Call for Expressions of Interest: Regional Hubs for Climate Change and Health Research

Deadline Date: April 05, 2024

Donor Name: International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Grant Size: More than $1 million

https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/funding/call-expressions-interest-regional-hubs-climate-change-and-health

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is pleased to announce a call for expressions of interest on research to address knowledge and capacity gaps at the intersection of climate change and health in the Global South.

Through this call, up to five institutions will be funded to establish regional hubs in the Global South. These hubs will initiate and manage research sub-grants in West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Thematic focus areas

• Research programs developed by a research hub will seek to strengthen health systems and related systems to advance an understanding of, and action on, the following themes:
  • Responsive health and climate data and information systems that are interoperable, disaggregated, intersectional and secure;
  • Development of a skilled, diverse and inclusive health workforce, and enhanced surge capacity to prevent and respond to climate-induced health risks and shocks;
  • Mobilization of equitable health policy and services research (including relevant economic, political, and social factors) for better care, resilience and gender-responsiveness of health systems. 

Funding Information

• Applicants invited to the second stage of this funding opportunity and whose full proposals are recommended for funding by an external review committee, will have up to 48 months and a budget of up to CAD4 million to implement their proposed research network. The projects duration will not exceed 48 months, including all research activities and final reporting.
• Funding will support grants to establish research hubs and implementation support, including research projects, knowledge sharing, stakeholder engagement, communication, and monitoring and evaluation. Thorough integration of gender equality and inclusion principles must be demonstrated.
• The grant amount available is anticipated to be up to CAD4 million per hub for up to four years. This amount may increase or decrease subject to available funding. Note that IDRC is dedicated to identifying and developing collaborations with other funding organizations and stakeholders to enhance the availability of funding for this strategic initiative and to create, where appropriate, opportunities for collaboration and knowledge mobilization related to the scope of this funding opportunity.

Outcomes

• The expected outcomes for this funding opportunity are:
  • Increasing availability of disaggregated and intersectional climate and health data that are interoperable, openly accessible and enable community and health system actors to depict the complex intersections between climate change and health;
  • Equipping policymakers with newly available climate, health and inequality data/evidence and utilizing these sources to design and implement an integrated approach to strengthening gender responsive health systems with a focus on primary healthcare;
  • Improving capacities and involvement of individuals, organizations and networks within the geographic scope of the research hub based in LMICs (with strong representation, participation, and leadership from equity-seeking groups) to design, implement, assess and inform solutions toward more climate-resilient health systems;
  • Enhancing health systems’ surge capacity and preparing the health systems’ workforce, in particular in community and primary health care settings, to fully integrate gender and inclusion-sensitive measures to respond to climate-induced health risks and shocks, and equipping it with contextualized, robust, and equity-based knowledge, systems and networks;
  • Increasing the application, reach and impact of generated evidence by strategically positioning efforts at subnational, national or regional levels.

Indicative scope of work for the hubs

• The following are indicative activities that could be performed by the regional research hub.
  • Set up and manage the hub:
    • Develop and run a call for proposals on climate change and health that is aligned with the thematic priorities of this funding opportunity and responsive to regional contexts.
    • Develop and manage a peer review committee, made up of multi-disciplinary and diverse panel of experts, to assess applications to the call for proposals.
  • Support to research cohort of the hub (the hub network):
    • Provide technical and methodological assistance to sub-grantees as required.
    • Ensure hub projects and activities integrate gender equality and inclusion approaches into their proposed research projects.
  • International collaboration and engagement:
    • Coordinate with other regional hubs to facilitate cross-regional communication, learning and collaboration where appropriate.
    • Coordinate with IDRC and other funding partners to engage in global and multi-disciplinary exchange and organize joint initiatives and events as appropriate.
  • Contributing to advancing knowledge and policy dialogues:
    • Play an active role in knowledge sharing and mobilization activities at the hub level to support understanding, uptake and scaling of climate and health research to inform policy and practice.
    • Assist all sub-grantees to make their data sets comply with open access aims and rules.
  • Monitoring and evaluation:
    • Design and implement a framework for results tracking and the synthesis of lessons learned from across the different projects supported by the hub.
• Please note that the organization(s) selected to host each regional research hub will not be involved in implementing any research project on climate change and health using funds from this grant. However, the Lead Applicant Organization and its collaborating partners may set aside up to 10% of the total grant to conduct relevant situational analyses and/or cases studies relevant to the expected outcomes (see Key Objectives).

Eligibility Criteria

• Expressions of Interest need to meet the following eligibility criteria to be considered:
  • The Lead Applicant Organisation to this call must be headquartered in an eligible country in the respective region where it operates (West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa). Organizations that do not meet this requirement are welcome to apply as part of a consortium.
  • The Lead Applicant Organization must have independent legal status (or “legal personality”) and be capable of contracting in their own right and name, receiving and administering funds, and have authority to direct proposed project activities. Applicants must be able to demonstrate legal status through written documentation. Legal status will only be reviewed if and when applicants are selected following technical selection.
  • The Call is not open to individuals or government ministries, and agencies or branches, offices and chapters of international organizations, but it is open to public research institutes, think tanks and universities. Regional or country offices of international organisations are ineligible to apply as Lead Applicant Organizations even if these offices are registered as independent legal entities in their countries of location.

For more information, visit IDRC.