Long-Term Impacts Initiative Request for Proposals (RFP)

Overview

The Long-Term Impacts Initiative (LTII) funds long-term follow-up studies of interventions aimed at improving people’s incomes and livelihoods in low- and middle-income countries. Our Fall 2026 request for proposals (RFP) is accepting applications for pilot studies and full long-term follow-up studies. Please email [email protected] with any questions.

Timeline

Short letters of interest (LOIs) are due by October 14, 2026. Full proposals are due by December 2, 2026. Funding decisions will be announced in February 2027.

Geographic scope

The majority of funding in this round is reserved for projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Projects elsewhere may be considered where the intervention has strong replication or scaling potential in the region, but will be less competitive. 

Key criteria

LTII aims to fund a portfolio of long-term follow-up studies, focusing specifically on interventions aimed at improving people’s incomes. Interventions must have originally been evaluated through randomized evaluations.

We will consider proposals across any of J-PAL’s sectors, with the requirement that impacts on income, consumption, and/or other livelihoods-related measures (e.g., earnings, business profits) be primary outcomes of the long-run study. Based on the results of completed short-run randomized evaluations, applicants must demonstrate that there is some reason to think that impacts on such outcomes can be expected. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals on studies for which enough time has passed for long-term follow-up (at least five years).

Eligibility

J-PAL affiliates, invited researchers, and postdocs are eligible to apply for full long-term follow-up studies of up to $300,000 and pilot studies of up to $75,000. 

PhD students, with support from an advisor who is a J-PAL affiliate or J-PAL invited researcher, are also eligible to apply for up to $50,000 for a pilot or full study. 

Application instructions

1. To respond to this RFP, please follow the steps below.

1. Please refer to the WizeHive Application Instructions for information on how to create a new login. Or, if you have already successfully submitted an LOI or proposal to a J-PAL competition, simply log into WizeHive with your credentials.
2. To start an application for a full long-term follow-up study, click here. 
3. To start an application for a pilot study, click here. 

2.  Submit a required Letter of Interest (LOI) by 5:00 p.m. US ET on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Please see the proposal guidelines linked below for a preview of application questions and required materials. 

3. If you receive an invitation to apply to the main application, please follow the next steps outlined in the relevant proposal guidelines documents linked below. Each of the following documents includes a checklist and guidance on what to address within each narrative prompt – guiding your completion of all required submission materials based on the appropriate proposal type. We recommend reading the relevant Proposal Guidelines document in detail before answering the proposal questions in WizeHive. Please find proposal guidelines and application previews for each proposal type (full long-term follow-up study and pilot study) at the bottom of this page. 

4. Upon completing your proposal and uploading proposal attachments (budget, budget narrative, letters, etc.), submit the proposal by 5:00 p.m. US ET on Wednesday, December 2, 2026.  

For further information and troubleshooting, please get in touch with [email protected].