Global Girls Research Initiative.

Descriptions

As announced by the Secretary of State at the Girl Summit 2014 on 22.7.2014, the Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting a Global Girls Research Initiative. As part of this initiative, DFID will publish a new tender opportunity in early Autumn 2014, where we will be seeking partners for a new 9 year programme of research on ‘what works’ to transform the lives of girls. Many girls face inequalities in areas of health, education, employment and access to economic and natural resources, which inhibit their opportunities in life and can perpetuate cycles of poverty. These are further compounded by factors such as early and forced marriage and violence which have grave impact on multiple dimensions of their lives. While there has been some increasing investment and attention to girls, little is understood what strategies and interventions are most effective in which contexts and why and what impact this may have over time. This programme will address this gap by generating new evidence on ‘what works’ to transform the lives of poor adolescent girls to enable them to move out of poverty. Results will directly inform DFID and other international and national actors to develop or revise policies and programmes to more effectively reach poor adolescent girls in developing countries, particularly in the areas of reducing child, early and forced marriage, violence and economic empowerment. Research will focus on:— What interventions work to strengthen assets of adolescent girls and enable them to move out of poverty? At what ages are these most effective and in which contexts, including conflict and fragile states.— How the enabling environment — in particular social norms, policies and other institutions — transforms to reduce discrimination against girls, and what interventions enable or drive this, including working with men and boys?— Understanding and assessing the impact of investments and efforts in the medium and long-term on girls, their families, communities and state over time.It is anticipated that the programme will support implementation and longitudinal research linked to multi-sectoral programmes, manage a competitive grants scheme on research on social and political institutions, synthesize state-of-the-art evidence and communicate findings effectively to stakeholders to ensure results directly influence policy and practice. It will involve research in 4 countries in Africa, Asia and possibly the Middle East. Countries will be finalised during a feasibility study, with criteria likely to include the presence of inter-sectoral and multi-level interventions, the feasibility of research design, research capacity within country, and ensuring a diversity of political and geographic contexts. It is anticipated that a single consortium of suppliers would manage the global programme including finalization of country studies, research design and analysis, management of competitive grants and research uptake activities. This Consortium would involve Northern and Southern experts and have experience in implementation and longitudinal research, research uptake and management of large complex research programmes. Further information can be found by registering on DFIDs supplier portal: https://supplierportal.dfid.gov.uk/selfservice/The project reference number is 6769.