Investigating emerging national and regional living income strategies: design, implementation and enabling conditions
Despite the growing interest in living income mechanisms and initiatives at the national or regional level, there is limited comparative evidence on how existing mechanisms are successfully integrated, operationalised and aligned into genuine national or regional living income strategies and which conditions enable coherent implementation across government and stakeholder groups.
ISEAL, Evidensia, and the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP) are commissioning this comparative research to inform more effective, scalable approaches to achieving living incomes for producers by identifying the essential building blocks and coordination processes needed for systemic change.
Scope of research
The purpose of this research is to move beyond analysing isolated tools and initiatives and focus on the processes and coordination required to institutionalise diverse policies into coherent national and regional living income strategies.
The successful researcher(s) will:
- Analyse how existing living income policy mechanisms and tools are designed and implemented
- Identify the essential enabling conditions and coordination processes needed for these components to align into a cohesive strategy, and effectively scale to institutionalise a living income approach.
This research will address the following primary question:
- What processes, coordination mechanisms, and institutional arrangements are necessary to successfully integrate and converge fragmented policies and programmes into cohesive national and regional living income strategies capable of closing income gaps for smallholder farmers across different geographies and commodities?
See the attached request for proposals for the secondary questions, proposed research approach, deliverables and research / team specification.
Budget
The total budget for this scheme of work is £20k, excluding VAT. VAT treatment depends on supplier location:
- UK supplier: If you are a UK supplier, then ISEAL would normally expect the supplier to add VAT to invoices, which will have a total value including VAT of £25k.
- Overseas suppliers: If you are an overseas supplier, then ISEAL would normally expect the supplier does not charge any VAT. You can then do this work and invoice ISEAL up to a maximum of £20k.
If your situation deviates from either of these scenarios or if you require clarification, please contact Naomi Black, Associate Manager, Impacts and Evidence at ISEAL (naomib@isealalliance.org).
Timeline
The full duration of the research will be agreed with the successful researcher(s) however, this work must be delivered by end March 2026. Evidensia and LICOP intend to publicly publish all material in early Q2 2026. (An indicative timeline is shown in the RfP)
The deadline for proposals is Tuesday 13th January 2026. Shortlisting will take place during the following days with interviews taking place early in the week commencing 19th January as needed. Final selection will take place shortly after with agreement of contracts intended to take place before end January 2026.
How to apply
See the attached RfP for full submission requirements and details of how to apply.
Closing date for submissions is Tuesday 13th January 2026. Submissions should be sent to evidensia@isealalliance.org with a copy to anny@isealalliance.org.
The subject of the submission e mail should be “National/regional living income strategies research proposal from [your name]”
Questions?
Interested researchers should contact Naomi Black, Associate Manager, Impacts and Evidence (naomib@isealalliance.org), and Anny Stoikova, Manager, Sustainability Systems and Livelihoods at ISEAL (anny@isealalliance.org) with any queries regarding this opportunity. However, please note that the team will be unavailable between EoD 19th December 2025 and 4th January 2026 but we will respond to any e-mails as soon as possible on our return. Thank you in advance for your patience.