Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) was a competitive grants program that invited scientists in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) to apply for awards of up to $300,000 to support research and capacity-building activities on topics with strong potential development impacts. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), from 2011 to 2024, PEER supported over 463 scientists in 60 USAID-partner countries. These researchers partnered with U.S. government-supported scientists in mutually beneficial collaborations that produced scientific breakthroughs, trained future scientists, built capacity at local higher education institutions, and translated evidence into policy. Funded researchers examined international development topics such as environmental resilience, global health, and digital development. PEER’s core objectives were (1) advancing high-quality research to improve programs and policies, (2) building partnerships between local research institutions and in-country and global entities, and (3) strengthening the research capacity in developing countries to generate solutions to local challenges.
Over 13 years, PEER strengthened the capacity of local institutions while producing research that influenced policy and programs. PEER created or supported research partnerships involving 325 low and middle-income institutions and 153 U.S. institutions in 60 states. In total, over 2,700 students were part of PEER teams; 51 percent of the students were women. PEER Principal Investigators have published over 1500 peer-reviewed journal articles to date. Due to the complex and long-term nature of research for development, USAID staff designed a Program and Policy Change (PPC) Framework that measures the social and economic impact of research projects across various sectors. USAID and NASEM staff measured the extent to which PEER project results were used as evidence to inform local, regional, or national policies, programs, or behavior changes by external stakeholders. At the end of the program, PEER delivered 188 program and policy changes at the local, national, and regional levels. A few examples of high-impact PEER projects include:
• A group of researchers in Kenya and Tanzania teamed up to sequence, catalog, and document the DNA of endangered wildlife into barcodes now used by East African law enforcement agencies to track and prosecute illegal wildlife traffickers.
• PEER researchers worked with community members to address forest degradation and illegal gold mining and logging in the Peruvian Amazon using remote sensing technology. With research team training, park rangers and Indigenous community members co-designed methods to monitor the region and respond to illegal activity while ensuring the safety of community members.
• A group of researchers in Malawi and Mozambique worked with U.S. universities to study Cervical Cancer Screening and Preventive Therapy, which informed national cervical cancer screening and treatment guidelines in both countries.
• Indian researchers worked to develop, pilot, patent, and market the Farm SunFridge, a batteryless, off-grid solar refrigerator that allows farmer groups to cool their produce and reduce spoilage. As a result, farmers and governments hope to build Sunfridges in Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.
• Throughout Africa and Asia, the PEER Women in Science Mentoring Program provided opportunities for early-career women scientists to build skills in work-life balance, networking, proposal writing, publishing research papers, and access to small grants to start their research.
The longevity of the PEER program speaks to the support of numerous global partners, including multiple U.S. government agencies and USAID Missions. PEER PIs and their teams collectively received more than $133 million in additional funding to continue and expand their research as a result of working with PEER. On the U.S. side, PEER projects leveraged more than $580 million in U.S. science agency funding that went to U.S. partners. However, what is most unique about PEER is its focus on local research teams tackling local and regional problems in partnership with U.S. partners. See http://www.nas.edu/peer.