For Applicants | Focus Areas | Multiple Countries / Family Planning and Reproductive Health Applicant Resources Apply Application Process Eligibility Focus Areas Find a USG-Supported Partner Frequently Asked Questions Eligible Countries: ASIA Afghanistan Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan* Philippines SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Benin Ethiopia Ghana Kenya Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mozambique Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Uganda Zambia  LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN Haiti MIDDLE EAST Egypt Additional Criteria for Applicants: Please see Section V of the Solicitation for General Eligibility requirements.PEER does not support clinical trials research. All projects that involve interaction with patients, human subjects data, or other personally identifiable information will be required will be required to go through a protocol review coordinated by the National Academies. They will also be required to have and maintain a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA), which is a number issued to institutions by the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), whereby an institution commits to DHHS that it will comply with certain standards for research involving human subjects. Further details are available through the following this link. In addition, such projects must also have Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of their proposed activities to confirm that they comply with the legal and ethical standards for human subjects research in the country where the project is being carried out. Because the process of obtaining the FWA and IRB approval can be lengthy, applicants must already have these approvals at the time they submit their pre-proposals. U.S. Partner Eligibility: In addition to the standard eligibility requirements of U.S. Government-Supported Partner described in Section V of the Solicitation for General Eligibility requirements, applicants are also encouraged to partner with U.S. university recipients (including prime awardees and sub-awardees) of USAID family planning and reproductive health funding. More information about current USAID funded programs and partners can be found in the User's Guide to USAID/Washington Health Programs (pgs. 133-163). Objectives: As the world’s largest bilateral donor of family planning assistance , USAID is committed to helping countries meet the family planning and reproductive health needs of their people. Voluntarism and informed choice are guiding principles of our program. Under the PEER Family Planning and Reproductive Health focus area, the PEER program will award funds to a limited number of highly competitive, novel research projects from eligible countries (listed above) that help increase the demand for, inform decision-making related to, and improve access to high-quality voluntary family planning information, contraceptives, and services. More specifically, PEER is seeking to support research that strengthens the evidence base in family planning and reproductive health that can be used to inform policy makers, program administrators, and communities. This can include implementation research topics and methodologies. Where applicable, research should include and address the roles of men and boys in access to and voluntary use of family planning services. Applicants should propose the use of appropriate and rigorous methods to respond to a question of interest to stakeholders in the country or region. PEER will support primary and secondary data analysis and research questions may be explored utilizing quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods research design. Applications proposing secondary data analyses may use data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Service Provision Assessments (SPA), or other readily available datasets resulting in publication-quality research papers that can inform and influence policies and programs. Family Planning and Reproductive Health research areas may include, but are not limited to: Voluntary uptake and scale up of proven family planning interventions Activities that foster expansion and institutionalization of family planning interventions and services Methods or innovations that increase access to and use of voluntary family planning services and integrate those services with other health and development activities Interventions that promote integration of family planning with HIV/AIDS and STI programs and into routine health care in rural and urban poor communities Innovations in engaging the private sector in the provision of family planning Innovative financing mechanisms to expand access and increase affordability Understanding and addressing social norms that impact uptake and access to and use of family planning services Identifying and addressing barriers that underlie non-use of family planning services and methods among women Generate or synthesize evidence that contributes to a better understanding of the conditions that contribute to greater efficiencies for quality family planning programs Generate or synthesize evidence that advances understanding of social norms and informs appropriate design and implementation of cost-effective interventions that support self-efficacy and agency for women to access and use contraception More information about USAID’s Family Planning and Reproductive Health programming can be found at: https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/family-planning. Consistent with the goals of PEER, applicants should outline how their research findings will lead to development-related policy or programmatic change. Proposals that include multi-disciplinary research teams, multi-country collaboration, and/or engagement with policy actors and other development stakeholders such as NGOs are desired. Once selected, awardees will need to submit proof of institutional or country ethics review and approval or exemption. Country-specific USAID health objectives are articulated in USAID Regional and Country Development Cooperation Strategies (RCDS and CDCS). Applicants should closely read the appropriate RDCS and/or CDCS, and USAID Mission website in the country or countries where the PEER project will take place before submitting a proposal. Proposed research projects must also adhere to requirements of the USAID Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy. Duration of Project: Projects should be designed to be implemented in no more than one year with budgets between $30,000 and $80,000 USD. Any proposal received for a project greater than 12 months in length will not be considered for funding. Awarded projects may be eligible for a no-cost extension of up to 6 months after the original 12-month project period. Applicants are strongly encouraged to articulate exactly how their data or intervention impacts a larger community outside academia. Projects that require IRB and FWA must already have them. Women researchers are strongly encouraged to apply.