Call for expressions of interest: Lead of research consortium promoting socially inclusive climate adaptation and resilience — CLARE in ASEAN

Launch date: June 5, 1 p.m. ET (Ottawa, Canada).

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) are pleased to launch this call for expressions of interest (EoI) to lead and implement research that enhances urban resilience to climate change in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

This call is held under the CLimate Adaptation and REsilience (CLARE) framework research programme, primarily funded by the UK FCDO with 15% co-funding from IDRC. This call is the first stage of a process through which CLARE expects to partner with one institution that creates and leads a consortium of applied research projects in lower-income (ODA-eligible) ASEAN countries while promoting collaboration with institution in non-ODA-eligible countries.

This call requires interested applicants to demonstrate that their organization and proposed team are able to lead a consortium for impactful research on climate adaptation and resilience in multiple Southeast Asian countries. This demonstration involves submitting supporting documents for each of the evaluation criteria listed in this call. The submission of these documents via the application portal wholly constitutes your expression of interest.

The applicants that have the ability to manage this work and score high on the evaluation criteria may be invited to submit a full proposal.

The amount available is anticipated to be up to GBP2 million (CAD3.4 million) for a period not exceeding two years.

Expressions of interest must be received by July 9, 2024 - 1 p.m. ET (Ottawa, Canada). These must be submitted through the application call.

Contents

1. About the funders

2. Overview of the call

• Background and rationale
• Key objectives
• Lead organization for research consortium

3. Funding scope and duration

4. Indicative scope of work

• Set up and manage
• Support to research cohort (sub-grantees)
• Contribute to advancing knowledge and policy dialogues
• International collaboration and engagement
• Monitoring and evaluation

5. Application process

• Submission of expressions of interest
• Submission of full proposals

6. Eligibility

7. Format of submission and evaluation

8. Selection process

9. Information session, inquiries and FAQs

10. Permission for use and disclosure of information

Annex 1 – Requirements for full proposals

Annex 2 – CLARE theory of change

​​11. About the funders

CLARE is a GBP110-million, UK-Canada framework research programme on Climate Adaptation and Resilience, aiming to enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards for people across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

CLARE is jointly designed, funded and run by the United Kingdom (UK) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). CLARE includes three core pillars: ‘Research’, commissioning new substantive action-oriented research and providing the cross-programme infrastructure, jointly run and co-funded by the UK and Canada; ‘Services’ providing timely weather and climate services to inform investments and actions by FCDO, UK government and wider stakeholders in partnership with the UK Met Office and others; and ‘Partnerships’, supporting strategic alliances on climate science and adaptation such as the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA) and Climate Risks and Early Warning Systems (CREWS). 

This call is part of CLARE Research, which is 85% funded by FCDO, with 15% match-funding from IDRC. IDRC also acts as the main delivery partner of CLARE Research, reporting to FCDO. It is envisaged that the awarded organization will hold a grant with IDRC, though will be also accountable to FCDO through the contractual relationship that exists between FCDO and IDRC. 

FCDO’s Research and Evidence Division aims to develop and deliver high-impact research and new technologies and innovations that can help solve pressing development challenges, test high-potential interventions, and support the delivery of UK government objectives, including for prosperity, climate mitigation and resilience. 

IDRC is a Crown corporation created in 1970 by the Parliament of Canada. IDRC supports and strengthens the capacity of people and institutions in developing countries to undertake the research that they identify as most urgent. It works with researchers and research users as they confront contemporary challenges within their own countries and contribute to global advances in their fields.

​​22. Overview of the call

​​aBackground and rationale 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability underscores how climate change is increasingly and disproportionately affecting the world’s most vulnerable. It emphasizes the urgent need for adaptation, and the critical need for solutions that cut across sectors and systems and address social inequities to enable a more climate-resilient future for everyone. 

The ASEAN State of Climate Change Report highlights that the Southeast Asia region is already experiencing significant climate change impacts with the growing intensity and magnitude of extreme weather events and increasing economic, environmental and social damage. Future climate change impacts will undermine decades of development progress, so the region needs to prioritize resiliency as well as adaptation interventions. Nearly 54% of the region’s population is urban, and urbanization is accelerating. The report highlights an urgent need for adaptation interventions across urban areas in the region.

