Urban Services Initiative (USI)

Urban Services Initiative (USI)

Request for Proposals

Fall2014 – Round 5

Release Date: Friday, 7 November 2014

J-PAL’s Urban Services Initiative (USI) is calling for proposals from J-PAL affiliates and USI affiliated researchers to conduct randomized evaluations of innovative methods designed to improve the welfare of the urban poor in Asia and Africa. USI encourages proposals for evaluations of interventions that cover a broad range of urban issues including: water, sanitation, and hygiene; migration, migrant livelihoods and welfare; energy and the environment; transportation; housing and infrastructure; and delivery of health and education services.

USI funds both pilot studies and full research projects. For this round of grants, the deadline for proposal submission is:

Midnight U.S. East Coast time, Sunday,25January 2015

Note: This request for proposals has been sent to intended recipients who are eligible to apply for USIresearch grants. Please do not circulate externally. If you have questions regarding your eligibility to participate, please send an email to Thomas Chupein, USI Manager, .

Background

The Urban Services Initiative (USI), managed by J-PAL and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to identify and rigorously evaluate innovative methods designed to improve the welfare of the urban poor in Asia and Africa. USI covers a broad range of urban issues including water, sanitation, and hygiene, migrant integration and livelihoods, energy and the environment, transportation, housing and infrastructure, and delivery of health and education services.

Through use of randomized evaluations, the initiative aims to better understand and address important barriers to the provision of critical urban services, including collective action failures, political economy constraints, low willingness to pay for services, and difficulties that may arise from the presence of a mix of transient and permanent populations.Research must concern issues specific to the urban context and take place in urban and/or peri-urban areas.

To date, USI has invested in ten unique studies, awarding over US $1million across four rounds of competitive grantmaking. The initiative has funded both full randomized evaluations and small-scale pilots designed to set the foundation for full randomized studies. This document provides details on the proposal process for USI studies. For the Fall 2014 round, USI expects to award up to USD 1 million in research grants.

To submit a proposal for consideration, please complete the application requirements described in this document and email to by no later than midnight (12 am) U.S. East Coast Time on Sunday, 25 January 2015.

Priority Research Topics

Below is an overview of some research areas of interest to USI. This is not an exhaustive list andif you are uncertain about a research project’s eligibility for USI funds, please contact Thomas Chupein, USI Manager, at .

Water and Sanitation: Access to safe water and sanitation is essential for health, security, livelihood, and quality of life. However, the developing world, particularly Asia and Africa, is lagging in water coverage, and even more so, in sanitation coverage. Close to 2.4 billion people are expected to still be lacking access to proper sanitation in 2015. While the problem of inadequate access to water and sanitation exists both in rural and urban areas, the problem is particularly acute in densely populated cities. While there is vast literature addressing the impact of access to improved water and sanitation services on health outcomes, there is surprisingly little rigorous evidence on interventions that effectively and sustainably improve access to these services for the urban poor, thereby necessitating novel approaches that require rigorous testing.

Migration:In the last three decades, the urban population growth in developing countries has exceeded that of rural areasthree-fold. By 2007, more people for the first time in history were living in cities than in rural areas. In many cities, investment has not kept pace with rapid and unplanned urbanization, and consequently, infrastructure and services are often stressed beyond capacity. This rapid spatial shift in population coupled with inadequate investment has led to a phenomenon in developing countries known as the “urbanization of poverty”, in which cities are the site where an increasing proportion of the poor live. Migration affects a range of services, including access to safe, affordable housing and infrastructure, transportation, reliable and clean energy, and environmental quality. Recent migrants are not properly integrated into the urban fabric and potentially poorly connected both to urban services and to the good jobs that would help them integrate better. Understanding the drivers behind migration and ways to improve migrant welfare is critical to improving quality of life in cities.

Public Services: The delivery of public services in many developing country cities often suffers from inadequate and/or low-quality supply and/or insufficient demand. Political economy issues are highly relevant to service delivery and constitute an important USI research question. As an example, information campaigns that seek to improve voter knowledge in slums could be a topical research project. In addition to services such as energy and transportation, this topic includes health and education services, which are critical inputs to human capital formation, economic growth, and a skilled and productive urban labor force. Strengtheningservice delivery in these sectorsin a distinctlyurban context requires rigorous testing of innovative projects and would be eligible for USI funding.

