Deadline: 1 November 2013
Open to: scaleable projects in countries classified as low, lower-middle, and upper-middle income (see list HERE)
Grant: nearly $25,000,000 allocated across 50 projects
Description
The Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF) is a trust fund established within the World Bank to carry out and support research evaluating the impact of programs on alleviating poverty and improving people’s lives. The knowledge generated provides evidence for designing more effective policies and programs. The multi-donor fund was created with the support of the British government’s Department for International Development with a commitment of nearly $40 million. The program, managed by the World Bank’s Human Development Network, was launched in 2012 and will run for five years.
The Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund builds on the knowledge and research generated by the Spanish Trust Fund for Impact Evaluation. Like the first SIEF call for proposals in 2012, this second call for proposals will focus on thematic research clusters chosen for their strategic policy relevance: (i) early childhood nutrition, health, and development; (ii) water supply, sanitation, and hygiene linked to human development outcomes; (iii) basic education service delivery; and (iv) health systems and service delivery. Within these research areas a range of program types are welcome, including cash transfer programs and programs supporting multiple interventions. Through these thematic clusters, the program will generate cross-country evidence on how programs work in different contexts.
More details are available on the Frequently Asked Questions page HERE.
Grants
Over the course of the five-year program, SIEF expects to finance over 50 impact evaluations and allocate nearly $25,000,000, close to half of which was allocated in the evaluations selected in the first call for proposals last year. They are pleased to launch the second call for proposals and invite proposals within the thematic research clusters outlined in the cluster notes available HERE.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for funding from SIEF, all proposals must fulfill the following criteria:
- Technical Requirements: Priority will be given to prospective evaluations that use experimental or rigorous quasi-experimental methods. Evaluations may also include complements to quantitative impact evaluation work including process evaluations and mixed-method (quantitative and qualitative) approaches. All proposals should include the collection of cost data and a cost analysis of the intervention.
- Cluster Relevance – Evaluations should be aligned with the thematic priorities outlined in the Cluster Notes by addressing the specified research questions and knowledge gaps. Proposals that include a gender dimension, when relevant, are especially encouraged.
- Country Eligibility – Countries classified as low, lower-middle, and upper-middle income are eligible. This includes countries whose 2012 gross national income per capita is $12,615 or less. See the full list HERE. Evaluations in middle-income countries must demonstrate the relevance of the results and include plans for the engagement of policymakers and dissemination of lessons learned in low income countries. There is a particular interest in proposals from fragile and conflictaffected states. Multi-country proposals are eligible.
- Scalability of Programs – Priority will be given to programs that have the potential for scalability in low-income countries. Efficacy trials are also eligible as long as they can demonstrate that they are scalable.
- Timeline Restrictions – Evaluations must deliver final results by July 2017. New and ongoing evaluations are eligible as long as they are prospective in nature.
- Principal Investigator (PI) – All proposals must designate one or more PIs to oversee the design and implementation of the impact evaluation. There is a particular interest in proposals involving local researchers as PIs or co-PIs.
- World Bank Task Team Leader (TTL) – All development programs are eligible for SIEF funding as long as they have a World Bank staff managing the evaluation project. Proposals from government programs, NGOs, and bilateral aid agencies are welcome, but need the support of a World Bank staff members. The World Bank staff TTL will be responsible for the management of the evaluation, engaging both the research and program teams to ensure that the evaluation informs policy priorities and benefits from necessary program information.
Application
The application process is a two-step process. The first stage requires completing the online SIEF Proposal Form HERE (see a sample application HERE) and submitting a completed Budget Proposal Template by email by 5 p.m. (EST) November 1, 2013 to siefproposals1@worldbank.org. Following a review of the proposals submitted by the November 1, 2013 deadline, SIEF will make an initial selection of proposals.
In the second stage, these selected proposals will receive seed funding up to US$25,000 to develop a full technical proposal with detailed budget for the impact evaluation. Selection in the first stage is not a guarantee of funding beyond the seed funding. Following submission of the full technical proposal and accompanying materials, SIEF will make a final selection of proposals to receive funding.
Please see the full Call for Proposals HERE, FAQs HERE and the official website HERE for further details on how to apply.
