Bano Bibi lives in a small mud dwelling in the outskirts of Islamabad with her granddaughters.

What we do

IDRC supports research in developing countries to create real and lasting change. This knowledge can be used as a tool for addressing pressing global challenges. We share it with others by:

providing developing-country researchers with financial resources, advice, and training to find solutions to local problems;
sharing our knowledge with policymakers, researchers, and communities around the world;
fostering new talent by offering fellowships and awards; and
putting new knowledge into the hands of those who can use it best to address global challenges.

Part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts, IDRC invests in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve the lives of people in the developing world.

Who we work with

Programs

Regions and countries

Partners and initiatives

Projects

Explore more than 1,000 research projects we’ve supported over the past decade.

PROJECT

Enhancing the potential of e-savings to boost women’s investment and household outcomes in Tanzania

Efforts at closing gender gaps in financial inclusion focus on developing financial products and services specifically targeting women, but broader social and cultural constraints that prevent women from using these products and services are rarely taken into account.

Tanzania

PROJECT

Preventing teen pregnancy in Benin: development of a self-esteem-based intervention to empower adolescents

The goal of this action research project is to reduce teen pregnancy in Benin by developing and promoting an innovative, evidence-based intervention combining sexual and reproductive health, self-esteem, and empowerment that targets adolescents.

Benin

PROJECT

Harnessing the Gender Dividend to Boost Economic Growth in ECOWAS Countries

This project aims to analyze the gender dividend in West Africa.

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

PROJECT

World Refugee Council

The current global refugee system is failing refugees and the states that host them, despite the often-heroic efforts of sympathetic states, international organizations, civil society, and refugees themselves.

PROJECT

Empowering women to overcome factors of structural violence in Latin America

Throughout the developing world, young men and women face high unemployment coupled with strong feelings of dissatisfaction with their quality of life in contexts of weak governance and institutions, increased political instability, and growing state authoritarianism — factors that render societies vulnerable and play a role in radicalization.

Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay

PROJECT

Strengthen the use of scientific evidence to inform climate policy, negotiations and implementation in Latin America

Over the last two decades, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has become one of the major international bodies searching for scientific and political agreements between developing and developed countries.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay

PROJECT

Enhancing opportunities for rural youth in post-conflict Colombia: diagnosis and policy proposals

After more than half a century of conflict, Colombia is entering a period of reparation, reconstruction, and prevention of new violence.

Colombia

PROJECT

Policy intersections: Strengthening bottom up accountability amidst land rush in Mali and Nigeria

Over the past few years, large-scale acquisitions (purchases, leases, or other arrangements) of farmland in developing countries by individuals, corporations, and foreign governments have presented both economic opportunities and threats to traditional livelihoods.

Mali, Nigeria

PROJECT

Promotion of inclusive land governance to improve women's land rights in Senegal

The general objective of this action research project is to help increase women's access to and control over land and their involvement in decision-making for responsible, sustainable land governance, in the context of large-scale land acquisition in Senegal.

Senegal

PROJECT

Gender-responsive budgeting in Africa: An action learning project in Senegal and Uganda

Budgets are the implementing tools that transform government promises and commitments into programs and services.

Senegal, Uganda

Pages