A grant made in 2013 by the Howard G Buffett Foundation (HGBF), as part of its support to establishing the Congo Peace Center (CPC), included $1 million endowment for research on conflict and development issues in the African Great Lakes Region. The initial competitive grants of up to $15,000 have been awarded using the USAID/HESN Transformative Solutions grants format, and designated for scholars in the DR Congo. These grants are intended to “raise the voices of Congolese scholars”, one of the four CPC pillars, and respond to the problem that it is mainly Western voices that have been heard in their analyses and recommendations regarding conflict and development in the DR Congo. The grants were administered by the Conflict and Development Foundation (CDF) Consultant, Robert Kahumula, and CDF Program Coordinator, Gavin Finnegan. On April 1, 2017, twenty professors from Beni, Butembo and Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) summited applications during the second annual call for proposals. ConDev, worked with professors from Congolese universities to select seven additional grant recipients.