USAID awards six research grants to strengthen US-Bhutan research partnership

New Delhi [India], February 1 : The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has awarded six research grants worth a total of $500,000 U.S. dollars to foster US-Bhutan research partnerships.
The grants will foster scientific cooperation between Bhutan and the United States on topics including public health, food security, and climate change, according to a press release by the US embassy in India.
The research grants were awarded through USAID's Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program.
The PEER program invites scientists in low- and middle-income countries to apply for funds to support research and capacity-building activities on topics with strong potential development impacts, in partnership with US-based researchers.
Through this program, implemented by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in coordination with the Bhutan Foundation, six Bhutanese scientists will conduct research on a wide range of development challenges.
The challenges that the program seeks to tackle include reducing deforestation and timber use, conserving water basins, saving freshwater biodiversity, promoting climate-smart agriculture, balancing human and primate biodiversity needs, and improving the quality of life and psychological well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS.
In its more than ten years, the PEER program has enabled more than 400 local researchers in 57 countries to find evidence-based solutions to development challenges in a variety of sectors and regions.