Security & Rule Of Law - Applied Research Fund - Call For Applied Research On The Influence Of Transnational Challenges In Fragile And Conflict-Affected Settings

Security & Rule of Law - Applied Research Fund - Call for applied research on the influence of transnational challenges in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings

The Call for applied research on the influence of transnational challenges in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings aims to strengthen the evidence-base of policies and/or programming for Security & Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings addressing the influence of transnational flows on stability in these settings. The Call focuses on research projects that provide new evidence based and applicable insights and knowledge for practitioners. It is part of the Applied Research Fund within the research programme Security & Rule of Law in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings.

Purpose

Each research project should contribute to two objectives:

(Develop tools that) provide new evidence-based insights to enhance the effectiveness of policies and/or programming for Security & Rule of Law addressing the effects of transnational flows on stability in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings (FCAS) as listed;

Unlock the knowledge generated by this research for practitioner organisations involved in policy and/or its implementation (programming) on Security & Rule of Law in FCAS as listed, in such a way that these organisations can easily apply such knowledge for (re-)designing relevant, conflict-sensitive, and effective Security & Rule of Law reform policies and/or programming in those FCAS.

The three key characteristics that manifest Transnational flows (complexity, greater independence from geographic location, and biased power dynamics) should be a central concern for consideration and exploration by research proposals. Besides this, project proposals applying for a grant must address knowledge demands that are related to one or more of the five thematic areas identified by the Knowledge Platform (interconnectivity, border control and transnational flows, drug trade and alternative regulatory regimes, terrorist recruitment and marginalised groups, human smuggling and trafficking). In addition, proposals should consider one or more of the following key dimensions in their design: the role of developed countries, containment over elimination, the need for domestic capacity building, greater space in global policy debates.

Preferably, projects pay special attention to the political and economic role of women in peace and reconstruction processes.

Who can apply

A research project must be carried out by practitioners and researchers from various disciplines and backgrounds and is directed by a consortium. The consortium must consist of at least one research organisation and one practitioner organisation. The practitioner organisation must be involved in the design and/or implementation of policies for security and rule of law reform programmes in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) and whose knowledge demand is addressed by the consortium.

Targeted FCAS are: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Yemen. However, a regional focus, comparative research and research into the role of and relation with developed countries in these transnational flows is encouraged.

The consortium appoints one main applicant from its midst. He or she should hold a senior position within his/her organisation.

What to apply

A maximum budget of 1,000,000 euros is available for this Call. The maximum budget for a single research project is 100,000 euros for a project duration of six months. A single project can run between three and six months. The applicants can budget for costs that directly attribute to the project: personnel costs of project staff, research costs and knowledge sharing costs.

The grant should be seen as a contribution to the total costs associated with the proposed activities of the project. Therefore, the organisations employing the applicants, or other, third, parties, have to contribute in cash or in kind to the total grant in order to cover the total costs of the project.

Assessment Criteria

All project proposals are evaluated according to two main criteria: quality and relevance for policy and/or programming.

Quality:

The extent to which the research proposal (develops tools that) provides new evidence-based insights to enhance the effectiveness of policies and/or programming addressing the effects of transnational flows on stability in FCAS (objective a);

Validity of the conceptual framework (coherence of the objectives, research questions and methods);

Robustness of the research design and methodology;

Suitability of the (multi- and transdisciplinary) expertise of the applicants/collaboration (including track record).

Relevance for policy and/or programming:

Extent to which the proposal relates to/takes into account the aim, three key characteristics, one or more of the five thematic areas and one or more of the four key dimensions in the design;

Potential to generate accessible and applicable output for practitioners involved in policy and/or its implementation (programming) on Security & Rule of Law in FCAS (objective b);

Robustness of knowledge sharing activities and probability to generate impact (including realistic impact pathway and including realistic foreseen users of project results);

Appropriateness of the contextualisation and sensitivity of the project for conflict dynamics;

Extent to which the proposal has been demonstrably developed in collaboration with local, national or international practitioners.

Only project proposals that are assessed at least as ‘good’ for each criterion are eligible for funding, depending on the available budget for this call. For ranking, the two criteria carry equal weight.

Procedure

Applications will first be assessed on the basis of formal eligibility criteria by the WOTRO secretariat. If eligible, proposals will be pre-assessed by individual expert advisors on the basis of the selection criteria. The applicant will not be offered an opportunity to respond to the comments. In a meeting, the International Advisory Committee (IAC) will discuss all proposals and pre-assessment reports thereof and together will rank the proposals for quality and relevance. The Programme Committee will decide on the funding of proposals, based on the advice of the IAC.

More information

For questions concerning this call for proposals, please e-mail to [email protected].

SRoL-ARF4-Call for applied research on the influence of transnational challenges in FCAS | call for proposals PDF, 789 KB SRoL-ARF4-Call for applied research on the influence of transnational challenges in FCAS | application form Word, 93 KB