The Department for International Development (DFID) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Growth Research Programme seeks to generate high quality evidence on economic growth in low income countries.
The first call for proposals focused on three core areas:
- Financial sector development and growth;
- Agriculture and growth;
- Raising productivity and innovation.
ODI is delighted to have been contracted to establish a Directorate for the programme, from 2012 to 2016, to provide intellectual leadership and oversight, ensure synergy with other growth research, and enhance the programme’s impact. The Directorate will collaborate with DFID and ESRC to shape the research agenda, broaden the range of researchers involved, establish a strong international profile, synthesise lessons, and disseminate results so they can be used by policy-makers and research users around the globe.
The Directorate will establish an international advisory group of leading growth researchers, chaired initially by the Director of ODI, Alison Evans. The Research themes will be led by Dr. Dirk Willem te Velde and Dr. Steve Wiggins renowned specialists on innovation, agriculture and finance, while Louise Shaxson, who specialises in the interface between research and policy, will lead on policy engagement and communication. John Young, ODI’s Director of Impact Assessment and Partnerships, and the Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) programme, will coordinate the work to help ensure that the research delivers impact during the programme and beyond.
The Directorate’s focus will be on:
- Building intellectual leadership on growth as one of the most important drivers of poverty reduction in low income countries.
- Enhancing engagement and uptake to maximise the impact and influence of the research in economic policy-making, and to stimulate demand from policy-makers for evidence, through horizon scanning and other innovative approaches.
- Engaging with researchers and policy-makers in low income countries to understand policy needs for research on growth; develop robust research; facilitate collaboration for grant proposals; share lessons; and to communicate existing research.
The ESRC and DFID are pleased to announce that they will be funding a Second Research Call. To find out further details and to apply, visit the ESRC webpage. Please note that the call deadline for submissions is 25 April 2013.
For further information about the Directorate, please contact Cecilia Oppenheim, Programme Manager at ODI.
