The Human Trafficking Research Initiative (HTRI) invites proposals from researchers and organizations that intend to design and carry out studies on how to reduce human trafficking or respond to the needs of human trafficking victims, but need some additional time and support to push the research project to the next stage.

With this call for proposals, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) solicits proposals from researcher teams interested in expanding the evidence to further investigate this important topic. The fund will consider human trafficking research projects from all approaches to reduce human trafficking, including prevention, protection, prosecution, advocacy, and reestablishment programs. The primary focus of the fund for this round of study is to strengthen the evidence around potentially impactful programs.

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) established the Human Trafficking Research Initiative (HTRI) to work with researchers and partner organizations to expand the evidence base on effective solutions to reduce modern slavery and human trafficking.

In this round, the HTRI will consider proposals that include:

• Small research pilots of promising interventions: These are grants that would fund the cost of a small pilot to assess the feasibility and value of a larger research project. These grants are intended to be the first step of formal research for promising interventions and anti-trafficking activities. Programs with monitoring and evaluation data, administrative data, and/or sound theories of change that indicate promising impact would be a good fit for this grant (for example, an employer-incentive scheme that has qualitative reports of success, or a reintegration program with promising signs of reduced rates of re-trafficking). They anticipate funding between $10,000 to $35,000 per pilot. 
• Seed money for a travel grant or staff time to build on nascent research ideas: In normal times, IPA has issued small travel grants for researchers to develop partnerships and explore the logistics of promising research ideas. While this grant can be used for travel, they recognize it may not be safe due to COVID-19. Therefore, they encourage proposals that outline how project ideas and contextual factors can be appropriately explored given COVID19 constraints. For instance, site visits by nationally based academics are highly encouraged in lieu of international travel. IPA country offices are also able to provide support. They anticipate funding between $2,500 and $15,000 per award. 
• Small grants for data work using existing sources to examine program impact: These are small grants that will support researchers to use a partner’s administrative data or other existing data sets, conduct desk research to deepen previous research analysis, or create new analysis to help inform research project design and viability. They expect to see applications either explain how existing analysis could be improved or potentially be used to draw additional conclusions (for example, how further analysis of existing social network platforms can further isolate trafficking recruitment mechanisms). They would expect these applications to include fairly in-depth analysis plans. Preference will be given to applicants who chart how their results can influence future research. They anticipate funding between $5,000 and $10,000 per award.

Duration: Projects are expected to launch quickly before the middle of 2021, submit a substantive progress report by December 31, 2021 and close by March 31, 2022.

Eligibility Criteria

• Researchers must be affiliated with a research institution or a university and either hold a PhD or be currently pursuing a PhD in a relevant social science discipline. They must demonstrate experience in field research and randomized evaluations.
• The Human Trafficking Research Initiative will give preference to underrepresented researchers in the field. They encourage applications from minority researchers, such as women, junior scholars, first-generation college graduates, and citizens of lower- or middle-income countries. Local researchers and local organizations are necessary for the success of many human trafficking programs and assessments; this will be incorporated into the proposal assessment.
• All projects must benefit people and communities for lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Please note that project activities and interventions can take place anywhere, but the intended beneficiaries must be from LMICs. Preference will be given to projects in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Costa Rica, India, Guinea, and Senegal.

For more information, visit IPA.