Displaced Livelihoods Initiative
Forecasted
Displaced Livelihoods Initiative supports researchers and refugee-led organizations in research and evidence use to improve sustainable livelihoods for displaced people and host communities.
Funder: Innovations for Poverty Action
Due Dates (Anticipated): May 2027 (Mandatory expression of interest) | July 2027 (Full proposal)
Funding Amounts: Category maximums of $4,000–$250,000; off-cycle awards up to $75,000
Summary: Supports research and evidence use to improve sustainable livelihoods for displaced populations and host communities.
Key Information: Except for evidence use grants, teams need a university-affiliated researcher holding or pursuing a relevant PhD.
Description
The Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (DLI) is managed by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), with funding from the IKEA Foundation. It supports rigorous impact evaluations, pilots, exploratory research, infrastructure and public goods, evidence use, and conference participation to inform sustainable livelihoods policies and programs.
Research priorities include resilience, entrepreneurship, wage employment, social cohesion, inclusion and norms, and rights and regulations. Supported work should generate generalizable learning about program effectiveness, explain mechanisms, or address barriers to impact. The target population includes refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless people, internally displaced people, others in refugee-like situations, and host communities. Round V earmarked additional funding for teams including people with lived experience of displacement and projects evaluating refugee-led organizations.
