The Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative (MPII), a program administered by Yale University of the United States and its nonprofit sub-grantee Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), is accepting expressions of interest for grants to conduct field research on savings and payment innovations and their impact on poverty alleviation. The effort seeks to focus on technical innovations that are used most effectively by poor people and the impact of these innovations on their welfare.
The grants under the program, known as the “Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund”, will total USD 1.27 million and be awarded during three or four competitive funding rounds. Applicants must either hold a PhD or be a current PhD candidate in a relevant discipline with experience in field research. Preliminary applications for the first round are due Friday, August 5, 2011. Selected applicants will be requested to submit full research proposals by September 30, 2011. Grant winners are scheduled to be announced in November 2011.
Created in November 2010, MPII is funded by the US-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
By Carol Kim, Research Associate
About Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA): IPA is a US-based nonprofit organization that uses randomized evaluations to research the impacts of development programs in microfinance, health, agriculture, education, charitable giving and community development. Founded in 2002 by Dean Karlan, an economist at the United States’ Yale University, IPA is part of the Financial Access Initiative (FAI), a consortium launched with the support of a USD 5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal of increasing knowledge about microfinance and communicating relevant research findings. IPA disclosed approximately USD 25 million in income in 2010.
About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Based in the US, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides grants to organizations in approximately 100 countries with the aim of enhancing health care, reducing poverty and expanding access to education and information technology. As of September 2009, its endowment totaled USD 34 billion. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor initiative focuses on providing people with secure ways to save money. To support this initiative, the foundation works with financial organizations to increase access to technology (point-of-sale devices, automated teller machines etc.) and to forge partnerships among mobile phone companies, banks and microfinance institutions. It also supports the startup and growth of new banks in “difficult markets”.
Sources and Additional Resources:
Innovations for Poverty Action: “Call for Expressions of Interest – Microsavings and Payments Innovation Initiative”, http://www.poverty-action.org/microsavings/opportunities/eoi2011
MicroCapital.org: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Pledges $500m to Expand Microsavings Over the Next 5 Years Including Grants To World Savings Bank Institute (WSBI), Vodacom Tanzania, ShoreBank International, CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), World Bank and Yale University/Innovations for Poverty Action”, December 10, 2010, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-pledges-500m-to-expand-microsavings-over-the-next-5-years-including-grants-to-world-savings-bank-institute-wsbi-vodacom-tanzania-shorebank/
MicroCapital’s Universe Profile: Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Innovations+for+Poverty+Action
MicroCapital’s Universe Profile: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Bill+and+Melinda+Gates+Foundation
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