To expand the indigenous knowledge base and support policymakers in the evidence-based policies making process, the federal government will launch a competitive grants program for policy-oriented research costing Rs. 1.756 billion.
In Pakistan, most of the existing research on socioeconomic issues is donor-funded, hence donor-driven, having its own preferences and agenda that do not necessarily align with the national needs and hardly reflect complexities in public policy processes at policy and operational levels, according to official documents seen by ProPakistani.
The revised project for the competitive grants program is being executed by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), whose core function is advising the Government of Pakistan through policy-oriented research on critical economic development and public policy issues.
But due to the lack of funds, PIDE is unable to conduct policy research to support policymakers in the evidence-based policies making process. It also creates huge gaps in the indigenous knowledge base, which often leads to weak decision-making. The grants received from all the government sources to PIDE only meet the salaries and other operational costs of the PIDE, with no money left to undertake research, therefore, the proposed project will be launched to bridge the funding gap.
In Pakistan, most of the existing research on socioeconomic issues is donor-funded, hence donor-driven, having its own preferences and agenda that do not necessarily align with the national needs and hardly reflect complexities in public policy processes at policy and operational levels.
The project is divided into two streams for generating policy-oriented research. First, under the Competitive Grants Programme (CGP), research proposals will be invited on specific themes/ topics decided by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC). Secondly, Demand-Driven Research (DDR) is a proactive evidence-based research approach to inform governments’ policy-making processes.
Apart from CGP and DDR, Panels of Experts (such as Panel of Chief Economists, Panel of Practitioners, Panel of Academicians, etc. and Policy Forums (such as on education, health, public sector management, foreign aid, etc.) will be created for knowledge exchange and informed discussion on pressing public policy issues facing Pakistan.
Project Objectives
- Reduce the research-policy gap by stimulating economic and social science research and debate across Pakistan.
- Build a network to stimulate internally defined and produced policy-relevant research within a context of crowd-sourced ideas.
- Provide a knowledge-sharing/generating platform where different actors can present and share evidence-based research to inform decision-making in the government.
- Revisit the future policy agenda in line with the evidence produced in this program.
- Build capacity and improve policymaking and implementation by involving and engaging local universities, think tanks, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders.
Scope of Work
The project will provide independent, policy-relevant studies that would bring specificity and analysis to the development objectives and strategies articulated in broad terms by the Planning Commission of Pakistan.
Research proposals would be solicited on the following themes, and the choice of topics and research design would be left to the individual researcher in keeping with the philosophy of a bottom-up research agenda.
- Growth and investment
- Government & public policy processes
- Governance & public sector management
- Public financial management
- Poverty reduction
- Social protection and social sector development
- Foreign aid effectiveness
- Demography, labor force & unemployment Human resource management
- Cities governance & urban development
- Water and energy
- Agriculture and rural development
- Markets & regulations
- Climate change and the environment
- Transport & communications
- Trade & domestic commerce
- Housing
- Youth development.
