The Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (DLI) is a research funding program run jointly by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), with support from the IKEA Foundation. It funds rigorous research and related work on sustainable livelihoods for refugees, internally displaced people, stateless populations, and the communities that host them. Round V — the fifth and final competitive round — opened in April 2026 across five priority themes: resilience, wage employment, entrepreneurship, social cohesion, and rights and regulations. To date the initiative has awarded USD 5.1 million.
Benefits & funding
- Exploratory grants: up to USD 10,000 for relationship-building, descriptive analysis, and groundwork toward future evaluations.
- Pilot studies: up to USD 75,000 to prepare the design and measurement for a full impact evaluation.
- Full studies: up to USD 250,000 for rigorous impact evaluations with committed partners.
- Infrastructure & public goods: up to USD 250,000 for datasets and shared measurement tools.
- Evidence use grants (new this round): up to USD 20,000 for refugee-led organizations and researchers with lived experience to turn evidence into policy and practice.
- Conference travel grants (new this round): up to USD 4,000 for researchers with lived experience to attend key displacement research and policy events.
- Costs for refugee-led-organization participation can be included in any grant budget.
Eligibility
- Standard research grants require an academic or university affiliation on the team.
- Evidence use and conference travel grants are open to refugee-led organizations and researchers with lived experience of displacement, who do not need a university affiliation.
- Projects must address sustainable livelihoods for displaced populations and host communities in affected settings.
- Open to applicants worldwide; a portion of Round V funds is earmarked for teams that include researchers with lived experience or that evaluate the work of refugee-led organizations.
Can you apply?
Open to all applicants
No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.
We only check the criteria we have data for. Always confirm full eligibility on the official page before applying.
Application process
- 1Submit a mandatory Expression of Interest by May 15, 2026.
- 2Shortlisted teams receive a full-proposal submission link (decisions around the week of June 8, 2026).
- 3Submit the full proposal by July 24, 2026; a rotating board of academic and policy experts reviews.
- 4Awards are announced in September 2026.
Program timeline
Round V opens (fifth and final competitive round)
2026-04
Mandatory Expression of Interest deadline
May 15, 2026
Shortlist decisions (approximate)
Jun 8, 2026
Full proposal deadline
Jul 24, 2026
Awards announced
2026-09