Doing implementation research on our implementation research: how we did it, how it worked and didn’t - lessons from uBoraBora

• In Event: Learning in groups, learning in loops using data for development: Implementation research grant makers

Proposal

uBoraBora has been actively supporting small-scale implementation research (IR) in foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) since 2024. With $100,000 in funding provided over 18 months to each of the seven grantees, our efforts have focused in Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing three themes: effectiveness, adaptation, and uptake. We are at the stage where we can share early outcomes of our grant-making process on behalf of the grantees we support and share more about how we have supported grantees.

The grants set up by uBoraBora have focused on giving grantees the time and space to explore and test their implementation in specific contexts, with specific adaptations, or in specific modalities. The aim is to improve the quality of the intervention overall and at scale. We have emerging insights to share around evidence informed action that grantees have taken to direct their work, and implementation informed adaptation that grantees have taken as the result of findings on the ground.

Beyond this, we also hope to share insights from setting up two calls for applications (with our second call due to launch before CIES 2025). Our approach to grant-making has centered on making the process accessible and supportive for grantees. By streamlining application and reporting requirements, uBoraBora’s “two pages and two chats” approach has worked to reduce administrative burdens, allowing grantees to focus more on their key questions and the implementation research needed to propel their work towards impact at scale. We have also encouraged open-ended proposals that align with FLN themes but give grantees the flexibility to identify specific research questions.

We are now reflecting on the impact of this approach: where has improving service delivery been easier for grantees, and where has it been harder? What is a good tradeoff between bespoke support and one size fits all? Where are the unnecessary handrails in the grantmaking process and where can we challenge ourselves to simplify our work? How do grantees like to give feedback? We hope to share our take on these questions with specific lessons from the journey we have been on.

Author

• James Wilkinson, Brink