Population, Reproductive Health and Economic Development

The research programme PopDev will help to illuminate how expanding access to sexual and reproductive health information and services contributes to reducing poverty and improving equitable economic development. A first open call for proposals was released in 2007 with the result that two research programmes have been awarded in 2008. (See Programme Website) A next call has been released in December 2011 with a deadline for pre-proposals at 15 March 2012. This call is a joint initiative of NWO-WOTRO (NL), the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC, UK), the Population Reference Bureau (PRB, USA) and the Research Council of Norway (RCN), in collaboration with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Hewlett, USA). The call is managed by PRB and proposals should thus be submitted to PRB.

The specific aims of the current joint call for proposals are:

•  to fund high-quality scientific research contributing to knowledge that leads to reproductive health and population policy choices to achieve maximum economic benefits;
• to enhance production of development-relevant knowledge, engagement of researchers with societal stakeholders and availability of research results relevant for policy and practice at country level;
• to strengthen local research capacity in this research field;
• to enhance international collaboration and networking between research groups in this research.

The call focuses on the following themes:

• The impact of reproductive health on women’s economic empowerment, particularly as measured by economic outcomes at the household and individual levels.
• Relationships between reproductive health/family planning (including population policies and dynamics) and macroeconomic outcomes in countries.

A description of the programme and call can be downloaded from the website of PRB

Who can apply

Applications that apply for funding by WOTRO should be joint undertakings by research partners from eligible Dutch research institutions and institutions in Low and Middle- Income countries. Applications focused on least developed countries, especially in sub- Sahara Africa, are particularly encouraged. Applicants applying for funding by one of the other agencies involve dare referred to the eligibility rules of these agencies (ESRC, PRB, RCN).

For WOTRO, the main applicant should be a senior researcher from a reputable research centre in either the Netherlands or sub-Saharan Africa.

Researchers from abroad may apply

What can be applied for

Grants will be provided for promising interdisciplinary small programmes (IP) consisting
of at least two interrelated postdoc projects. The maximum size of an IP funded by
WOTRO is set at € 320,000, the maximum duration is 2 years. Multilateral proposals, as
explained in the call, might apply for bonus funding (€ 100.000 at most) to allow for
funding involvement of an extra researcher working in the additional coalition involved.

When can be applied

• Closing date for submitting proposals is 15 March 2012 23:59 hrs

Extra Information

The call is a joint initiative of NWO-WOTRO (NL), ESRC (UK), PRB (USA) and RCN
(Norway). All applications should be submitted to the managing agency PRB. Applicants
should identify in their application to which of the agencies they apply for funding their
proposal. A budget of approximately €2,2 million is available for up to eight research
programmes in total. WOTRO will fund two programmes at most.

Criteria

Applications will be evaluated using explicit criteria as listed in the call. To be selected
proposals should combine scientific excellence, relevance for the central questions of the
call and potential impact on policy and practice, with added value concerning
international collaboration.

Procedure

The application procedure is described on the website of the managing agency PRB. The
link to this page is given under Documentation.

Financiers

The WOTRO PopDev programme is a joint initiative of NWO-WOTRO and the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The current Joint Call is funded by NWO-WOTRO (NL), the Economic Social Research
Council (UK), the Population Reference Bureau (PRB, USA), the Research Council of
Norway and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Hewlett, USA).

Contacts

• Dr. Marlene Lee (PRB, joint call coordinator)
  phone: +1 202-939-5445, e-mail: mlee@prb.org
• Mw. dr. ir. G. Tuitert (WOTRO PopDev programmacoordinator)
  phone: +31 (0)70 344 07 63, e-mail: g.tuitert@nwo.nl
• email popdev@nwo.nl