JOI Brazil Request For Proposals

Overview

J-PAL’s Jobs and Opportunity Initiative (JOI) Brazil will provide competitive funding to generate policy-relevant rigorous randomized impact evaluation research that addresses pressing labor market challenges in the country.

Eligibility

Candidates belonging to the following groups are eligible to apply for funding:

• J-PAL affiliates
• J-PAL invited researchers 
• J-PAL post-doctoral fellows
• PhD students who have the support of a J-PAL affiliated researcher or invited researcher that are part of their thesis committee*

*PhD students have application restrictions that are not applicable to the other three target groups. See the JOI Brazil RFP Overview for more details on the set of restrictions

Ineligible applicants will be notified during LOI reviews and will not be invited to submit proposals.

Any researcher can submit a maximum of three proposals, inclusive of all proposal types, within a 12-month period to JOI Brazil, either as a main PI or co-PI in the proposal.

Applicants who are delinquent in their deliverables to any J-PAL initiative may submit proposals but will not be eligible to receive additional funding from any J-PAL initiative. You may submit applications to JOI Brazil, but your application will not be considered for funding until your deliverables become current.

Priority Themes 

The Jobs and Opportunity Initiative Brazil will focus on evaluating the impact of programs related to:

• Supply and matching
• Job creation
• The future of jobs
• Social issues and labor market

In addition, we focus on topics of cross-cutting interest, namely: gender, race, youth, green jobs, regional inequalities, soft skills, and job quality. JOI Brazil is interested in stimulating impact evaluations outside the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo areas and focusing on vulnerable populations. See the JOI Brazil RFP Overview for more details on the set of priority research questions.

Research Agenda

The purpose of the JOI Brazil research agenda is to summarize the existing evidence on labor market issues based on rigorous research and to identify gaps in the literature that could be addressed in future evaluations. Read on»

Types of Proposals

Candidates may apply for funding in two distinct categories:

Full research projects: These grants are for research projects at a mature level of development. The research question must be clear and the applicants must demonstrate a commitment from implementing partners, a method of randomization, well-defined instruments, and sample size estimates.

Pilot studies: These grants are for studies with a clear research question, but for which the design and implementation requires further testing and pilot data.

Funding

The table below shows the maximum funding available for each proposal category.

Timeline

JOI Brazil's fifth round of funding will open on July 25, 2024. Letters of Interest are due August 22, 2024, at 7:00 PM UTC-3. Proposals are due October 03, 2024, at 7:00 PM UTC-3. Funding decisions will be announced in week of December 19, 2024 (tentative).

Application Instructions

To respond to this RFP, please follow the directions listed below. 

1) Please visit our website and download the template file that contains the Letter of Interest (LOI). Fill out the document and send it to [email protected] by Thursday, August 22, 2024, at 7:00 PM UTC-3. 

• The LOI is an expression of interest categorized by filling in some initial information. This step serves for the JOI Brazil team to analyze thematic pertinence and eligibility and is eliminatory. The JOI Brazil team will notify you once we have reviewed your LOI and if you are clear to begin filling out your proposal.

2) If you receive an invitation to apply, please submit your JOI Brazil research funding proposal (pilot or full RCT), including all required documents, via email to [email protected] by Thursday, October 03, 2024, at 7:00 PM UTC-3. Please find below the list of required documents for submission:

1. RFP Application
2. Budget sheet
3. Letters of support
4. Project execution schedule and description of the activities
5. Term of approval and consent
6. Statement of adherence to policies and standards
7. Declaration of awareness and agreement with the general terms and conditions of the financial aid contract

Please be sure to submit your budget in BRL (Brazilian Real). The JOI Brazil initiative is funded by donations in Brazilian Real (BRL) and the initiative will make all awards in BRL.

To facilitate your proposal development, we have hosted reference documents on JOI Brazil’s website that outline in detail all required information that applicants will be asked to provide when submitting a proposal to JOI Brazil. For any inquiries, please contact JOI Brazil at [email protected]. Assistance is available in both English and Portuguese.

General tips for proposal development

For general advice on developing a successful proposal, please visit our Research Resource page on grant proposals. 

Application materials

Request for Proposals: Overview

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Overview

Request for Proposal: Guidelines

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Proposal Guidelines: Pilot

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Proposal Guidelines: Full RCT 

Request for Proposal: Letter of Interest (LOI)

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Letter of Interest: LOI  

Request for Proposal: Pilot and Full RCT Application

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Application: Pilot 

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Application: Full RCT 

Request for Proposal: Budget Template 

JOI Brazil RFP 5 Budget template: Pilot and Full-RCT

Request for Proposal: Additional Documents

Declaration of Awareness and Agreement with the General Terms and Conditions of the Financial Aid Contract

Statement of Adherence to Policies and Standards

Template: Letter of Support from Implementing Partners