While large infrastructure overhaul–if and when it is possible–has great potential benefits, various public finance, planning, budgetary, and institutional constraints limit how much can be achieved in the short run through large-scale investment alone. In this context, the strategic focus of USI will be to design or identify, and rigorously test innovative micro- and medium-scale solutions to the problem of urban services in developing countries.

Proposal Types

USI studies should be designed to test scalable, cost-effective interventions that improve thewelfare of the urban poor in Asia and Africa. Three types of proposals will be considered:

1. Pilot Studies: These grants are limited to a maximum amount of $50,000. Pilots are defined as studies with a clear research question, but for which: a) the design and implementation of an evaluation requires further testing, pilot data, and/or partnership development, and/or b) the profitability of technology has not yet been demonstrated under “real world” conditions.

1. Full Research Projects: These grants are for research projects at a mature stage of development. Not only must the research question be clear, but applicants must also demonstrate a strong partnership commitment from implementing partners, a robust randomization design, well-defined research instruments, and sample size estimates. There is no funding cap for these grants, howeverit is expected that the total award for a single project will not exceed $400,000 over the life of the project (across this and future USI funding rounds). An important criterion for proposal evaluation is the ‘value for money’ generated.

1. Off-Cycle Pilot Studies: This category normally applies to proposals for pilot studies that face time constraints and need to receive funding before the end of the process for this round or between funding rounds. In order to have a proposal considered for an off-cycle grant, it must have a clear statement or proof of urgency (e.g. the launch of an intervention by a partner). In exceptional circumstances, larger proposals can be considered off cycle, though it will typically not be the case.

Researcher Eligibility

The network of eligible applicants for USI includes all J-PAL affiliates, J-PAL post-docs, and a select group of researchers specializing in urban services that have been pre-approved to participate in USI. Proposals may include collaborators outside of this network but the principal investigator (PI) must be a J-PAL or USI researcher. If you have questions regarding your eligibility to participate, please send an email to Thomas Chupein, USI Manager,.

Local Researchers

USI is committed to nurturing the capacity of local researchers working on urban issues. Proposals submitted in collaboration with local researchers, including USI post-doctoral fellows (profiles at will receive additional credit per USI evaluation criteria (detailed immediately below). Any expenses related to the involvement of local researchers will not be a part of the funding cap and will be reimbursed separately.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

In this round of grantmaking, referees will score each proposalby the nine criteria listed in the table below and will provide a 1-2 sentence justification for each score.

Relevance to USI

Does the study address questions crucial to understanding the problem of achieving greater coverage of urban services in developing countries?

Academic Contribution

Does the study make a significant contribution toward advancing knowledge in the field? Does it answer new questions, or introduce novel methods, measures, or interventions? Is there academic relevance? How does the study compare with the existing body of research? Does the research strategy provide a bridge between a practical experiment and underlying economic theories?

Value for Money

Is the cost of the study commensurate with the value of expected lessons learned?

Technical design

Does the research design appropriately answer the questions outlined in the proposal? Are there threats that could compromise the validity of results? If so, does the proposal sufficiently address those threats?

Project Viability

Is the relationship with the implementing partner strong and likely to endure through the entire study? Are there any other logistical or political obstacles that might threaten the completion of the study, for example, government authorization or Human Subjects review?

Local Researchers

Will the study be conducted in collaboration with local researchers/post-docs - including those in fields complementary to the social sciences? Has the J-PAL affiliate been a mentor to local researchers/post-docs applying to USI in a previous round?

Policy Relevance

Is there demonstrated demand from policy makers for more or better information to influence their decisions in this area?

Scalability

Will results from the intervention have broader policy implications? How, if at all, will the “lessons learned” be relevant beyond this test case? Can the intervention be effectively replicated or scaled up?

Data Publication

Will the data collected during the evaluation be made publicly available? What data will be published 2 years after projects start, 3 years after the project start, and at the end of the project?

Proposal Application Guidelines

Your narrative (not to exceed 5 pages in length) should clearly describe the underlying project and the evaluation, including a summary of the policy problem that motivates this research, description of the treatment, evaluation design, target population, and implementing partners. The narrative should also address each of the topics listed in the Proposal Evaluation Criteria listed above.

The narrative should also include a 100-150 word abstract of the study, which will be uploaded to USI’s web page if the project receives funding.

1. Pilot Studies:

Award ceiling: $50,000

USI will accept pilot proposals for projects that are at an early stage of developmentand that lay the groundwork for a full project.

