PIERI - Reducing Teenage Pregnancies Initiative

Evaluating the effectiveness of alternative interventions to reduce teenage childbearing in Latin America

The Latin-American office of the Poverty and Economic Policy (PEP) Research Network, in association with the  Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE), announces a call for proposals for at least 2 research grants including technical and financial support for projects that evaluate the effectiveness of alternative interventions to reduce teenage childbearing in Latin America. Projects can use either an experimental or non-experimental design. For projects with experimental design, studies at any stage are encouraged (collecting baseline data, collecting follow-up data or conducting the impact analysis based on existing or already collected data). For projects at an early phase, expected products will be suitably defined and complementary financial support could be provided at a further point. Financial support at the current stage will be of up to $US 45,000 each, depending on the scope of the work proposed.

• Justification and Background
• Objective
• Scope and methodology
• Selection criteria
• Proposal Submission
• Coordination and Schedule
• Financial Aspects
• Dissemination
• FAQ on this call for proposals
• Winning proposals       

1)    Justification and Background

Average family size in Latin America has decreased over the past decades as total fertility rates have fallen throughout the region. Adolescent fertility, however, remains an exception to the overall trend with rates stagnant or rising in particular countries. The adolescent fertility rate in LAC is 77 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19, well above the world average (52), and only surpassed by Sub-Saharan Africa (122). Furthermore, LAC is the only region in the world where teenage fertility has increased over the last years.  According to the 2000-round census data from 16 countries in LAC, on average 14.5% of girls 15 to 19 years old are mothers. Compared to the 1990s, in 12 out of 16 countries, the percentage has increased.   

Early fertility is correlated with adverse outcomes such as infant mortality, maternal mortality and low educational attainment, attracting the attention of policymakers and researchers from cross-cutting social sectors.  

This research initiative is part of a set of activities within the IADB examining the trends, costs and implications and the effectiveness of alternative interventions on teenage childbearing in Latin America and the Caribbean. The activities will strengthen the Bank’s capacity to address these issues by bridging knowledge gaps on adolescent pregnancy in Latin America and the Caribbean and to improve the design of policies and interventions. On the other hand, the Policy Impact Evaluation Research Initiative (PIERI) was launched by PEP in 2007, aiming at encouraging the development of rigorous policy impact evaluations in the research community in developing countries, as well as to inform policy in each of these countries by encouraging the dissemination of the results to policy-makers.

2)    Objective

The overall objective of this call for proposals is to support at least two studies that provide evidence on the effectiveness of alternative interventions to reduce teenage childbearing in Latin America and the Caribbean. These studies may involve either experimental or non-experimental approaches.

3)    Scope and methodology

To be eligible for funding, proposals should use data from LAC countries collected through national household surveys, demographic and health surveys, living standards measurement surveys, special cross-section or longitudinal health surveys, or administrative health data with detailed information on teenage childbearing. Studies should link the empirical evidence generated to sound policy recommendations.

Eligible activities include one or more of the following: i) designing an intervention and/or experiment; ii) collecting baseline data; iii) collecting follow-up data; iv) conducting impact analysis based on existing (experimental or non-experimental) data. Eligible proposals include not only new research projects but also ones that undertake follow-up surveys of interventions that are i) underway, ii) need extra funding to complement financing by other institutions, or iii) have had only one wave of results.

If the project requests support for the collection of baseline data, a baseline report including the data source and the analysis of the relation between the treatment and control group should be presented. If the project requests support for the follow-up interventions, the expected report will include the final results of the impact evaluation analysis.


4)    Selection criteria

Any research institution from countries that are members of the IADB may submit a proposal.

Each of the two approved research proposals will receive a core research grant of US$15,000. Furthermore, if the project includes data collection or an intervention, additional funding up to US$30,000 may be provided, depending on the scope of the work proposed. Projects with other funding sources can apply and are even encouraged, but they need to explain the marginal contribution of this funding to the full project.

Projects will be evaluated using a scoring mechanism. The weights given to each item reflect their importance for selection:

       
  
5)    Proposal Submission

Research institutions should submit proposals no later than November 09, 2009 via the PEP website (http://www.pep-net.org/). Here are the steps to follow:

•    The leader and all members of the project must first have registered before submitting a new proposal. To register, select the item "Register" in the upper right-hand menu, and follow the instructions to complete the registration (this will not take more than five minutes). You will receive a username and password by email, normally within minutes.

•    Note that all members of the project must post their CV. To do this, each member should provide her/his "User ID" and "password", click on "Login", select "My Profile", "Update CV".

•    To then submit the proposal, the leader must login, click on "Submit New Proposal", fill out the required information, choose the program Policy Impact Evaluation Research Initiative and upload the proposal.

If you have any difficulties with the above steps, please refer to pep-la@grade.org.pe for assistance.

The following information is required:

• The main proposal based on this template.
• A budget indicating the time and resources required within the context of the proposed research work plan. The budget is requested as a separate file and should not be included in the proposal. The budget proposed should indicate items financed by other sources including the research institution or team of researchers itself. The budget should distinguish among amounts assigned to professional honoraria, “overhead” and other major categories of research expenditures.
• The name and curricula vitae of the research leader and other researchers involved. The research team should demonstrate its ability to meet the objectives of the project, including relevant experience. Subsequent substitutions of researchers originally indicated in the proposal may be made with prior approval from the project coordinators, but the research leader should lead the project until its full completion.

Contracts will be signed with GRADE. Institutions must provide the name and contact information of the legal representative with authority to sign contracts if selected to conduct the study.

NOTES:

• ALL proposals and research papers should be submitted in English.
• Research institutions interested in participating in the contest are strongly encouraged to submit a brief expression of interest to pep-la@grade.org.pe including the following information: i) the name of the institution, ii) the names of the members of the research team and iii) the topic of the research study.

6)    Coordination and Schedule

Gabriela Vega, Senior Gender and Diversity specialist at SCL/GDI, and Martin Valdivia, Director of PEP’s Latin-America office, will coordinate this project. There will also be a consultative team formed by experts on the topic, responsible for the selection of the proposals and available for technical support.

The tentative schedule of activities is as follows:

7)    Financial Aspects

The IADB will contribute up to US$45,000 for each of the two selected studies, depending on the scope of the work proposed. The payment schedule is as follows:
•    30 percent within 30 days of the signature of a formal agreement with GRADE.
•    35 percent within 30 days of approval of the initial draft of the research paper.
•    35 percent upon approval of the final research paper and delivery of the datasets utilized by the study.


8)    Dissemination

Final papers from the two selected projects will be considered for dissemination as IADB working papers and may be included in a book or a special journal issue on teenage childbearing in LAC. Other forms of dissemination or publication should be explicitly approved by the coordinators. Proposals should also indicate other strategies for further dissemination of the final version of the paper and its policy implications.

FAQ for this call for proposals  

Winning proposals