What we commission
Globally, GRTD significantly contributes to health, agriculture, and energy research within the established global research framework. GRTD also makes investments into social research in governance, conflict, social inclusion, humanitarian efforts, economic growth, and education.
You can find the latest information about GRTD funding calls, tenders and procurement on:
There are no open opportunities.
Private sector-led digital agriculture extension for smallholder farmers: a literature review and programme assessment
The Technology and Innovation Unit at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is looking to commission a 12-month study of the impact of FCDO’s funding of the global organisation for mobile service providers, GSMA Mobile for Development (M4D) programme since 2013. The purpose of the programme is to bring together the mobile ecosystem and the development sector to drive digital innovation, fostering sustainable business models and significant social and economic impact for low-income communities in developing countries. The programme’s objective is to improve climate resilience, livelihoods and access to opportunities for women and underserved groups, as well as mitigating climate change. This is being achieved by unlocking mobile-enabled innovation that delivers on the Global Goals while also improving people’s access to and use of digital and mobile services.
Independent evidence on digital advisory services in low and middle income countries (L&MICs) across Asia and Africa is limited and self-reported impact needs to be scrutinised more rigorously. Most evaluations look at the ‘reach’ of these models, and existing studies are weak on evaluating their actual impact on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods, incomes and climate resilience, especially in the long term. For this project, we envision the funding recipient to: 1) undertake a literature review, 2) formulate the research questions, and 3) undertake a study of GSMA projects, assessing impact and collecting data in target countries among participants.
Evidence on Evidence Use Programme
While the case for evidence use in policymaking is difficult to refute, with more than 40 years of research and drive to increase evidence uptake in policy, barriers to evidence use remain and governance around evidence use remains weak. Barriers are particularly strong in low and lower middle income countries. Most of the current research on the use of evidence in policymaking has engaged in a limited manner with the political and institutional nature of decision-making. Improving the use of evidence in policy will require the establishment of principles of what would constitute good evidence to inform policy, along with good use of evidence within a policy process.
We will issue a call for proposals for research to understand and generate evidence on the barriers, facilitators, politics, and institutional factors around evidence use and to identify effective policies, interventions and institutions that have helped bridge the gap between evidence and policy. This will focus on evidence use and uptake within developing countries, with a particular focus on evidence use within policymaking for economic development.
Call for proposals: Studying the effects of climate change and variability on water resources in Uruguay
Oct 10, 2024
On behalf of the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre, 3ie invites proposals from organisations or consortia to assess the impact of climate change and variability as well as socio-economic activities on water resources in Uruguay and to recommend sustainable strategies for water resource management and adaptation. Read more
Call for proposals: Adopting a behavioural science lens to improve the impact of FCDO’s technology and innovative investments: a portfolio review
Oct 2, 2024
On behalf of the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre, 3ie invites proposals from organisations or consortia to conduct a review of FCDO’s technology and innovation portfolio and its current use of behavioural science. Read more
Call for proposals: Systematic review on the impact of climate change on rail operations in Turkey
June 10, 2024
On behalf of the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre, 3ie invited proposals from organisations or consortia to conduct a systematic review of the impact of climate change on rail operations in Turkey. This opportunity is now closed and has been awarded to ISSD Bilsim Elektronik Egt. San. Ve. Tic. Read more
Call for proposals: Systematic review on shadow economy in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Moldova, Cyprus and Malta: evidence on policy actions
April 10, 2024
On behalf of the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre, 3ie invited proposals from organisations or consortia to conduct a systematic review of the shadow economy in the Baltics. The aim of this research is to identify evidence-informed policy options to tackle the shadow economy across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, Georgia, and Moldova. This opportunity is now closed and has been awarded to Universitatea “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iași (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași). Read more
Call for proposals: The use of artificial intelligence in food and agriculture
April 10, 2024
On behalf of the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre, 3ie invited proposals from organisations or consortia to produce a landscape study on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in food and agriculture. This opportunity is now closed and has been awarded to Athena Infonomics. Read more
Call for expressions of interest: Russian information operations in the Baltics
April 10, 2024
On behalf of the FCDO Research Commissioning Centre, 3ie invited expressions of interest from organisations or consortia to conduct a systematic review of the effects of policies tackling Russian information campaigns and an evaluation of the ban on Russian propaganda channels in the three Baltic countries. The full terms of reference for this funding opportunity require applicants to hold at minimum ‘SC’ security clearance. For more information, see detailed call for expressions of interest. Read more
Banner image: In partnership with the Government of Ethiopia, the DFID-funded Finote Hiwot programme is helping at least 37,500 adolescent girls, and indirectly many more, to avoid child marriage in Ethiopia; ©Jessica Lea/Department for International Development
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