Governance Initiative Request for Proposals

Overview

J-PAL’s Governance Initiative (GI) funds randomized evaluations of strategies to improve governance in low- and middle-income countries. By providing targeted funding for rigorous evaluations of the most promising programs to improve governance, GI aims to offer guidance for implementing organizations, governments, and donors, so that policies can be guided by scientific evidence to improve development outcomes.

From March 28 to April 22, 2025, GI is accepting letters of interest (LOIs) for its Spring 2025 RFP. From May 2 to June 3, 2025, GI is accepting proposals (by invitation) for its Spring 2025 RFP. This round, GI is accepting proposals from J-PAL affiliates, J-PAL postdocs, all J-PAL invited researchers, and PhD students of J-PAL affiliates and invited researchers. Proposals must relate to GI’s core themes: political participation, corruption and leakages, and state capacity. Please see the Governance Initiative Review Paper (full paper here; executive summary here) to learn more about GI’s research priorities.

WizeHive, the new platform J-PAL is using for our proposals, requires a new login if you have never used it before. Please use the Application Instructions and follow the prompts in the links below to create a new login.

Accepted proposal types in Spring 2025: 

• Up to $400,000 (typically up to $250,000) for full randomized evaluation research projects; the suggested period of performance is 24 - 30 months. Please click here to apply. 
• Up to $75,000 for pilot studies; the suggested period of performance is one year. Please click here to apply. 
• Up to $10,000 for travel/proposal development grants; the suggested period of performance is six months. Please click here to apply. 
• Up to $30,000 for multidisciplinary grants – Type I and Type II; the suggested period of performance for type I is six months and 24 months for type II. Please click here to apply. Multidisciplinary grants must relate to political participation.

Eligible PhD students will be able to apply for lower funding levels (capped at $50,000). Please note that PhD students submitting proposals (not LOIs) will need to request letters of support from J-PAL affiliates or invited researchers. These letters of support make PhD students eligible for J-PAL funding. PhD students should request such letters early in the proposal preparation process. These letters can be uploaded directly in WizeHive. If your advisor would prefer to send this letter directly to J-PAL, please have them send it to [email protected]. Then, the PhD student will need to upload a blank document in WizeHive.

All proposals that include Artificial Intelligence (AI) or any new specialized technology should include validation and test accuracy data in the proposal, showing that the technology successfully does what it intends.

Proposal Timeline

To prevent concentration of awards to any specific researchers, and to reduce the burden on initiative review boards, applicants are limited to submitting three proposals, inclusive of all proposal types, per 12-month period per initiative (either as PI or co-PI).

GI usually has two funding cycles per year for full research projects, pilot studies, travel/proposal development grants, and multidisciplinary research projects that address open questions outlined in the Governance Initiative Review Paper. 

Our Spring 2025 timeline is as follows: 

• Friday, March 28 at 5 p.m. Eastern time: Letter of interest (LOI) launch date
• Tuesday, April 22 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time: LOIs due via WizeHive
• Tuesday, June 3 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time: By invitation, proposals due via WizeHive
• August/September: Results announced

We encourage you to reach out with questions to [email protected]. We look forward to receiving your proposals to the Spring 2025 RFP.

Important Budget and Administrative Notes

• Funding Contingencies: Funding awarded by GI is conditional on continued support from our own core donors. If GI's scheduled funding is reduced, GI may need to reduce or cancel your award.
• Purchase of Assets: Depending on the source of your J-PAL funding and should your proposal be successful, you may be required to remove any assets (i.e., laptops, tablets, etc.) from your budget. Please create your budget with this in mind. Rentals of such items are allowed and the preferred way to address needs for assets like laptops.
• Flight reimbursement: J-PAL will only reimburse the lowest available economy/cabin/coach flights. Please review J-PAL’s travel reimbursement policies before completing your budget.
• J-PAL Regional Offices: If your proposal involves a country with a J-PAL office, contact the relevant office 3-4 weeks before submission. These offices have strong connections with policymakers, understand regional policy priorities, and offer infrastructure to support research and scaling activities.
• WizeHive Resources: If you experience any errors or technical issues, you can first check this J-PAL guide to WizeHive as well as the platform's FAQ section. For additional support during business hours, please reach out to [email protected] and CC [email protected]. For all other questions, please email [email protected].
• Wrap up spending by 12/31/2027: Funding requests should not extend beyond 12/31/2027, as grantee spending must be completed by that date. Grantees should invoice regularly throughout their award period.
• Subaward Setup: For grants with human subject research, once all materials including IRB approvals/exemptions have been received, MIT typically takes 90 days to establish the subaward. Please provide conservative rather than optimistic estimates for start and end dates to reduce the likelihood of needing to submit no-cost extension requests.

Off-cycle proposals

GI is not accepting off-cycle proposals at this time. 

Policy Outreach Support

GI is not accepting proposals for policy outreach grants during this round.

Reporting Templates for Awardees

To access reporting templates for your GI-funded grant, please click here.