Evidence is at the heart of GIF’s staged approach to investment. We take well-informed risks in pursuit of high social benefits and, as we do so, we embed learning into each investment we make. Whether you are a researcher with an innovative but untested idea, you have already evaluated an innovation and found it to be promising, or you are interested in evaluating an innovation which is currently being implemented, we want to hear from you!
The role of research and evidence at GIF
GIF’s mission is to improve lives and opportunities of millions of people in the developing world. Evidence is central to this mission: it underpins GIF’s ability to act like a venture capitalist for the public good, empowering us to take informed risks in pursuit of large payoffs – better health, better nourishment, more education, and more income for the world’s poor.
When it comes to making an investment, we want to know things like:
The answers to these types of question will guide decisions by GIF and others on whether and how to scale up the innovations.
Examples of ongoing GIF-related research
Many of GIF’s investments have research at their heart.
Reducing Anemia through Food Fortification at Scale
There are several ways for researchers to get involved
If you have an innovative idea that you’d like to test for proof of concept, you can apply for a pilot grant (up to $230,000). If you’re past the pilot stage and are ready to rigorously test impact and cost-effectiveness, you can apply for a test and transition grant (up to $2.3 million).
If you are interested in evaluating an innovation being implemented by a government, business, or NGO, team up with them and apply for funding. The application could come either from the implementer or the researcher. For innovations that already have good supporting evidence and want to generate further learning as they expand and evolve, total funding can go up to $15 million.
If you’ve already evaluated an innovation and found it to be promising, let us know about it, and encourage the innovator to apply to GIF for scale-up.
We are also eager to hear from researchers with innovative approaches to reducing the cost and improving the utility of monitoring and evaluation, including promotion of feedback for adaptive implementation of projects.
Apply Now!
We accept applications on an ongoing basis throughout the year – a simple two-page initial application can be submitted here, and projects selected for further diligence will then be asked to submit a full application. Applications that pass internal review are submitted to a decision panel, which recommends funding.
If evidence is your passion too, we want to hear from you!
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