This call proposes to respond to this challenge, in collaboration with the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change. It will contribute to the Working Group’s commitment to "explore opportunities for collaborating on research and development in climate...adaptation, supporting innovation and exchanging technical expertise", and to “strengthen engagement on science and technology on regional priorities such as…. climate adaptation.” 

​​bKey objectives

This call is for an organization that would lead the selection, contracting and monitoring of upcoming research under CLARE, focusing on supporting partnership and collaboration amongst researchers, policymakers and local communities that drive evidence-based and socially inclusive practical actions toward urban climate resilience for the most vulnerable populations in ASEAN, focusing on ODA-eligible ASEAN countries. Specifically, the research will aim to: 

• enable socially inclusive and sustainable actions to support resilience to climate change and natural hazards, including through nature-based solutions;
• scaling up research and innovation efforts to provide better information on climate risks, better decision-making tools, guidance, and better climate adaptation solutions to enable transformational change in ASEAN countries.

This will be done through implementation of research that directly informs action through evidence, data and tools supporting urban climate resilience (in line with the CLARE theory of change, see Annex 2). In particular:

• Research will use transdisciplinary approaches. Projects integrate climate hazards, risks, as well as economic, institutional, cultural and political drivers that shape potentials for solutions for more inclusive and resilient urban futures and identify windows of opportunity for implementing resilient, transformative pathways. 
• Research will be co-created with key users and contribute to strengthening capacity of those developing and applying the research, according to the Adaptation Research for Impact Principles (i.e. research designed to have direct impact on the ground, promoting action that enhances climate resilience in urban areas). 
• Project will report against the CLARE theory of change (see Annex 2) and the UK International Climate Finance indicator on the number of people supported to better adapt to the effects of climate change.  
• Research teams, methodologies and uptake will integrate principles for gender equality and inclusion.

The above requirements could be met by employing lab-type approaches, “inclusive spaces where stakeholders, practitioners and researchers come together to co-design and test ideas, co-produce knowledge and co-evaluate solutions.” Other approaches also will be considered.

​​cLead organization for research consortium

This call for expressions of interest is the first step in a multi-stage process to identify a lead organization. This lead organization will be responsible for selecting, contracting, monitoring and collaborating with researchers and research institutions in lower-income (ODA-eligible) ASEAN countries, who will carry out research projects that will directly inform and support climate action at local, national and regional levels. These research projects can be single or multi-country, and we expect that the lead organization will contract between three and six partners.

The lead organization is also expected to: work closely with CLARE and ASEAN stakeholders; host inception and final events; and support production of stocktaking and guidance material.

​​33. Funding scope and duration

Through an Applicant Organization, CLARE intends to fund a consortium of researchers in the ASEAN region, with a budget of up to the equivalent of GBP2 million (CAD3.4 million). The contract duration will not exceed 24 months, including all research activities and final reporting. 

The scope of work is detailed in Section 4. The Applicant Organization is to be based in ASEAN and will be responsible for providing grants to researchers based in the ODA-eligible countries in ASEAN member states. 

All grants are subject to sufficient funds being made available by FCDO and IDRC. FCDO and IDRC reserve the right to cancel this call for expressions of interest at any time without prior notice and/or to not issue any grants under this process.

IDRC is under no obligation to issue any funds prior to the applicant returning a fully executed Grant Agreement to IDRC. 

​​44. Indicative scope of work

The following is an indicative description of the activities to be performed by the Applicant Organization.

​​dSet up and manage 

• develop and implement a call for proposals for (3 to 6) research projects in ODA-eligible ASEAN countries. These projects can be single or multi-country and must jointly cover most or all of these ASEAN countries 
• develop and manage a Peer Review Committee, made up of a multi-disciplinary and diverse panel of experts, to assess applications to the call for proposals
• create and support an Advisory Committee to guide and support this work
• provide grants to successful research teams (henceforth called sub-grantees) and support them to implement their respective projects
• manage grants to sub-grantees, including sub-grantee monitoring and evaluation
• produce interim and final technical and financial reports

​​eSupport to research cohort (sub-grantees)

• provide technical and methodological assistance to sub-grantees as required, and undertake a needs assessment to identify capacity constraints of all the sub-grantees
• ensure activities integrate gender equality and inclusion approaches into their proposed research projects, and provide technical assistance as required
• plan and run workshops and other capacity-support activities designed to collectively tackle common issues and facilitate cross-project collaboration where appropriate
• support sub-grantees in finding engagement and knowledge-translation opportunities with climate adaptation initiatives that may benefit from their research results and methods
• assist all sub-grantees in data management, decide on open access to data, and comply with requirements (aims and rules) for open access of publications
• facilitate and support sub-grantee reporting and aggregate sub-grantee reporting into a report to CLARE
• connect sub-grantees to other resources (knowledge, financial) as required 

