Consumer Protection Research Initiative

IPA’s Consumer Protection Research Initiative is a four-year research initiative which partners with policymakers, financial institutions, and civil society to develop new consumer protection solutions in digital financial services. The Initiative focuses on key consumer protection themes relevant to digital financial services: fraud in digital channels, consumer redress and complaints handling, product information and consumer choice, and overindebtedness.
 

The Initiative has launched a Call for Proposals for projects which use randomized controlled trial evaluations to assess the impact of a consumer protection intervention or market monitoring tool. Partners will test consumer protection solutions and rigorously measure their impacts to better understand what works in consumer protection and inform global good practices (for reference, see past funded projects under the Consumer Protection Research Initiative). The deadline for submissions is Friday, August 19, 2022.

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Human Trafficking Research Initiative

IPA’s Human Trafficking Research Initiative (HTRI) is a five-year research initiative in partnership with the Program to End Modern Slavery (PEMS) at the U.S. Department of State, and with scientific advisors Guy Grossman (University of Pennsylvania) and Cecilia Hyunjung Mo (University of California, Berkeley). The initiative will foster partnerships between researchers and practitioners; innovate on and improve the research methods for studying this challenging topic; initiate formative pilot testing of programs; and conduct large-scale studies on the efforts to prevent trafficking, prosecute crimes, and protect trafficked persons.

To generate a more expansive pool of high-quality research proposals focused on human trafficking, HTRI supports early-stage activities to develop partnerships and carry out exploratory research as well as larger-scale studies evaluating the effectiveness of current or planned counter-trafficking interventions. Funded projects include seed grant funding for pilot studies, exploratory and descriptive work, and travel grants, as well as partial and full funding for randomized evaluations and (in limited cases) quasi-experimental evaluations. Examples of research projects receiving HTRI funding can be found here.

Thank you to all who have submitted applications to HTRI. To learn more about the HTRI Competitive Research Fund or check on the status of an active application, please get in touch with us by emailing the HTRI team.
 

Intimate Partner Violence Initiative


The IPA IPV Initiative's fourth round (Fall 2021) call for proposals has closed as of December 17, 2021. Thank you to all who submitted applications.

 

Peace & Recovery Program

 
The Peace & Recovery (P&R) Program is supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Under the academic leadership of Dr. Chris Blattman and Dr. Betsy Levy Paluck, the P&R program supports field experiments and related research on reducing violence and fragility, promoting peace, and preventing, managing, and recovering from crises. Our competitive fund is open to proposals for full randomized trials, pilot studies, exploratory and descriptive work, travel grants, and (in rare but deserving cases) quasi-experimental evaluations.
 
P&R’s seventh call for proposals has closed as of November 8, 2021. Thank you to all who submitted applications.


Research Methods Initiative

In December 2020, IPA's Research Methods Initiative announced two parallel funding strands, one focused on validating measures of soft skills and one focused on innovative and advanced research methods. Those RFPs are now closed. To read about the projects funded to date see here, and check back in this space for future updates.


Women’s Work, Entrepreneurship, and Skilling (WWES) Initiative

In response to the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and girls, IPA launched the Women’s Work, Entrepreneurship, and Skilling (WWES) Initiative as part of RECOVR (Research for Effective COVID-19 Responses). The WWES Initiative combines data collection efforts, research projects, and policy work, focusing on two key themes: (1) women's work, entrepreneurship and time use and (2) youth skilling and school-to-work transitions.
 

The WWES's open call for proposals is now closed. Thank you to all who submitted applications.