Role Description Prevail Fund is exploring a new area of giving, and this consultancy will help determine whether the evidence supports launching a new fund. We are looking for a Senior Research and Evidence Consultant to join us for roughly three months to review promising livelihoods interventions and the organizations delivering them. This is a rare opportunity to shape a major strategic decision for a potential new fund. You’ll work closely with the research team to help build the evidence base and analysis behind Prevail’s scoping work, forming judgments on what works, what does not, and which interventions have the highest probability of success. The core components of this role are to: - Help frame the comparison. - Work with the team to define the impact metric for comparing interventions on a like-for-like basis, and to build the evidence-levels framework for assessing how much weight each finding should carry. - Review the evidence. - For each of the ~20 organizations, review academic studies, evaluations, public materials, and third-party sources. Capture the headline findings, including cost per unit, impact size, and persistence, and assess how much confidence we should place in each study and why. - Explain what works and why. - For each intervention type, synthesize the evidence to identify how and why the model works, where it breaks down, and what this implies for Prevail’s decision on whether to launch a fund. Assess the strength of the evidence against the evidence-levels framework, and form a judgment on whether the overall evidence base and implementation landscape are sufficient to justify moving forward. - Manage the cost-effectiveness model. - Incorporate insights from the research into the cost-effectiveness model. Update the model as new evidence shifts assumptions or conclusions for a given intervention or organization. - Help draft the decision memo. - Contribute to the memo that will inform Prevail’s decision on whether to launch the fund. Work with the team to translate the evidence, cost-effectiveness analysis, and implementation landscape into a clear recommendation. Qualifications - 6+ years in research, evaluation, philanthropy, or consulting, including evidence reviews or cost-effectiveness analyses that informed real funding or policy decisions. - An experienced researcher who can review and synthesize academic and field evidence in low- and middle-income contexts, judge study quality quickly, and draw out what matters for a decision. - Self-directed, fast, honest about uncertainty, and comfortable with the ambiguity of early-stage scoping. - Familiarity with cost-effectiveness analysis (BOTEC or CEA) or GiveWell-style approaches. The ability to build or pressure-test models is not required, but it is a strong plus. - Familiarity with livelihoods, economic empowerment, or poverty programming is a plus. Requirements - We expect this to be a short-term consultancy over roughly three months. The engagement could be full-time or part-time, depending on the right person’s availability and fit. - Start date: As soon as possible. - Contract duration: Around three months. - Time requirement: Full-time preferred, with part-time arrangements considered for the right candidate. - Reports to: Claudia Carbajal, Senior Researcher. - Compensation: Competitive day rate, commensurate with experience. - Location: Remote, with candidates ideally based within 2/+4 hours of Central Africa Time. - Travel: Up to 20% of the time, concentrated around the field-visit period, and negotiable. Any required travel expenses will be covered by Prevail Fund. Application process Our hiring process is thorough, because there are very specific skills required for this role. Successful candidates will go through: - Initial call with hiring manager (~30 minutes) - Work exercise (3 hrs) - Final panel interview (~60 minutes) To apply: If you’re excited to help us scale, please apply using the application form. We are taking applications on a rolling basis and will respond to all applications within three weeks. *Note: If you currently work for one of Prevail’s partner organizations, we’d love to consider you for this role as long as you can provide their express permission. If this applies to you, please ask them to confirm this with us. Thank you!