Jobs and Opportunity Initiative RFP
Overview
J-PAL’s Jobs and Opportunity Initiative (JOI) funds proposals to design, pilot, and evaluate strategies to address key labor market challenges. JOI currently has one regular funding cycle per year. In collaboration with the Social Protection Initiative (SPI), our Spring 2025 request for proposals (RFP) is now accepting applications.
JOI funds full research projects, pilot studies, and travel/proposal development grants that address the initiative’s research themes and priority questions. The JOI and SPI RFP Overview, available for download at the bottom of this page, contains important information including the RFP timeline, award types, eligibility, geographic scope, submission instructions, and research agenda.
Eligibility
J-PAL affiliates, J-PAL postdocs, and J-PAL invited researchers (invited researchers of any J-PAL initiative may apply) are eligible to apply for full research projects, pilot studies, and travel/proposal development grants. PhD students, with support from an advisor who is a J-PAL affiliate or J-PAL invited researcher, are also eligible to apply.
Resident African scholars are also eligible to apply for pilot studies and travel/proposal development grants. African Scholars Frequently Asked Questions covers topics specifically related to African Scholars including eligibility requirements, what funding can be used for, how the proposal process works, what to consider when budgeting for your project, and more.
Priority Themes
The Spring 2025 RFP invites proposals related to two themes:
- The JOI soft skills window is focused on soft skills for entrepreneurship and workforce development. It seeks to improve evidence at the intersections of soft skills, effective workforce development and entrepreneurship policies, and economic outcomes in LMICs (for an extensive list of open questions and evidence gaps related to this theme, please refer to the full research agenda at the right of this page).
- The JOI/SPI window aims to generate research on labor market and social protection programs that increase income and improve work opportunities.
See the RFP Overview document (at the bottom of this page) for more details on the set of priority research questions.
Regional Focus
The Spring 2025 RFP has two funding windows with different geographic priorities. Please refer to the RFP Overview (at the bottom of this page) for additional details.
- JOI soft skills window: This call for research is open to projects in LMICs, including upper middle-income countries. The research should address the needs of low-income populations.
- JOI/SPI window: The majority of funding in this window will be reserved for projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Funding in other geographies is more limited, but could be considered if the study is testing an intervention that has replication potential in sub-Saharan Africa.
Timeline
JOI’s 2025 RFP is now open. Letters of interest are due by Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. US ET. Full proposals are due by Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. US ET.
JOI also offers off-cycle funding outside of the regular RFPs. These grants are intended for research projects that face a significant time constraint and need to receive funding before the end of a regular funding round to make use of an urgent policy opportunity. Proposals must clearly justify the need to receive a decision on an expedited schedule. The maximum amount awarded to off-cycle proposals is US$75,000.
Application Instructions
To respond to this RFP, please follow the directions listed below:
1) J-PAL has transitioned to a new application portal and grant management system (GMS), WizeHive. Please refer to the WizeHive Application Instructions for information on how to create a new login. Or, if you have already successfully submitted an LOI or proposal to a J-PAL competition, simply log into WizeHive with your credentials.
- To start an application for a Full RCT, click here.
- To start an application for a Pilot, click here.
- To start an application for a Travel/Proposal Development grant, click here.
2) Submit a required Letter of Intent (LOI) by 5:00 p.m. US ET on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Please see the proposal guidelines at the bottom of this page for a preview of application questions and required materials.
3) If you receive an invitation to apply to the main application, please follow the next steps outlined in the relevant proposal guidelines documents linked below. Each of the following documents includes a checklist and guidance on what to address within each narrative prompt – guiding your completion of all required submission materials based on the appropriate proposal type. We recommend reading the relevant Proposal Guidelines document in detail before answering the proposal questions in WizeHive. Please find proposal guidelines and application previews for each proposal type (Full RCTs, Pilots, and Travel/Proposal Development grants) at the bottom of this page.
4) Upon completing your proposal and uploading proposal attachments (budget, budget narrative, letters, etc.), submit the proposal by 5:00 p.m. US ET on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
For further information and troubleshooting, please get in touch with [email protected].
Below, please find (1) an RFP Overview; (2) PDF previews of each application type, which are updated throughout the RFP; and (3) budget templates. Please do not complete or submit the pdf previews to JOI for consideration. Please use the budget templates to structure your proposal budget. All application materials should be uploaded to our online portal, Wizehive -- we can only consider applications submitted there.