​​fContribute to advancing knowledge and policy dialogues

• play an active role in and organize knowledge-sharing activities to support understanding, uptake and scaling of climate adaptation research to inform policy and practice, including through the ASEAN secretariat
• facilitate the production and sharing of research outputs, stocktaking, synthesis, guidance material, policy briefs, etc. 
• ensure research publication in appropriate venues in accordance with the principles of open access 
• carry out relevant and select analyses to support the aims of CLARE and increase the impact of the research carried out in the region

​​gInternational collaboration and engagement

• identify opportunities for projects’ outreach particularly in the ASEAN context
• engage in global and multi-disciplinary exchanges and organize joint initiatives and events as appropriate
• coordinate with other CLARE projects including the Research for Impact Hubs
• coordinate with the CLARE team i.e. FCDO and IDRC and program governance, as well as ASEAN stakeholders

​​hMonitoring and evaluation

• report against the existing CLARE framework for results tracking and the synthesis of lessons learned from across the different projects under the consortium
• ensure timely reporting against the CLARE reporting framework.

​​55. Application process

This call for expressions of interest (EOI) is the first stage of a process through which CLARE will select a consortium lead.

​​iSubmission of Expressions of Interest

In this first stage, interested applicants are invited to demonstrate how their organization and proposed team can lead a consortium initiating and managing research projects on urban climate resilience in the low-income countries of ASEAN. Interested applicants are required to submit their EOI through the application portal. You will be unable to proceed to the next stage of this funding opportunity if you do not submit an EOI. 

To prepare your EOI, you need to review the criteria in this call, collect the supporting documents, complete a written narrative, including a one-page draft of a call for research proposals, and Terms of Reference for an Advisory Committee.

You can visit the application portal where you will:

1. complete basic background information about your organization;
2. tick the checkboxes confirming that you meet each eligibility criterion;
3. upload your supporting documentation;
4. add your narrative (including draft call and Terms of Reference);
5. accept the terms and conditions and submit your application.

This process completes your submission of an expression of interest. Submissions will be reviewed based on the criteria and supporting documentation listed below. All submitted documents are confidential and managed accordingly. 

​​jSubmission of full proposals

Only applicants that successfully demonstrate that they have met all the eligibility criteria will then be invited to submit full technical proposals. Full technical proposals will be reviewed by CLARE staff and external reviewers that jointly advise CLARE management on strengths of the proposal. Information about the proposal stage for selected applicants can be found in Annex 1.

​​66. Eligibility

The Applicant Organization to this call must meet the following criteria: 

• It must be headquartered in an ASEAN member state (Member States - ASEAN Main Portal). 
• It must have independent legal status (or “legal personality”) and be capable of contracting in their own right and name, receiving and administering funds, and have authority to direct proposed project activities. Applicants must be able to demonstrate legal status through written documentation. Legal status will only be reviewed if and when applicants are selected following technical selection.
• It must have the ability to transfer funds to organizations outside their country, and in the ASEAN region. 

The call is not open to individuals, to government ministries, and agencies or branches, offices and chapters of international organizations including the UN and CGIAR. Regional or country offices of international organizations are ineligible to apply even if these offices are registered as independent legal entities in their countries of location. 

For the purposes of this funding opportunity, the following definitions apply:

Applicant Organization: An institution that is leading and coordinating the application and where the applicant is based. The Applicant Organization must have a legal corporate registration in an eligible country. 

Lead Applicant: This is the principal investigator who is employed by and based at the Lead Applicant Organization. This individual must be a citizen or permanent resident with a primary work affiliation in an eligible country.

Core Team: This team provides the intellectual direction, technical and administrative support for the Applicant.

Peer Review Committee: The applicant organization will be supported by a Peer Review Committee, a diverse and multi-disciplinary group of experts in the subject of research that support project selection, synthesis, outreach etc.

Advisory Committee: Includes a multisectoral group of individuals representing various stakeholders in ASEAN including governments, nonprofits, development partners, civil society, grassroots organizations, women and youth groups, Indigenous and other equity-seeking groups, and the private sector.

