Addis Ababa, July 24, 2024 (FBC) – Oxford Policy Management (OPM) in partnership with the World Bank, UK International Development and other stakeholders launched DEEP Challenge Fund in Ethiopia project today in attendance of government officials, scholars and representatives of various local and international organizations.
It is stated on the launching event that DEEP Challenge Fund in Ethiopia aims to improve national strategy, policy, and programs affecting poverty and vulnerability to poverty in Ethiopia, by funding national researchers to generate insights and evidence tailored to policymakers’ needs.
The research focus, aims and scope of the DEEP Challenge Fund in Ethiopia are shaped by Ethiopian policymakers and other key stakeholders.
The research priorities have been identified by evidence gap mapping work carried out jointly by concerned government institutions and OPM during a workshop held on 21 May 2024.
Director of the Agricultural Economics Research Directorate at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Tadelle Mammo (PhD), stated that DEEP Challenge Fund in Ethiopia would help generate accurate data that would help identify the level of poverty in the country and device suitable policies and strategies to address the problem.
Tadelle noted that the fund is instrumental to supporting the efforts to tackle poverty in Ethiopia.
Michael Adnew, OPM Ethiopia Country Representative, for his part, said the DEEP Challenge Fund in Ethiopia aims to make sure decision makers would have the right evidence to formulate policies and strategies to alleviate poverty in the country.
“Now in the context of Ethiopia we had an engagement way back in May to identify the priority areas so our team have looked into the priority areas and have done an initial assessment of the body of research to identify if there are any gaps within the research and evidence,” he noted.
The launching event is a major step to identify and inform potential researchers and guide the research areas, he said.
“The DEEP Challenge Fund call will be announced coming Friday. So starting this Friday, researchers can go into our Deep Ethiopia challenge fund page, access the application and then start applying to get the funds. The researchers have 30 days to prepare and respond to this call,” Michael explained.
Charles Sokile (PhD), Country Director of Oxford Policy Management Tanzania, stated the fund would help provide evidence for tackling extreme poverty.
“We are going to open a door for this fund and the fund size is anything between 5, 000 pounds to 50, 000 pounds given into multiple studies, which will be happening in multiple years,” he elaborated.
And we are looking at studies that are providing evidence to help policy makers to make decisions for targeting poverty, Charles underscored.
“The difference between this program and other programs is that we are providing support to researchers giving them grants to be able to apply emerging ways and methodologies for measuring poverty, including using artificial intelligence, big data, and other options and methodologies that are trusted,” Charles explained.
Proposals are encouraged to help generate new insights about the drivers of poverty such as climate change and resilience, people with disabilities, pastoralists and remote communities, urbanization, migration, conflict, social exclusion and social norms, it was stated at the launching event.
By Wondesen Aregahegn