The Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development is a competitive research grant program under the umbrella of the Global Development Awards Competition (GDAC), administered by GDN, funded under the Policy and Human Resources Development Fund (PHRD) trust fund managed by the World Bank, and generously supported by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan. This award program identifies and funds outstanding research proposals in low- or middle-income countries with high potential for excellence in research and clear policy implications for addressing development issues.
The three winning projects will receive grants worth US$ 60,000. The awards will be given to the researcher(s) whose proposals hold the greatest promise for improving our understanding of development issues and puts forth clear, articulate and well researched policy implications to address relevant developmental problems.
The first prize winner will receive a grant of US$ 30,000. The second prize and third prize winners will receive a grant of US$ 20,000 and US$ 10,000, respectively. The funds will be used to support the research work proposed by the winners towards the completion of their research. Additionally, awardees will be paired with world-class academic in their area of work who will play the role of a Scientific and Technical Advisor.
Finalists will be invited to join a communications training in preparation of a pitch of their project in front of a high-level Jury, which will decide which research proposal to award, at a physical event in March/April 2023 (details to be defined) and projects are expected to start in May 2023. In case social distancing policies do not make travelling possible, the event will be held in a virtual setting.
GENDER BIAS
GDN recognizes the imbalance in the opportunities provided to women in professional research, as well as the consequences of unconscious gender bias in review processes in environments across the world. GDN also recognizes the impact these factors can have on the prospects of women researchers in securing awards and funding.
Starting with the 2022 edition, GDN is planning to embed more equitable grant-making processes to guarantee that more women have the opportunity to compete and win while still maintaining a high-quality standard on the evaluation. Therefore, GDN will institute a selection process for GDAC where we will make all efforts to guarantee gender representation amongst the 3 finalists of the ORD category.
We are taking this step in parallel to a revamped Capacity-building Framework for individuals or NGOs that are interested in GDAC since we will aim to support them regardless of their success in the review process. This means that we will develop activities for prospective applicants, grantees, and past grantees so that they develop some skills useful for other competitions or endeavors. We hope this will contribute to building capacity and empowering southern researchers including women.
CONNECTOR GRANT
The 2022 edition will introduce the Connector Grant which aims to stimulate international cooperation through the development of collaborative projects to support scale-up efforts with research-based evidence. The Connector grant will be awarded to ORD grantees, based on a project developed in collaboration with the MIDP grantees who received the JSDF grant. This grant will support the award recipients’ collaborative efforts towards measuring and analyzing scale-up impact, as well as to enhance the robustness of their M&E activities. The application to this grant will only take place after the full implementation of the funded ORD project and will not be part of the selection of the ORD winners.
ORD WINNERS
NEXT STEPS
The first prize winner will receive a grant of US$ 30,000. The second prize and third prize winners will receive a grant of US$ 20,000 and US$ 10,000, respectively. The funds will be used to support the research work proposed by the winners towards the completion of their research.
Awardees will be paired with world-class academic in their area of work who will play the role of a Scientific and Technical Advisor and will be chosen in coordination with GDN.
View the recording of the public session where the finalists presented their proposals.
Call for ORD Proposals I Application Template I FAQs
Interested in the development projects’ category of GDAC? Check the 2022 edition of the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project (MIDP).