​​77. Format of Submission and Evaluation 

IDRC invites eligible applicants to submit an electronic application through the application portal in SurveyMonkey Apply ™ .

Applications must be received by no later than July 9, 2024. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

The applicant will be scored based on the proposed approach for implementation. As such, applicants must submit a narrative that clearly demonstrates the proposed approach for project implementation, leading a consortium for impactful research on climate adaptation and resilience in ODA-eligible Southeast Asian countries, in line with CLARE objectives. The narrative needs to be succinct, in total not exceeding 4000 words; selected applicants will be asked to elaborate in a full proposal.

The following table lists the headings and criteria for the narrative, and how this will be evaluated by reviewers. 

An acknowledgement of receipt of submissions will be sent to all applicants whose application was received before the deadline.

The application form will instruct applicants to provide details on the proposed consortium lead, the organizations and core team, how the applicants meet all of the eligibility criteria, and the narrative proposal. Supporting documents must also be uploaded through the application portal. 

​​88. Selection process

Responding to this call is the first step in the application process. 

The selection (or shortlisting) of an EOI does not constitute a formal commitment by CLARE to fund the project. FCDO and IDRC have no obligation to issue any funds prior to the applicant returning an executed Grant Agreement issued to them.

EOIs will be reviewed using the eligibility and evaluation criteria outlined above. Only applicants whose EOIs pass this stage will be invited to submit a full proposal. 

FCDO and IDRC program staff can only determine if your application has met all the criteria if you provide the required supporting documentation at the time of application. In the second stage, full proposals will be reviewed and shortlisted as described in Annex 1.

​​99. Information session, inquiries and FAQs

We would like to invite you to a one hour information webinar which will take place on : 

June 26, 2024 at 8 am (WIB- Western Indonesian Time) on Teams.  Join the meeting here.

This webinar will be a great opportunity for you to get answers to some of the questions we received. If you need further support to join the webinar contact us at info@clareprogramme.org.

Any inquiries will be added to a FAQs with CLARE’s responses to those inquiries and without revealing the source of the inquiries. The FAQ will be available here, shortly after the webinar.  

​​1010. Permission for use and disclosure of information

As a Canadian Crown corporation, IDRC is subject to Canada’s Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. Consequently, any submissions in response to this call for expressions of interest will be managed by IDRC in a manner consistent with applicable legislation and IDRC’s Privacy Policy, including IDRC's obligations to disclose documents requested by members of the public or requests for personal information. More information on how IDRC manages information in accordance with this legislation can be accessed here.

As noted above (“About the funders”), IDRC acts as the main delivery partner of CLARE Research, reporting to FCDO. As CLARE is primarily funded by FCDO, any submissions in response to this call may also be subject to applicable legislation in the United Kingdom.

All applicants, as part of the application process through SurveyMonkey Apply, are required to sign IDRC’s Privacy Statement and Terms of Use as well as any terms and conditions of SurveyMonkey at the time the application is submitted, or all applicants must submit an executed copy of Agreement to IDRC’s Privacy Statement for Competitive Calls.

​​Annex1Annex 1 – Requirements for full proposals

Applicants whose expressions of interest are successful will be invited to submit a full proposal.

The final evaluation criteria will be communicated to those invited to submit a full proposal. The criteria are likely to include:

• Demonstrated understanding of the subject matter and CLARE objectives.
• Approach for selecting the consortium and finalizing the methodology.
• Integration of inclusion and gender considerations. 
• Knowledge mobilisation and impact.
• Approach to operationalizing the consortium.
• Team composition including expertise and commitment to gender and inclusion.
• Approach to research ethics. Research must be carried out in accordance with high ethical standards.
• Approach to budget management, risk management (including on safeguarding) and reporting.
• Ability to transfer funds to organizations in the ASEAN region, and experience in managing grants.

After identifying the highest-ranking proposal, CLARE will share feedback from the review of full proposals process with the applicants and may request revisions to the submitted proposal and budget. A revised proposal with the necessary revisions must be returned in a timely manner. 

After an institutional assessment of an applicant’s organization is performed, IDRC may identify operational or financial weaknesses that could pose administrative risks to the proposed project. FCDO and IDRC reserve the right to request that the applicant’s organization partner with another institution as a condition of receiving the grant.

