At its core, the SRoL policy aimed to strengthen peace and justice in low- and middle-income countries by addressing the root causes of conflict, instability, and exclusion, and by supporting positive societal actors. This was pursued through five key objectives: ensuring people’s security; fostering the rule of law; promoting inclusive political processes; supporting legitimate, capable governance; and enabling peace dividends through basic services and employment.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-WOTRO), the KPSRL launched the SRoL research programme in 2013. The programme funded research projects through two competitive instruments: the Strategic Research Fund (SRF) and the Applied Research Fund (ARF). Between 2014 and 2021, the programme issued eight calls for proposals—two under the SRF and six under the ARF—resulting in a portfolio of 58 research projects. These addressed key themes relevant to fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS), aligned with Dutch foreign policy priorities and covering regions from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Project outputs ranged from policy briefs and toolkits to academic publications and community engagement strategies, collectively contributing to more effective, evidence-based approaches to security and rule of law in fragile contexts.
List of projects funded through ARF/SRF
2014
- SRF 1: Employment for Stability- 3 projects
- ARF 1: Embedding Justice in Power and Politics- 6 projects
2015
- ARF 2: Open Call for Evidence-based policy advice and tools- 20 projects
- ARF 3: Open Call for Evidence-informed ideas- 3 projects
- SRF 3: Comprehensive Approaches to Human Security- 6 projects
- ARF 4: The influence of transnational challenges in Fragile and Conflict Affected Settings- 1 project
2016
- ARF 5: Addressing mixed migration flows in Fragile and Conflict Affected Settings- 12 projects
2018
- ARF 6: The Political Dilemma of Legitimate Stability- 7 projects
The evaluation of the ARF/SRF program can be found here.