Governance Initiative

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.

Funding Cycles

From April 18th to May 29, 2024, GI is accepting proposals for its Spring 2024 RFP. 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) and all proposals must relate to political participation. GI is not accepting off-cycle or policy outreach proposals at this time. See our full RFP Overview or Request for Proposals webpage for complete application details.

Overview of standard RFP process: 

• GI has two funding cycles per year for full research projects, pilot studies, multidisciplinary projects, and travel/proposal development grants that address open questions outlined in the Governance Initiative Review Paper. RFPs are typically released in July and February. 
• J-PAL affiliates, J-PAL post-docs, and invited researchers are eligible to apply for funding for full-scale evaluations (for a maximum of $400,000; typically up to $250,000), pilot studies (up to $75,000), travel/proposal development grants (up to $10,000), and multidisciplinary research grants (up to $30,000). PhD students, with support from an adviser who is a J-PAL affiliate or invited researcher, are also eligible to apply for travel/proposal development grants, multidisciplinary research grants, and up to $50,000 for a pilot or full-scale study. 
• Each proposal is reviewed by three referees: an academic reviewer, a policy expert, and a member of the GI Review Board. The Review Board makes final funding decisions.