Country clearance requirements

In some cases, FCDO and IDRC have scientific and technical cooperation agreements with the governments of the countries where we support projects. Where such agreements exist, CLARE may require additional or alternative approval processes to be followed to comply with such agreements. Otherwise, grantees must follow the prevailing approval procedure as required by the government authority. This is often administered by a coordinating or nodal agency of the government and varies by jurisdiction.

An IDRC grant administration representative will advise the selected applicant if any country procedures need to be followed. A grant agreement will only be issued if and once country clearance(s) is/are obtained. FCDO and IDRC reserve the right to not pursue the funding of a selected project if the country approval is not secured within six months after FCDO and IDRC officially announce approval of the project, as this would jeopardize timely completion.

Research ethics 

Prior to commencing research, applicants may need to obtain approval from an official institutional or national research ethics body. In contexts where there is no official institutional or national research ethics body, the applications will need to propose how they plan on setting up an ethics committee for the project. 

After approval of the project, successful organizations are expected to submit ethics approval documents, and to monitor and report on ethical risks and their management as the research is implemented.

Sub-recipients

In cases where the recipient will manage sub-grantees, the country requirements that apply to sub-grantees are also documented in the grant agreement. It becomes the responsibility of the grantee to ensure that sub-grantees meet these requirements. 

Country risk

Project proposals and risk-mitigation measures may need to be revised where:

• project activities may be affected by legal restrictions on transferring funds or other resources to specific entities;
• due to physical remoteness, physical risks or other inaccessibility factors prevent CLARE from properly monitoring and supporting the project; or
• applicable laws and regulations prevent institutions from accessing funds.

Grant Agreement

Any selected proponents must sign a Grant Agreement to receive funds. The grant agreement will provide a schedule for submitting interim and final technical and financial reports. Although there is no limit on the number of co-applicants in one application, CLARE will only negotiate a Grant Agreement with the Applicant Organization.

​​Annex2Annex 2 - CLARE theory of change

Goal - To enable socially inclusive and sustainable action to build resilience and reduce vulnerability to risks from climate change and natural hazards for the most vulnerable through action-oriented research and capacity strengthening.

Objectives

• To accelerate immediate action on climate adaptation and resilience by maximizing the uptake of existing knowledge at multiple scales through development of climate services, tools, technology and innovation to inform policy and practice. 
• To drive the development of new knowledge to support adaptation and resilience of the most vulnerable through transdisciplinary research that builds novel coalitions of actors dedicated to supporting urgent and future climate action. 
• To enable capacity to support sustainable climate-resilient development in the  Global South along the whole chain from research to action, across scales and regions. 
• To support socially inclusive practical action by addressing social, economic and political barriers to adaptation.

CLARE links up short- and long-term issues by working across three interlinked themes:

• Understanding climate risk: Improving our understanding of the risks associated with climate and natural hazards that addresses gaps in the underpinning science.
• Risk-informed early action: Supporting early action to reduce impacts of climate variability, reducing humanitarian impacts on lives and livelihoods.
• Developing in a changing climate: Enabling long-term, sustainable and equitable economic and social development in a changing climate. 

Projects will encompass one or more of these themes and promote the following approaches that underpin CLARE’s efforts, and commit projects to address some of the above-listed assumptions:

• Support for research for impact through dedicated investments in research uptake, including demand-led approaches, co-production and brokering. CLARE endorses the Adaptation Research for Impact Principles.  
• Gender equality and inclusion are integral to just and sustainable action. Transformative research and knowledge that addresses barriers experienced by the most vulnerable is critical for increasing resilience to climate-related risks.
• Diverse coalitions and equitable partnerships are critical to link research to action and to strengthen capacities along the research-to-action value chain. CLARE recognizes that Southern-led research is more likely to have an impact on adaptation policy and practice in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. 
• Capacity strengthening across the research-to-action value chain to improve implementation of evidence-based climate action, and support effective equitable and socially inclusive climate adaptation. 
• Co-ordinated and multi-level knowledge management, including investments in knowledge infrastructure and knowledge-exchange processes is necessary to support adaptive program management and research uptake.
• Transdisciplinary systems approaches to evaluating human-environment dynamics, impacts and potential adaptation and resilience-building responses will lead to more robust, inclusive and sustainable outcomes. 
• Facilitate cross-program collaboration and learning through a portfolio approach. 

The following table presents a simplified version of the CLARE logframe: