Call for proposals: Improving climate and health policy-making through applied systems thinking

Overview

The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (the Alliance) invites proposals with the objective to apply participatory systems thinking methods to improve national climate and health policy processes. This call seeks to support a total of two research teams across selected countries to apply underused systems thinking methods to enhance national planning and decision-making in climate and health policy processes. The Principal Investigator must be a researcher or policy-maker based at a university, government agency or registered nongovernmental organization (NGO) working on health policy or climate policy research in one of the eligible countries: the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mozambique, Nepal or Uganda.

The expected output of this work is an analytic report documenting the process of applying systems thinking to a health and climate policy process (e.g., Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments (V&As), Health National Adaptation Plans (H-NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), long-term emissions and development strategies). The expected outcomes are demonstrable impact of how using applied systems thinking can improve the design of a climate and health policy process.

Objectives

1. Apply systems mapping and analysis: Use system thinking and political economy mapping to identify leverage points and policy gaps within national climate processes, understand relevant policy, budget and planning cycles to enable the identification of entry or leverage points for change. Systems methods may include, but are not limited to soft systems methodology, boundary critique, agent-based modelling, viable systems modelling, human-centred design and/or the Cynefin framework.
2. Conduct structured participatory workshops: Apply systems thinking methodologies, facilitate engagements with policy-makers and sectoral stakeholders to jointly analyse climate and health system interactions and co-develop problem definitions. Plan an initial in-country inception workshop convening health system stakeholders, system thinking experts and other key policy-makers, followed by one to two more workshops over the life of the project. The convenings aim to support participants in collectively identifying a relevant priority policy process where applied systems methods can support and improve efforts.
3. Generate targeted knowledge products: Teams will produce actionable knowledge products to inform climate-health policy-making. Teams will be required to generate products aimed at decision-makers to help improve policy implementation. These should include policy and technical briefs and presentations in formats suitable for policy- and decision-makers (e.g., meetings, policy and community dialogues, briefings, infographics, peer-reviewed publications, videos and/or podcasts). Teams will also be encouraged to use digital formats creatively.  
4. Engage in Alliance learning activities: Teams are expected to work closely with the Alliance and WHO to regularly participate in knowledge exchange activities and engage with global, regional, national and subnational stakeholders and other Alliance grantees. Active participation in Alliance-organized events is required, including two virtual cross-country learning forums (anticipated for May and August 2025). Teams are expected to contribute to a joint synthesis report comparing results across countries and participate in a final in-person workshop in October 2025 to present policy recommendations.
5. Demonstrate pathways toward policy impact Develop a workplan, using systems thinking, to support implementation of the identified priority policy, documenting the workplan development process along the way. Show evidence of either direct contributions to revised policy documents or institutional adoption of systems tools by health/climate ministries.

Deliverables

Achievement of this project will include the following immediate outputs:

1. One analytic report documenting the process of applying systems thinking in the development of the health and climate policy process;
2. 1–2 knowledge and communications products from each country team (e. g., published case studies, policy briefs, research article, short videos infographic); and
3. Participation in one global convening organized by the Alliance to help share the findings more widely to encourage and inspire replication.

The intended outcome of this work is:

4. Contributions towards demonstrable impact on an ongoing policy health and climate policy process.

Funding and period

Up to two research teams will be funded up to US$ 80 000 each. No additional funding will be provided beyond the project period. Research activities are expected to run for eight months from May 2025 to December 2025.

Eligibility

• The research team must be based at an institution located in one of the four target countries (Islamic Republic of Iran, Mozambique, Nepal or Uganda), with eligible institutions including universities, government agencies or registered NGOs working on health or climate policy.
• The research team must demonstrate gender balance in senior project leadership and women comprising at least 50% of team members.
• The research team must include at least one policy-maker actively involved in national climate change or health policy processes, particularly in NDC development, H-NAP implementation or climate-resilient health system planning – with continuous engagement.
• The proposed research must apply established systems thinking methodologies such as soft systems methodology, boundary critique, Cynefin framework, agent-based/viable system models and/or human-centred design, clearly explaining how these methods can facilitate the elaboration of national climate and health policy processes.
• The research team must demonstrate capacity for multisectoral engagement, showing plans to involve stakeholders from health, climate and other relevant sectors in the research and policy process.

To be competitive for this award, proposals will be assessed based on:

• The research team’s documented experience in applying systems thinking approaches to real-world policy challenges, particularly in low-resource settings.
• The proposal’s embeddedness within ongoing national policy discussions and clear pathways for influencing NDC revisions, H-NAP implementation, or other climate and health policy processes.
• The appropriateness of proposed systems tools for the national context, feasibility of implementation, and alignment with priority policy cycles.
• The proposal’s potential for strengthening institutional capacity beyond the project period.

Submissions should be made using the Alliance’s new online proposal submission form at https://www.google.com/search?q=https://www.ahpsr.org/GHsystems. Submissions will NOT be accepted by email. However, if there are any questions or technical support required, please contact the Alliance Secretariat at [email address removed].

To successfully submit a proposal, all required questions on the form must be completed and three documents uploaded: a PDF version of the full proposal, a Word version of the proposal (.docx or .doc) and a single PDF with the compiled curricula vitae (CVs) (maximum of three pages each) of all team members.

This is a new platform and it may require sometime to input the information in the form, however it is possible to pre-fill the form and save it for later using the link at the bottom of the page. It is recommended to look at the form before completing the proposal document so that all necessary information is available and so that there isn’t duplication in the main document.

Applications (maximum 8 pages) should include:

1. Project title and name of Principal Investigator. Contact information and details about applying partners and team members are required to be added to the online form. Information from the form will be attached as a cover page for the proposal.
2. A motivation statement clearly identifying which specific climate and health policy process will be the primary focus of the research. It should demonstrate the institution’s relevant expertise in both systems thinking applications and climate and health policy work, showing how the proposed research aligns with national priorities and builds on existing partnerships with government agencies or policy-makers involved in these processes.
3. A technical proposal detailing the specific participatory systems thinking methodologies to be applied and explaining their suitability for addressing the identified climate and health policy challenges. It should include a comprehensive stakeholder engagement plan showing how health and climate policy-makers will be involved throughout the research process and describe the expected policy impacts with clear pathways for impact.
4. A research plan outlining all proposed activities across the eight-month project period and a detailed budget in US dollars, including clear justification for all requested costs. The budget should cover the following high-level categories, as applicable: personnel, supplies/facilities, equipment, communications, travel and per diem, other (such as meetings and publications), and overhead (which must not exceed 10% of the total project cost).
5. Successful applicants can be expected to be notified within four weeks of the deadline. WHO may, at its discretion, extend this closing date for the submission of bids by notifying all applicants thereof in writing. Successful applicants can be expected to be notified within eight weeks of the deadline. WHO may, at its own discretion, extend this closing date for the submission of bids by notifying all applicants thereof in writing.

Application process

Proposals submitted after this deadline will not be considered.
Deadline: 5 May 2025, 23:59 CEST