Digital Credit and Women’s Economic Empowerment RFP 2019

Request for Proposals:

CEGA’s Digital Credit Observatory (DCO) invites proposals for small grants of up to $50,000 each (including indirect costs).

Selected proposals will help us answer important questions related to digital credit (understood to mean mobile phone-based loans that are instant, automated, and remote) and women’s economic empowerment:

1. How do digital credit products and related lending practices economically empower–and disempower–women?
2. What are the key barriers that women face to accessing and using digital credit products? To what extent are these barriers gender-specific? What can this teach us about the design of digital credit products and related lending practices aiming to promote financial inclusion and economic empowerment for women?

Applicants can request funds for use between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020 for new survey modules, new treatment arms, sample size expansion allowing for gender disaggregation, descriptive studies, and/or pilots of new gender-focused interventions.

Deadline: July 19th, 2019

Please read carefully through the application guidelines (RFP) and direct any questions to our staff team at digitalcredit@berkeley.edu

Eligibility Criteria:

CEGA faculty affiliates and other academic researchers conducting innovative work in this space are eligible. PhD candidates and implementing partners (e.g. credit providers) may join a proposal as long as there is a faculty member serving as the lead PI.

Application Process:

• Link to Proposal Narrative template
• Link to Budget template

All materials should be submitted according to the RFP instructions using the online submission portal “Submittable.”

[button style=”orange” text=”SUBMIT NOW” url=”https://cega.submittable.com/submit/140174/digital-credit-observatory-digital-credit-womens-economic-empowerment-pilot”]

Please email digitalcredit@berkeley.edu with any inquiries.