Democracy Indicators Monitoring Survey 4 (DIMS4) | 7200AA24RFA00003

Opportunity Information: Apply for 7200AA24RFA00003

The Democracy Indicators Monitoring Survey 4 (DIMS4) is a USAID funding opportunity aimed at strengthening democratic development and citizen-responsive governance across Latin America and the Caribbean by investing in high-quality public opinion research. Managed through USAID's Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Office of Regional Sustainable Development (RSD), within the Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) team, the program is designed to generate reliable, policy-relevant evidence about how people in the region think about democracy and how they experience it in daily life. In practice, DIMS4 is meant to help governments, civil society, researchers, and international partners better understand democratic legitimacy, institutional trust, and citizen behavior by using rigorous survey methods that can support decision-making and long-term monitoring.

At the center of DIMS4 are four connected objectives. First, USAID seeks the collection of statistically rigorous and modern public opinion survey data that is inclusive and tied to key democratic attitudes and behaviors. The emphasis is not just on producing one-off snapshots, but on building data that supports long-term trend analysis over time, including within countries and across countries, so stakeholders can track democratic changes and respond to emerging challenges. The survey content is expected to be directly useful to a wide audience, particularly for informing public policy, regulation, and democracy-related programming.

Second, the opportunity prioritizes dissemination: making the data, findings, and analysis accessible and usable. This includes sharing research products that explain democratic norms and attitudes in the region, and ensuring that results are communicated beyond narrow technical circles. The intent is to increase the practical value of the research by translating complex survey results into insights that policymakers, practitioners, media, and local institutions can apply.

Third, DIMS4 explicitly supports innovation in public opinion research, both in the topics studied and in the methodologies used. This means expanding and refining how democratic beliefs and experiences are measured, keeping the survey program responsive to new regional realities. Innovation can include improving question design, testing new approaches to measuring sensitive issues, strengthening comparative analytics, and updating data collection techniques to maintain quality and relevance across diverse national contexts.

Fourth, the opportunity places a strong focus on localization and capacity strengthening. USAID intends for DIMS4 to build the ability of local researchers and institutions to carry out the full cycle of survey work, including survey design, fieldwork and data collection, data management and analysis, reporting, and the use of evidence in policymaking. This is meant to leave behind durable regional expertise rather than relying solely on external technical capacity, and to ensure the survey infrastructure and analytical skills are embedded locally over the long term.

The thematic scope includes longitudinal and cross-national analysis on democracy-relevant topics such as democratic norms and values, public perceptions of institutions, and lived experiences that shape political behavior and trust. The description highlights areas like corruption, crime victimization, and migration as examples of the kinds of experiences that intersect with democratic governance and public confidence. The overall approach is comparative and trend-focused, meaning results should be suitable for examining change over time and differences across countries, rather than being limited to isolated country studies.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, DIMS4 is a discretionary opportunity using a Cooperative Agreement, which typically implies substantial USAID engagement during implementation compared with a standard grant. The opportunity number is 7200AA24RFA00003 under CFDA 98.001. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, but applications from individuals are not allowed. A key constraint is that each prime applicant may submit only one application, and multiple submissions from the same prime organization will be rejected. The original closing date was May 30, 2024. USAID anticipated up to five awards, with an award ceiling of $12,500,000.

• The Agency for International Development in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Democracy Indicators Monitoring Survey 4 (DIMS4)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $12,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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