across the world—only twenty-seven percent of their research network comes from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This mirrors development industry trends, where most research continues to be produced by researchers in the Global North.
At IPA, they believe that greater diversity and insight into the local context can lead to higher-quality research and more impactful policy and practice. Moreover, supporting global researchers in the South is normatively correct in addressing inequalities within the international development research community.
Therefore, they are soliciting proposals for a small grant fund that is part of their researcher diversification initiative. The fund targets African researchers in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya to facilitate the development of researchers starting their careers as independent investigators in Africa. This call for proposals will result in the selection of one to two projects for each of the countries indicated, to be implemented by the successful PIs in collaboration with IPA Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya.
In Ghana, the focus areas include Education, Health, Social Protection and Agriculture. In Nigeria, priority themes encompass Social Protection, Climate, Agriculture, Education and Health. In Uganda, the emphasis is on Mental Health, Education, Climate Change, and Early Childhood Development. Lastly, in Kenya, the focus will broadly be on Agriculture with an emphasis on food security, and social protection with an outlook on human protection & displaced livelihoods.
Objectives
- Enable evidence-based high-quality research that addresses the global poverty problem
- Support research from African scholars, which can then inform future impact evaluation research
- To improve South-South communication and collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and implementers, and for community participation in research and agenda-setting
Funding Information
- Funding of 10,000 USD will be awarded to each project.
Eligibility Criteria
- They are pleased to invite submissions from researchers based in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya. Successful proposals should align with both IPA’s overarching research agenda and the specific sector priorities identified by IPA country offices in these respective regions.
- Eligibility is restricted to Africa-based researchers. This refers to individuals who are (a) currently studying at a university or research institute in Africa, and/or b) currently teaching at an African university or research institute.
- Note: African researchers can also include scholars based outside of Africa as part of the team.
For more information, visit IPA.
