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: October 15, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
• LOIs due: November 7, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
• Invitation to submit proposals: November 21, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
• Proposals due: December 19, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
• Funding decisions announced: March 31, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.

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).

Eligibility and Research Priorities

GI accepts 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) and the GI Updated Research Agenda to learn more about GI’s research priorities. 

Accepted Proposal Types and How to Apply: 

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. 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 $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 $30,000 for multidisciplinary grants – Type I and Type II; the suggested period of performance for type I is 18 months and 24 months for type II. Multidisciplinary grants must relate to political participation. 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.

Grantees whose projects relate exclusively to state capacity or corruption and leakages must complete research activities by 12/31/2027. Grantees whose projects relate primarily to political participation must complete research activities by 5/31/2028.

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.

Eligible PhD students will be able to apply for lower funding levels (capped at $50,000). 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 GI has limited funding available for projects with corruption, leakages, and state capacity themes. This funding round will focus primarily but not exclusively on political participation and multidisciplinary themes.
• 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.