3rd Call for Exploratory Grants now announces an innovative CEPR-DFID research initiative on private enterprise development in low-income countries.
Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) will pursue a research agenda which aims to better understand what determines the strength of market forces driving efficiency in Low-Income Countries (LICs) over the next five years. Existing research suggests that the private sector in LICs faces a number of constraints that act upon each other.
Grants will be awarded on an individual basis primarily to researchers from academia, the non-profit sector, think-tanks and research centers and others as well. Advanced stage PhD students may also apply in which cases CEPR will request a letter from the student’s primary advisor that comments on the proposed research project and the student’s ability to carry out the project.
Applications must be submitted online at the PEDL website. The description of the proposed research must not exceed three single-spaced pages and adhere to the proposal template. Applicants will be informed whether the proposal has been approved within two months of submission. CEPR may ask applicants to offer additional information in support of their application during this period. The Evaluation Committee may also request applicants to submit revised proposals should they consider that the proposal has sufficient potential.
PEDL will support approaches that promise to produce credible research results that will be useful for policy-making. It will promote research related to private enterprises of all sizes and will initially focus on four research themes:
- Modeling market frictions in LICs using newly available data
- Understanding how constraints interact using micro-founded macro models
- The dynamics of SMEs: Informality and entrepreneurship
- The role of export-oriented industries in driving growth
- Proposals that address the following cross-cutting issues will be encouraged.
- Fragile and conflict affected states
- Gender
- Climate, environment and social compliance
Grants will range in value from between £10,000 to £35,000 (value for money will be a guiding evaluation criterion). The grants are designed to provide financial support for the individuals undertaking the research and to cover reasonable associated costs that are directly related to the proposed research project. These grants will generally run for duration of 12 months.
Deadline: The third deadline for Exploratory Grants is on 31 May, 2012 5PM BST
For further information, visit the link.
