Call for Expressions of Interest: RCF Longitudinal Impact Evaluation (2012–2026)
The Robert Carr Fund (RCF) invites expressions of interest from independent evaluators and small evaluation teams to conduct a longitudinal impact evaluation of its full operational history. The evaluation will be completed in time for RCF’s 15th anniversary in 2027.
About the Robert Carr Fund
RCF provides flexible core funding to regional and global civil society networks led by or serving inadequately served populations (ISPs) in the HIV response. ISPs are communities disproportionately affected by HIV who face systematic barriers to health services and human rights. Since 2012, RCF has completed five grant cycles and invested US$125 million in these networks. The current 2025–2027 cycle is its sixth.
Why this evaluation, and why now
RCF reaches its 15th anniversary in 2027. Five completed grant cycles and more than 14 years of well-archived data create an opportunity to examine what a core funding model for community-led networks has achieved over time, for whom, and under what conditions.
The evaluation will generate rigorous, independent evidence of RCF’s contribution to change. Its findings will feed directly into RCF’s strategic review, the Theory of Change consultation led by the International Steering Committee, and the design of the next grant cycle. The evidence will also inform RCF’s engagement with donors and add to the wider field’s understanding of how flexible, community-led financing works.
Evaluation objectives
The evaluation has four objectives.
- First, it will assess RCF’s contribution to changes in the policy and legal environment for ISPs, in access to and quality of services, and in the resourcing of community-led HIV responses. This is the analytical core of the study.
- Second, it will trace funding and outcomes across the full grant history, identifying which networks, regions and ISP groups benefited most and least, and how intersecting vulnerabilities shaped results.
- Third, it will examine how RCF’s core funding model, participatory grantmaking approach and grant structure have evolved across cycles and how these design choices affected results.
- Fourth, it will assess the durability of institutional capacity, financial sustainability and advocacy influence among supported networks, during and after RCF funding.
The evaluation covers five completed grant cycles, with available interim evidence from the current cycle. The 2025 Annual Report is the final data point. All six OECD DAC criteria apply, with primary emphasis on impact and sustainability.
Methodology
RCF invites applicants to propose the methodological design they judge best suited to delivering credible, independent findings within the budget and timeline. The technical methodology proposal carries the largest weight in selection. Proposals should show how findings will move beyond self-reported data to independently verifiable evidence, how RCF’s contribution will be tested against alternative explanations, and how ISP community members will shape the analysis as active participants. All impact findings must be framed as plausible contribution and supported by specified evidence. The full methodology will be finalised in an inception report approved in writing by the Evaluation Reference Group before primary data collection begins.
Budget and timeline
The maximum budget is €75,000, inclusive of all fees, travel, expenses, interpretation and participant stipends. The assignment runs for 28 weeks, launching in Q4 2026 and completing in Q2 2027.
Evaluator profile
RCF seeks an individual consultant or small evaluation team with substantial experience in the Global South and a strong track record of evaluating community-led advocacy, civil society and human rights programmes. Required experience includes evaluating grant-making organisations, philanthropic funds or comparable civil society financing mechanisms; longitudinal or multi-cycle evaluations; participatory and mixed-methods approaches; and the global HIV and SRHR response.
RCF encourages applications from evaluators based in the Global South. Teams that include researchers or consultants from ISP communities will receive higher scores under community participation design.
Selection criteria
Applications will be scored as follows:
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- Technical methodology proposal: 40%
- Relevant experience and track record: 30%
- Community participation design throughout: 15%
- Budget realism and phase allocation: 15%
How to apply
Download the full Terms of Reference [link] and submit your expression of interest to secretariat@robertcarrfund.org by 7th of October 2026. Your submission must include a technical methodology proposal, a detailed budget by phase, a statement on whether the scope is deliverable within the €75,000 ceiling with any proposed trade-offs, and a disclosure of any existing or prior relationship with RCF, its partner networks or its donors.
For questions, contact Théa L. Khoury, RCF MEL Lead at TKhoury@robertcarrfund.org