SVRI Research Grant 2024 Open for Applications

Funding for innovative research proposals that will contribute to the prevention and response of violence against women, violence against children and other forms of violence driven by gender inequality in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) is a global research network on violence against women and children, allowing role players in the field to connect and share research, work to influence policies and improve the lives of those who have experienced gender-based violence.

One of the goals of the 2020-2024 SVRI strategic plan is to strengthen the evidence base to improve policies and programmes to respond to and prevent violence against women (VAW) and violence against children (VAC) in low and middle income countries (LMICs). To achieve this goal, the SVRI Research Grant is available annually to support innovative research to improve prevention and response to VAW, VAC and other forms of violence drive by gender inequality in LMICs.

The types of projects that may be supported under this grant include:

  • Research projects that are either standalone projects or a component of a larger project that will guide efforts to effectively address or prevent VAW and VAC.
  • Qualitative studies that explore the effectiveness and process of creating change with innovative VAW and VAC prevention interventions or the acceptability, impact and process of change created by interventions that support and assist survivors of VAW and VAC.
  • Projects that aim to address the prevention and response to VAW and VAC together or simultaneously, or through a single intervention with distinct elements.
  • Projects that aim to understand how to integrate programming for VAW and/or VAC into other sectoral work and or large infrastructure development programmes.
  • Projects that develop innovative methods and tools for VAW and/or VAC research.
  • Projects that evaluate how to effectively expand tested interventions for preventing and responding to VAW and VAC.
  • Secondary analysis of existing data that provides insights into addressing VAW and VAC more effectively and sustainably.
  • Research on violence across diverse populations in situations of vulnerability, including but not limited to persons with disabilities, people living with HIV, older persons, indigenous peoples, LGBTQI+ people, refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants.
  • Projects that enhance understanding of sexual violence against children or adolescents, including research on interventions to prevent such violence and/or support child and adolescent survivors of such violence.

All projects under this call should focus on VAW and VAC prevention and/or response in LMICs.

To be eligible, applications should:

  • Be affiliated with a recognised, legally constituted research institution or organisation with existing research or programming capacity on VAW and VAC.
  • Involve partnerships (where appropriate) between multiple organisations eg a local NGO, practice-based agency and an academic institution, or local government and an NGO or an academic institution. Preference will be given to academic/researcher – practitioner partnerships.

Preference will also be given to proposals submitted and led by organisations based in LMICs. Organisations or consortia may submit up to two applications, though no organisation will receive more than one grant.

Grants of between $40,000 and $150,000 are available over an 18 month period.

Applications should be submitted by the closing date of 6 July 2023 (23:59 South African Time).

(This report was the subject of a RESEARCHconnect Newsflash.)