The Better Evidence Project (BEP) announces plans to support short-term research projects that will improve the evidence available to donors, policy makers, practitioners, and scholars in the peacebuilding community, thus strengthening our collective efforts to address the problems of war and violence. We seek to support research that will in some way contribute to one of these three priority areas:
- Developing a shared set of core key measures describing peacebuilding success/effectiveness in contextually relevant ways. We seek a shared understanding of what kinds of evidence and indicators are useful across the field, and from that understanding, a shared set of core indicators to measure peacebuilding success in contextually relevant ways.
- Learning from locally-led peacebuilding successes and developing and communicating a stronger evidence base on the effectiveness of locally-led peacebuilding. We seek to better determine the cost, value, and impact of locally-led peacebuilding; further harness the potential for local peacebuilding through cross-fertilizing across contexts and influencing donors, policymakers, and other practitioners; and to engage perspectives from the Global South for understanding the effectiveness, value, cost, etc. of locally-led peacebuilding work.
- Utilizing indicators to learn from locally-led peacebuilding. Proposals may combine the first two priority areas.
Proposals should begin with a cover page with the project title and contact information for the project leadership. Then, present in maximum four pages (12 point font, single spaced):
- Research focus, research question and rationale for research
- Research methodology
- Timeline, indicating quarterly progress planned, what (if any) preliminary results will be ready to share in December, and completion date in or before August 2021
- Contribution the research will make to better evidence and one of the priority areas
Additional pages are requested with:
- Budget (indirect costs limited to a maximum of 15% of direct costs)
- Research team CVs or bios highlighting relevant experience
Proposals for 2020 small grants are due by June 7 by e-mail to BEP@gmu.edu. Please cite PCDN as the source of the opportunity in your application. We anticipate funding several projects with budgets of $25,000- $75,000 and start dates in early August 2020. Funded researchers will be asked to present preliminary findings in December 2020, to provide quarterly progress reports, and to submit final reports by August 2021.
In addition, BEP reviews proposals for mini-grants for research that will improve the evidence available to donors, policy makers, practitioners, and scholars in the peacebuilding community. Proposals for projects requiring $5-10,000 may also be submitted on a rolling basis to BEP@gmu.edu.