Pilot studies can be qualitative or quantitative in nature, and can serve as a diagnostic to reveal barriers to the delivery of effective, quality urban services. They may explore the potential profitability of a technology that has not yet been demonstrated under “real world” conditions. Proposals can also be designed to test the efficacy of an intervention or an evaluation design, to acquire pilot data, and/or to pilot a project in the same form in which it would be scaled-up if successful. The research question should be very clear. Pilot proposals are not expected to fully elaborate on their project design but should explain how they are a necessary step in the development of a full evaluation. In particular, they should explain the conceptual and methodological distinction between the pilot study and any future follow-on studies as well as what exactly the pilot will enable researchers to learn.

The proposal should clearly address the following topics:

• Problem or issue to be addressed;
• Project’s contribution to academic literature;
• Description of the treatment;
• Research outcome goals;
• Description of the target population; and
• Description of implementing partner.

1. Full Research Proposals

Award Ceiling: None (historical range: $80,000 - $350,000)

Full research proposals should address all of the topics noted above for pilot studies, but should also include:

• A clear explanation of the evaluation design;

• Power calculations; and
• Demonstration of commitment from implementing partner.

Applicants may also choose to discuss the project’s policy relevance, potential for scale-up, local capacity development, and potential cost-effectiveness.

Proposal Evaluation Process

Grant makingwill follow a two-stage process to assess the quality and appropriateness of all proposals. First, proposals will be distributed for peer review to referees selected from a roster of researchers and policy experts with experience in the urban services sector or in the region from whichmany proposals of that round are drawn. The roster will be assembled by the three co-chairs of USI and will not have a conflict of interest.[1] Each application will be reviewed by three (3) referees: two academics and one policy expert, at least one of whom is also a USI Review Board member.

Second, following peer review, proposals will be reviewed and scored by the five members of the USI Review Board, which includes: (i) two of the three co-chairs of USI, (ii) the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Program Officer for USI, (iii) one external policy expert, and (v) J-PAL’s Director of Policy or a senior member of the policy team. Proposals will be scored using the evaluation criteria described earlier in this document.

During the review process, the USI Review Board may contact applicants to clarify certain aspects of a proposal. Following the two independent levels of review, The USI Review Board holds a meeting to discuss projects, review referee comments, and make final funding decisions. Review Board Members with a conflict of interest must recuse themselves from this process. All proposals will be categorized as either: (1) unconditionally approved; (2) conditionally approved with minor revisions or clarifications required; (3) request for revise and resubmit; or (4) not approved.

If you would like to appeal a decision of the USI Review Board, you may contact USI’s Manager, Thomas within one week of the results’ announcement with a document detailing the reasons for appeal (maximum two pages in length), whichwill then be communicated to the USI Board.

Proposals for off-cycle pilot studies will be reviewed by the USI Co-Chairs who may decide to accept or reject the project for funding, or include the proposal in the regular review process for this round.

Timeline for Fall2014

Grant Conditions

Applicants who are awarded a grant will be asked to do the following:

• Volunteer to peer review proposals in future USI rounds for which they are not requesting funding.

• Trial Registration: Before starting field work, grantees must register their trial with the AEA RCT Registry ( Registration includes 18 required fields (such as your name and a small subset of your IRB requirements,) and the entire process should take less than 20 minutes. There is also the opportunity to include more information, including power calculations and an optional pre-analysis plan. USI will contact grantees at the start of field work to request the assigned registration number. For questions and support with the registry, please contact Keesler Welch ().

• Submit data collection instruments, and at the end of the evaluation, make actual data available through the USI website.
• Collect and report to USI, using a USI template, projectcost data that is sufficient to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis.

• Provide a brief annual progress report as well as a final narrative and financial report within 60 days of completion of the award period.

• Produce a working paper based on research results within a pre-agreed upon time period.

• Prepare a simple “How To” toolkit that can guide practitioners and policymakers to replicate and scale up interventions that are found to have a proven impact. For each project, the format and content of the toolkit shall be finalized in collaboration with the USI team.

• Participate in at least one of USI’s activities on a mutually agreed date and place. This activity could be an evidence workshop, a matchmaking conference, or a presentation to one of USI’s donors, or at a conference that is attended by sector experts and/or practitioners.

Applicants are encouraged to budget for these activities at the outset.