By Fernando Álvarez: Ex IMF Economist
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced on January 27 a call for proposals to design a methodology and implement a database on institutional variables related to civil and identification registries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The deadline for submissions is February 11, 2012.
The IDB is seeking proposals from research institutions or team of individual researchers from its 48 member countries with the goal to design variables to measure legal, institutional and technological aspects of the civil registries. These variables will aid ongoing IDB research about how these characteristics affect different development outcomes across countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The winning proposal will receive a $35,000 grant for the study, depending of the scope of the work proposed.
Projects will be funded through the IDB-administered Korean Poverty Reduction Fund (KPR). Proposals should consist of a work plan with detailed explanations of the following:
1. Design and implement a database.
2. Identify identity/registries variables and resources.
3. Procedure to implement the database with data for at least 10 countries of the IDB's 26 borrowing countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
4. Years covered.
5. Methodology to transfer the data gathered to a digitalized database.
6. A work schedule.
The proposals will be evaluated taking into account the scope of the work presented in terms of addressing the topics described, countries covered, and methodology. The selection decision will depend on the quality and the proposed budget received. All proposals will be submitted to an evaluation committee that will follow a pre-established procurement procedure.
Proposals must be submitted by February 11, 2012, through the IDB website. Proposals should be submitted using the Web Submission Form. It is important to note that there are two options within the submission form: one for institutions and another for team of individual researchers.
