The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) U.S. Global Development Lab is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity: Bringing Research to Impact for Development, Global Engagement, and Utilization (BRIDGE-U). BRIDGE-U aims to engage Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in USAID Partner Countries to promote the effective utilization of existing research outputs for development programs, policies, and practice. BRIDGE-U strives to build the knowledge base around the research utilization process. The primary Objectives of BRIDGE-U are to:
1.Advance research utilization in a broad technical discipline/sector(s) with clear implications for national or regional development goals;
2.Strengthen the pipeline of local researchers, policy makers, and/or development practitioners skilled in facilitating research utilization; and
3.Build the knowledge base around how to most effectively use research outputs to create development impact.
BRIDGE-U is released as an Addendum to the Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnership Annual Program Statement (STIP APS). The STIP APS is an unfunded mechanism designed to allow USAID to easily collaborate with global HEIs and other key stakeholders to solve high-priority development challenges through the use of innovative tools and approaches.
Application Deadline
Five-page Concept Notes, using the required template, are due by 5:00pm EST on January 31, 2020.
Awards
Estimated 1-2 awards of $10-15 million each over 5 years.
Eligibility
Eligibility for the BRIDGE-U Addendum is restricted to HEIs. The primary Applicant can be a HEI from anywhere in the world, but the proposed project must involve significant participation by: (1) one or more HEIs in a USAID Partner Country, as well as (2) at least one additional local institutional partner (public, private, civil society, NGO, etc.), as required by the STIP APS. Thus, non-HEI organizations are expected to be meaningfully engaged in the proposed activities, however, only HEIs are eligible to serve as the Prime for this Award. Additional information about eligibility requirements can be found in the full BRIDGE-U Addendum.
Questions
Any questions about the Addendum must be submitted to Julia Banks, jbanks@usaid.gov with a copy to LABCDR_Feedback@usaid.gov by 12:00 pm EST on December 30, 2019. Please refer to the STIP APS and full BRIDGE-U Addendum for more detailed information about the Objectives, review criteria, and Application process.