Call for applications for African research centers

About this program

With support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, PEP is implementing a new programmatic strategy designed to enable in-country research centers (RC) and their policy counterparts (PC, i.e. government institutions) in East and West Africa to achieve greater synergism and establish continued collaborative frameworks for evidence-informed policymaking (EIP). Find out more about this PEP-Hewlett initiative here.

This strategy builds on PEP’s extensive experience in supporting policy-engaged and impactful research led by locally-based experts in developing countries. The goal is to enable RCs and PCs to work together to translate existing evidence and data into policy actions that respond to policy challenges as they emerge. The strategy will be piloted in six East and West African countries, through the support of selected in-country research centers

Research centers interested in participating in this program are invited to submit their applications by February 28, 2025 at the latest. See eligibility criteria and application procedures below. 

The program is structured around 4 main intended outcomes (and related axes of intervention): 

  • Improve capabilities* of selected in-country research centers to:
    • “Think and work politically": Focusing on skills/competences for: policy context/political economy analysis, stakeholder engagement, knowledge co-creation (or research coproduction), cost-benefit analysis, and knowledge translation/communication. 
    • Provide real-time EIP advice: Drawing on existing evidence and conducting fast-response analyses, so as to provide real-time advisory support to address policy challenges as they emerge.
  • Improve capabilities* of collaborating government institutions to achieve evidence-informed policymaking.
    • Focusing on institutional capabilities and processes for procuring (e.g. commissioning research, scientific literature reviews) and using evidence to inform decision processes.
  • Establish real-time policy advisory mechanisms, through which selected research centers deliver evidence and related advisory support to government institutions for effective decision-making. 
  • Support the creation of inclusive and collaborative frameworks between research centers and government institutions to identify the critical policy decision-making processes that require the procurement and use of evidence base.   

*The "capacity development" component of the program involves a learning-by-doing approach, combining training with mentoring and advisory support (including evaluation of outputs) in real-life policy applications. 

Participating research centers will be required to form a collaborative agreement (officialized through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding) with a relevant government institution – ministry, department or agency. The purpose of this agreement will be for the research center to provide real-time evidence and advisory support to inform relevant policy decision processes. 

Through this agreement, the engaged government institutions will also commit the participation of their staff in 1) a series of consultation meetings with the research center’s team, and 2) a self-paced, online course in best practices for evidence-informed policymaking. 

Eligibility and application requirements

To be eligible for this program, APPLICANT RESEARCH CENTERS MUST:

  • Be based in one of the following countries in East or West Africa.
    • West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. 
    • East Africa: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 
  • Have (demonstrated) experience in and aim to actively pursue collaborative working with government institutions and policymakers – i.e. to advise or inform policy. See application requirements below.
  • Agree to have at least 5 (fixed) members of their research staff dedicate approximately 3 days per month to this initiative, over 2 years (2025-2027) 
    • Participating staff teams should include at least one senior researcher (female leads are encouraged), with existing relationships and extensive experience in working with policymakers. The other members should be aged 40 years or less, include at least two females, and all have a minimum of 3 years of experience in policy research. 
    • Note that other selected senior staff in the organization, including the head or director, will also be required to participate in some periodic, ad hoc activities.

Participating centers will be allocated an overall cash grant of USD 60K, along with a series of grants (worth up to a maximum of 28,5K) tied to specific activities - e.g. for institutional capacity building, events, travel, etc.  

Applications must include:

Download and use the required APPLICATION FORM 

  1. A demonstration of the research center’s experience in working (directly and actively) with government institutions. This should include a detailed description of the center’s most recent experience(s) - dating back no more than 2-3 years – in collaborating with specific government institutions and policymakers to inform or advise policy. This segment should include:
    • A clear identification of the institutions/policymakers engaged, and detailed description of the collaboration mechanisms, and of the work achieved through these recent collaboration(s);
    • A description of the challenges or obstacles faced through the experience(s), and that may have originated from either side (research or government). 
  2. A description of the center’s core research work (theme, areas) and of how this work relates to the country’s specific development issues/priorities and policy needs. This segment should also include 
    • A forecast of what is expected to be considered as priority issues/questions for government policy over the next 3-5 years;
    • The identification of the specific government institution(s) who could be engaged through MOU to collaborate with the center to inform decisions in these areas – with demonstration of a pre-existing working relation between the center and the proposed government institution. 
    • Information about any data availability issues experienced or expected in relation to the research topics/issues described above. 
  3. A summary of the center’s (institutional) motivations to participate and benefit from this initiative – what is expected to be gained, and how will this change/improve the institution’s practices. 
    • This statement may and should include references to the information provided in the previous sections of the application form (to avoid repetitions).
  4. Individual CV information and brief motivational statements from at least 4 of the assigned staff team members, including the senior researcher’s (whose information must detail the relevant policy contacts and advisory experience).

 

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS BY RESEARCH CENTERS

To be accepted for review, applications must be prepared using this mandatory APPLICATION FORM  and submitted by no later than February 28, 2025. 

The filled application forms can be sent directly by email to delfina.cerisoli@pep-net.org 

Emails must be titled "Application for PEP-Hewlett-EIPM program", and include: 

  • the completed form – in Word format - as attachment
  • the following information in the message: 
    • name, address and contact information of the applicant research center 
    • name and contact information of the center’s head/director, and primary contact person for the application (if different from the director)

FUNDED BY

Logo global affairs canada
Logo Hewlett Foundation
Logo IDRC - CRDI Canada
Logo Mastercard Foundation
European Union
Fonds d'innovation pour le Développement
Global Education Analytics Institute