Understanding loss and damage to education in Burkina Faso, Niger and South Sudan 8 views0 applications

This call seeks to understand the impacts of climate hazards as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on education outcomes, specifically learning outcomes, access to education and attainment or years of schooling through rigorous qualitative research in the contexts of Burkina Faso, Niger and South Sudan.

Research proposals that focus on either economic or non-economic loss and damage to education in the specific country context, demonstrating rigorous and methodologically sound qualitative research are invited through this request for proposals. Methodologies could include case studies, grounded theory, phenomenological and other approaches using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations, documentary analysis, outcome harvesting etc. The consortium is interested in innovative research approaches to understanding climate-induced loss and damage to education that can highlight the problem at a policy level and support the demand for increased attention to the impacts of climate change on education. This is, however, not a call for policy change approaches and proposals.

The Combatting Loss and Damage to Education (CLADE) consortium seeks three research partners, one each in Burkina Faso, Niger and South Sudan, to expand the body of evidence on how climate change impacts education, especially in education in emergency contexts. The findings from this research will feed into CLADE’s wider research and advocacy efforts and support sustained demand for finance to respond to climate-induce loss and damage to education.

Proposals need to demonstrate the ability to identify direct links between climate change and the impacts on education attainment, access or learning outcomes. Proposals not demonstrating direct links to education, for example, those showing impact of a climate hazard on nutrition, but not the impact of nutrition on education will not be selected.

Using findings from the country-level studies, partners from the three countries will contribute to the development of a synthesis paper which collates findings from the different settings to identify commonalities or differences in how loss and damage to education manifests across contexts.

The overall expectation of the research partner is to work with the research consortium and in-country partners in a collaborative manner encouraging co-design and learning across all stakeholders.

Focus Geographies

This research call is restricted to proposals focusing on the following countries experiencing severe climate-vulnerability overlapping with protracted humanitarian crises: 1. Burkina Faso 2. Niger 3. South Sudan

Timeline and Responsibilities

Project Duration: Funded research activities must run across a maximum timeline of 15 months, kicking off in September 2026 and wrapping up by July 2027.

You can find the project timeline in the full Terms of Reference here.

How to apply

Applicants are required to submit their complete proposal package via email before the deadline. The submission packet must contain the following components:

1. Technical narrative (Maximum 2000 words not including table and figure captions or references) including:

• Proposal summary (250 words)

• Problem statement and contextual analysis (250 words)

• Research questions (100 words)

• Methodological details including data sources, indicative geographies, stakeholders and sampling details (650 words)

• Contribution to Loss and Damage discourse or policy – this does not have to indicate how the research will be taken to policy but how it can contribute to the discussions, links with existing mechanisms and structures around Loss and Damage (250 words)

• Team description, expertise (500 words)

2. Detailed Line-Item Budget in USD (Excel Template): Using the budget template in Annex A, a breakdown of planned expenditure across the outlined budget categories:

• Personnel Fees: Compensation for local researchers, field enumerators, and project data coordinators directly engaged in the study.

• Expenses: Expenses for field travel, data collection instruments, translation services, local community consultation sessions, and stakeholder workshops.

• Software and Communications Costs: Specialized tools or software licenses (e.g., mobile data collection or statistical packages) required directly for project execution.

• Administration Costs: Institutional indirect overhead costs, ethical certifications etc.

3. Implementation Timeline & Workplan (Word/PDF): A chart specifying milestones, data-collection waves, review loops, and delivery dates between September 2026 and July 2027 (350 words).

• Including a plan for compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ethical data collection.

All documents should be compiled into a single zip folder and emailed to [email protected] no later than July 22, 2026, at 14:00 CAT. The subject line must read: CLADE_WP3_Proposal_[Organisation Name]_[Country Name]. All documents should be submitted in French or English. For any technical queries or requests for clarifications regarding the research themes please contact the CLADE focal point via email at [email protected].