Call for Capacity Statement
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) El Salvador and Central America-Mexico Regional Mission (USAID/El Salvador-CAM), USAID’s Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), and Long-term Assistance and SErvices for Research, Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine (LASER PULSE) at the Purdue Applied Research Institute, Global Development Innovation Division (PARI-GDI) seek Capacity Statements (CS) from teams of researchers to assess the feasibility of, and to design and conduct one or more randomized evaluation(s) of specific interventions that are part of the ongoing Integrated Responses on Migration from Central America (IRM) program in Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador.
Background
The IRM program is funded by USAID/El Salvador-CAM and implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama. The objective of the program is to contribute to safe, orderly, and regular migration in Central America with a goal of addressing gaps in fundamental aspects of sustainable reintegration and integration needs of migrants. Through IRM, USAID and IOM, in partnership with various local government and non-government institutions in these six countries, provide services to migrants and returnees to meet basic needs upon arrival and to aid integration in their host or home communities by providing livelihood support (programming to support employment and entrepreneurship). The program also prioritizes attention to psychosocial needs of migrants and returnees, integrating psychosocial assistance into its livelihoods programming and providing referrals to additional services.
The program’s period of performance is 2020-2026. The IRM team is currently planning its 2025-2026 programming approach, in which it anticipates expanding program scope to reach large numbers of new beneficiaries, especially in Costa Rica, Panama, and El Salvador. USAID/El Salvador-CAM intends to engage researchers to design and conduct randomized evaluation(s) of specific interventions during the two remaining years of programming in these three countries.
Costa Rica and Panama receive significant flows of migrants, some in transit to other destinations and some intending to remain. In these countries, IRM supports both the regularization process and an integration process for the migrants who choose to remain. Regularization assistance may include payment of fees, legal assistance, and information. The design and implementation of regularization assistance programming will be shaped by pending national-level policy decisions affecting the number and types of visas available. The integration process aims to connect migrants with livelihood opportunities, through either employment and vocational training support or support for entrepreneurship.
In El Salvador, roughly 500 migrant returnees arrive at the Migrant Reception Center in San Salvador each week. Between October 2022 and June 2023, 11,261 migrants were served at the Migrant Reception Center in San Salvador. IRM’s goal is to reach this population with a reintegration approach that includes interventions targeted at the individual returnees, their communities, and eight municipalities prioritized for program activities. Individual support may include job placement services, seed capital for business creation, or referrals for health or psychosocial support services. IOM works with Local Rights Committees at the community level to raise awareness about prevention of irregular migration and promote reintegration, and works with municipalities to train municipal officials and leaders to build capacity for reintegration support. Follow-up with migrants who pass through the reception center to connect them with reintegration programming is a significant challenge in El Salvador.
Randomized evaluations may identify ways to improve targeting and retention of migrant beneficiaries, improve sequencing and intensity of economic (re)integration programs, and/or address implementation challenges to improve impact.
Summary
What?
USAID/El Salvador and Central America-Mexico Regional Mission and OCE Impact Evaluation Design for the Integrated Responses on Migration from Central America (IRM) Program in Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador
Why?
To assess the feasibility of, and to design and conduct one or more randomized evaluation(s) of specific interventions that are part of the ongoing Integrated Responses on Migration from Central America (IRM) program in Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador.
Where?
In Costa Rica, Panama and/or El Salvador
Who?
A research team that includes scholars with track records of publishing research in top-tier peer-reviewed academic journals. We also encourage the meaningful engagement of scholars from historically underrepresented groups, such as women, researchers from the countries and/or regions of study, and those affiliated with low- and middle-income country (LMIC) institutions.
When?
Release of Call for Capacity Statement: July 3, 2024
Questions and clarifications by: July 16, 2024 at 5pm EDT
Application deadline: July 30, 2024 at 5:00 pm EDT.
Announcement of selected team: Tentatively August 8, 2024.
Estimated funding?
USAID estimates that Phase 1 will require approximately 40-50 person days between mid- August and mid-October 2024. Roughly $40,000 will be available for Phase 1.
The estimated funding and timeline for the evaluation implementation phase will be determined after the close of Phase 1.
Successful Application Characteristics
Experience conducting research that requires primary data collection in El Salvador, Costa Rica, and/or Panama, and/or Central America
Experience conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (also known as “randomized evaluations”)
Relevant subject-matter expertise
Publications in peer-reviewed academic journals
Meaningful engagement of researchers with primary institutional affiliation in an LMIC and gender diversity
Experience conducting bi-/multilateral client-funded research
Professional fluency in Spanish and English
