Raising Adaptation Impact and Ambition (RAIA) is a UK Aid-funded climate adaptation initiative under the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) CLARE Research Programme, led by UNEP in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Africa.
The project aims to bridge the science-policy divide by strengthening the economic evidence, research capacity and policy frameworks needed to support climate-resilient development. RAIA will fund country-specific research that helps governments make informed financial decisions and integrate climate adaptation into national planning and budgeting. Selected experts will work closely with Ministries of Finance and key stakeholders to ensure that findings are relevant and usable in policy.
Call for Proposals
RAIA will award 10–12 grants (US$ 80,000–120,000) to African universities, research institutions, think tanks or independent entities with demonstrated experience in policy-relevant climate adaptation and economic research. The research projects must address a clearly defined economic barrier to adaptation and may, for example, focus on quantifying the economic costs of climate impacts and adaptation responses, identifying financial, economic, regulatory or market-based instruments to support climate action or supporting the tracking and allocation of adaptation finance.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the following requirements:
- The lead applicant organization must be a university, an academic institution, a policy or economic research institution, a parastatal body, a think tank, or an independent entity. Government ministries are not eligible to apply.
- The lead applicant organization must be legally registered and based in an African country and must demonstrate relevant prior experience in similar research projects, such as climate risk analysis, economic impact assessments, climate finance, or related climate adaptation and economic policy research.
- The research project clearly demonstrates that it addresses a specific and well-defined barrier or gap in economic research related to inclusive adaptation, that has a clearly identified pathway for implementation. These may include filling a specific policy gap, a demand from a Ministry of Finance, among others.
- The applicant organization must demonstrate an existing partnership, collaboration, or prior working relationship with the Ministry of Finance or similar national finance authority.
- The proposed research activities, methodology, and outputs must align with RAIA project timelines.
Thematic areas
Proposed research may fall under one or more of the following thematic areas:
- Quantifying the economic costs of climate impacts and adaptation responses
- Identifying financial, economic, regulatory or market-based instruments to support climate action
- Supporting the tracking, allocation and value capture of adaptation finance
All research must consider distributional impacts, gender equality and social inclusion.
RAIA Grant Details
Funding amount: US$ 80,000–120,000 per project
Project duration: approximately 11 months
Number of grants available: 10–12
Submission Deadline: 5 March 2026 (11:59 pm EAT)
Implementation Start Date: 1 April 2026
For more information, please contact anna.kilponen@un.org