Deadline: 23-Sep-25
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is pleased to announce a call for proposals to connect Indigenous research and leadership in Canada and the Global South to complement the Tri-agency strategic funding opportunity Indigenous Capacity and Leadership in Research Connection Grants being led by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
This call was developed through a partnership between IDRC and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), a Canadian federal research funding agency that promotes and supports research and research training in the humanities and social sciences. Through its research training and talent development, insight research and research partnership programs, and through partnerships and collaborations, SSHRC strategically supports world-leading initiatives that reflect a commitment to ensuring a better future for Canada and the world.
Objectives
- This call for proposals is a dedicated funding opportunity for Indigenous organizations in the Global South that are interested in connecting with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in Canada through knowledge-sharing activities. The purpose is to co-develop an interdisciplinary, Indigenous research agenda and build alliances between Indigenous researchers in the Global South and First Nations, Métis and Inuit researchers in Canada that may lead to broader joint research endeavors in the future.
- More specifically, this funding opportunity aims to:
- support the research priorities of Indigenous Peoples as identified by them;
- champion Indigenous leadership, self-determination and capacity in research for the benefit of Indigenous communities;
- increase awareness and visibility of Indigenous researchers, students and communities in policy and research fora;
- recognize Indigenous ways of knowing as an integral part of valid and authoritative research;
- support Indigenous-led strategies and structures that address respectful and mutually beneficial data management, data sovereignty and intellectual property rights in Indigenous research.
Thematic Areas
- This call for proposals affirms the important, holistic and interdisciplinary contributions to human knowledge that Indigenous knowledge systems make. Furthermore, the call respects Indigenous knowledge systems, including ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies, as important avenues for exploring the contours of Indigenous knowledge, supporting Indigenous research paradigms, contributing to interdisciplinary collaboration and extending the boundaries of knowledge in Western research paradigms. As such, applicants are encouraged to submit projects that are holistic and interdisciplinary and that reflect the full range of collaboration across disciplines and subject areas within one or more of IDRC’s five thematic areas:
- Climate-Resilient Food Systems
- Democratic and Inclusive Governance
- Education and Science
- Global Health
- Sustainable Inclusive Economies
Funding Information
- As a result of this call, up to seven grants of up to CAD100,000 will be issued.
- The project duration for these grants is one year including all research activities and final reporting.
Expected Outcomes
- This call for proposals will support events and activities such as community gatherings and workshops that will mobilize existing knowledge, facilitate dialogue and knowledge sharing and promote interdisciplinary research methodologies. These events and activities will result in the preparation of a research agenda, strategy and/or action plan that contribute to and support capacity-strengthening and leadership for Indigenous communities to conduct research. Applicants can choose to focus on all or a selection of the following outcome areas:
- Increased support to Indigenous talent and research careers:
- Indigenous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and researchers are supported.
- Indigenous Elders and Indigenous knowledge holders are involved in research.
- Barriers to participation and success, including nation- and gender-specific barriers, are removed.
- An inclusive research and research training environment is fostered.
- A science and engineering culture is fostered.
- Increased engagement with Indigenous knowledge:
- Research into Indigenous knowledge systems is supported.
- Indigenous science and holistic approaches are supported.
- The understanding of reconciliation among Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples in Canada is enhanced.
- The knowledge of Indigenous languages and practices is built.
- Intersectionality (gender, age, sexuality and other markers of difference) is taken into consideration.
- Strengthened Indigenous capacity and leadership in research:
- Indigenous and community-led research is supported.
- Rights-based approaches are supported.
- Indigenous ownership and control of data is ensured.
- Fostered mutually respectful relationships:
- Past use of extractive and unethical research practices between non-Indigenous researchers and Indigenous communities are acknowledged and rejected moving forward.
- Ethical and responsible conduct of Indigenous research is supported.
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposals need to meet the following eligibility criteria to be considered:
- The Lead Applicant Organization to this call must be headquartered in an eligible country in the respective region where it operates (West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa).
- The Lead Applicant Organization to this call 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.
- The call for proposals is not open to individuals or government ministries, and agencies or branches, offices and chapters of international organizations, but it is open to public research institutes, think tanks, universities and not-for-profit organizations with a research mandate. Regional or country offices of international organizations are ineligible to apply as Lead Applicant Organizations even if these offices are registered as independent legal entities in their countries of location.
- The Lead Applicant Organization must be Indigenous or supporting Indigenous-led research programs. Preference will be given to Indigenous organizations or organizations supporting Indigenous-led research programs that have established linkages with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in Canada. Indigenous organizations or organizations supporting Indigenous-led research programs seeking to establish such linkages will be considered as well.
- The research team must include Indigenous researchers and, in particular, women or gender-diverse Indigenous researchers.
For more information, visit IDRC.