J-PAL's African Scholars Program

The African Scholars Program provides funding, mentorship, and training opportunities to African researchers. The program is currently offered through seven of J-PAL’s initiatives —CVI, DAISI, DigiFI, JOI, LAI, HPI, and UJALA — meaning that scholars can apply for funding in those topic areas.

About the Program

The African Scholars Program provides several opportunities to African researchers.

Funding

• Formative research: Proposal development grant (up to $10,000)
• Formative research: Pilot grant (up to $75,000)
• Monitoring systems (up to $75,000) [DigiFI only]
• Full randomised evaluations (up to $400,000)

For more information on each of these funding opportunities, please see our African Scholar FAQs.

Eligibility

Two categories of African Scholars are eligible to receive funding and support under our programs:

• Resident African Scholars include those who have completed a PhD in economics or related field and are based at an African academic institution.
• Non-resident African Scholars include those who completed high school in Africa, have a PhD in economics or related field, and are based at an academic institution outside of Africa.

DigiFI, HPI, and UJALA fund both resident and non-resident African Scholars, while CVI, DAISI, JOI, and LAI only fund resident African Scholars based in Sub-Saharan Africa. Note that only one member of a research team has to meet the definition of African Scholar for the team to be eligible for funding.

Application support and mentorship

During the application process, J-PAL staff are available to provide African Scholar teams with light-touch assistance on their proposals. For Scholars who receive funding, targeted mentorship by a J-PAL affiliate or invited researcher will be provided. African Scholars may either identify an eligible mentor before submitting a proposal or be matched with a mentor by J-PAL staff after their proposal has been selected. It is not necessary to have an existing relationship with a mentor in order to apply.

Scholars Webinars

Throughout the year, J-PAL Africa staff run webinars on topics such as supporting the development of proposals for various initiatives and providing a platform for Scholars to share their work.

Building Better Research: RCT Design and Implementation Webinar Series 

This webinar series is focused on developing and implementing randomized evaluations, covering a wide range of relevant topics. 

• Brahm Fleisch (University of WItwatersrand) - On how to engage with the existing education literature to formulate innovative research questions and where randomized evaluations fit in - Session recording
• Andrew Dillon (Northwestern University) - On measurement in randomized evaluations from field experience - Session recording
• Muhammed Meki - On building a portfolio of research projects - Session Recording 

Digital Identification and Finance Initiative (DigiFi) Webinar Series 

DigiFI hosted a webinar series for African Scholars that covers some of the fundamentals of running randomized evaluations. Please find the recordings below: 

• Jessica Goldberg (University of Maryland) – Introduction to randomized evaluations with application to her fingerprinting study in Malawi – Session recording
• Patrizio Piraino (University of Notre Dame) – Sample size and power – Session recording
• Emily Cupito and Gabe Tourek (J-PAL Africa) – How to write a good research funding proposal? – Session recording

Scholars Resources 
 

J-PAL has started a video series for Scholars on a wide range of topics, from how to make your funding applications more competitive to practical tips for running successful randomized evaluations 

• How to write a competitive grant proposal video and guide
• Budgeting for a randomized evaluation guide
• How to build effective implementing partner relationships guide

To receive updates on future events, please register in our African Scholars database.

Research areas

Currently, seven of J-PAL’s Initiatives are running the African Scholars Program and each has a specific research scope:

Additional information on the African Scholars Program can be found in our African Scholars FAQs. 

Evaluations by African Scholars

To date, J-PAL has funded 67 African Scholar led projects in 15 countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 

A list of funded studies is provided below, grouped by initiative.