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. GI is currently accepting proposals. Below are key dates:

• Request for proposals (RFP) opens: August 27, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
• LOIs due: September 17, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
• Invitation to submit proposals: September 30, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
• Proposals due: October 22, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
• Funding decisions announced in January 2027.

Eligibility and Research Priorities

This round, GI is only accepting proposals from PhD-level graduate students of J-PAL affiliates or invited researchers (from any J-PAL initiative or regional office), invited researchers who currently hold post-doc positions, and J-PAL post-docs. All multidisciplinary, pilot, and full-scale RCT proposals must relate to political participation. Travel/proposal development grants can relate to any of the GI research priorities. Please see the Governance Initiative Review Paper (full paper here; executive summary here) and the GI Updated Research Agenda to learn more about GI’s research priorities. 

Accepted Proposal Types and How to Apply: 

WizeHive, the 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. When you are ready to apply, please refer to these instructions to create your team’s profile. Please note that we are adapting WizeHive’s “Organization Profile” feature to serve as a “Team Profile.” As such, each team profile corresponds to a single proposal.

• Up to $50,000 for full randomized evaluation research projects. Please click here to apply.
• Up to $50,000 for pilot studies. Please click here to apply. 
• Up to $30,000 for multidisciplinary grants – Type I and Type II. Please click here to apply
• Up to $10,000 for travel/proposal development grants. Please click here to apply.

Grantees for full-scale RCTs, pilot studies, multidisciplinary projects, and travel/project development grants concerning political participation must complete research activities by December 31, 2028. Grantees for travel/project development grants concerning corruption or state capacity must complete research activities by December 31, 2027.

All multidisciplinary projects must have a PI or co-PI from a discipline other than economics, political science, public policy, or similar programs with a focus on applied microeconomic methods.

Please note that PhD students submitting proposals will need to request letters of support from J-PAL affiliates or invited researchers at the proposal (not LOI) stage in order to be eligible. 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.

We encourage you to reach out with questions to [email protected].

Important Budget and Administrative Notes

• Please note that for this funding round, proposal development grants may address any initiative focus area or theme. However, multidisciplinary grants, pilot projects, and full-scale RCTs must focus exclusively on political participation.
• Funding Contingencies: Funding awarded by GI is conditional on continued support from our own core donors. If GI’s scheduled or anticipated funding is reduced, GI may need to reduce or cancel your award. We strongly encourage every funded project to prioritize completing the necessary steps outlined in your award letter to establish your subaward and begin invoicing as soon as possible. If you anticipate any major delays to your project timeline, please notify us immediately.
• Implementation Costs: Proposals requesting funds for implementation are required to explain why the implementer cannot bear the costs in the budget narrative and must also justify the input costs. The approval of implementation costs rests solely at the discretion of the Initiative. Submission of a justification does not guarantee that such costs will be deemed allowable.
• 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-cost 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. For additional support during business hours, please reach out to [email protected] and CC [email protected]. For all other questions, please email [email protected].
• 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.
  • If your proposal involves human subject research (HSR), it will be set up as a grant between MIT and your institute to receive award (ITRA). 

Off-cycle Proposals

GI is not accepting off-cycle proposals.

Policy Outreach Support

GI is not accepting proposals for policy outreach grants.

Reporting Templates for Awardees

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