Application Deadline: June 24, 2022

Terms of Reference (ToR) for the SPIR II Gender Analysis

1. Background

World Vision, CARE and ORDA are implementing the World Vision (WV)-led Strengthen Productive Safety Net Program 5 (PSNP 5) Institutions and Resilience II (SPIR II) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). This is a follow-on project that started in October 2021 and will continue until September 2026. The goal of the project is aligned with the Government of Ethiopia’s PSNP 5 which focuses on building resilience of the extreme poor and vulnerable to shocks and food insecurity for stronger food security and nutrition. The PSNP 5 strategy put a strong emphasis on system building, modernization, and transparent accountable structures with key outputs of timely and adequate and shock responsive transfers; disaster risk reductions and enhanced livelihood services to achieve improved food security of vulnerable households in targeted PSNP communities, contributing to a sustained reduction in rural poverty. SPIR II will target 456,791 PSNP clients and 169,182 PSNP households in 9 woredas in Amhara and 10 woredas in Oromia, over the life of the award. SPIR II will additionally benefit 271,586 non-PSNP households through targeted interventions.

The project works to address the availability, access and utilization of food while also addressing causes of underlying social vulnerability and discrimination. The purposes include:

1.      Vulnerable Households and Individuals have sufficient quantity, quality, and diversity of food at all times.

2.      Vulnerable community members’ livelihoods transformed.

3.      PSNP systems deliver accountable, effective, and shock responsive services.

At a foundational level, and cutting across all purpose areas, SPIR II will focus on transforming the gender and social norm dynamics critical for significant change in income, production, protection, participation, and voice, especially for women and youth.

2.    Purpose, objectives, and scope of the consultancy

2.1 Purpose

The main aim of the 2022 SPIR II Gender Analysis (GA) is to identify social and gender inequalities that could negatively affect the achievement of SPIR II objectives and to ensure that the design and interventions to increase women’s empowerment, equity for women, men, boys and girls, and other minority groups, do not exacerbate existing power or abusive gender relations.

Building on the previous project’s GA, its Impact Evaluation[1], and other literature, the 2022 SPIR II GA will further the understanding of the determinates of gender inequalities and social exclusion experienced by women, men, boys, and girls, and will primarily seek to understand:

1.      What are the gendered-related rights denials in activity target areas? How do unequal gender relations, gendered discrimination, subordination, and exclusion influence rights denials? How do they intersect with other areas of marginalization?

2.      How will gender relations affect the achievement of the project’s results?

3.      How will proposed results affect the relative status of men, women, and youth? Will it exacerbate or reduce inequalities?

The GA will also attempt to fill gaps in the project’s Theory of Change (TOC) to determine the linkages between inequitable social norms, gender-based violence (GBV), access to opportunities, resources, livelihoods, and participation in community committees and forums. It will examine how these linkages are influencing food security, nutrition for pregnant and lactating women (PLW), women or reproductive age (WRA), youth, and other minority groups. 

The findings of the GA will be used to improve the SPIR II gender and social inclusion interventions, to forge even stronger gender integration across all the project purposes, and, ultimately to reduce inequalities whilst achieving the project outcomes.

The GA will leverage CARE’s and WV’s expertise in gender and social inclusion integration throughout the activity cycle. CARE’s approach to Gender Equality, and Good Practice Framework will serve as a guiding framework for gender analysis and programming. In addition, WV’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Domains, will guide SPIR II’s work to address the critical underlying causes of poverty and social injustice: inequality and a lack of voice among minority groups including women, youth, and persons with disabilities (PWD). This is in line with USAID’s guidance to consider gender inequality as one of the underlying causes of food insecurity in all projects funded by BHA and aligns with the major gender analysis domains identified by USAID (Laws, Policies, Regulations, and Institutional Practices that influence the context in which men and women act and make decisions, Cultural Norms and Beliefs, Gender Roles, Responsibilities, and Time Use, Access to and Control over Assets and Resources and Patterns of Power and Decision-making.)

The specific objectives of the GA include:

2.2 Specific Objectives

·      To explore how unequal gender relations, gendered discrimination, subordination, and exclusion influence rights denials in SPIR II intervention areas, and how they intersect with other areas of marginalization or inequality, including age, and disability.

·      To identify the different gender roles and relationships within SPIR II intervention areas and identify how these create specific needs, risks, and inequities for the various target groups.

·      To examine how the outcome of each purpose affects the status of men and women, girls, and boys, with the aim to reduce the inequalities.

·      To understand how the gender relations and dynamics can affect each purpose’s outcomes and SPIR II’s overall achievement.

·      To identify, analyse, and examine gender and social norms that affect the participation of women, men, youth (male and female) and their gain from productive engagement in SPIR II communities.

·      To set progress markers for women’s empowerment and improved gender equality across all three the SPIR II purpose areas.

3.    Methodology and Approach

3.1 Study Locations and Sampling

The 2022 SPIR II GA will be conducted in the project regions and zones namely, Oromia (East and West Hararghe) and Amhara (North Wollo and Wag Himra). One Woreda in each zone and two kebeles per woreda (12 eight kebeles) will be sampled. Two of the three new SPIR II woredas in Oromia will be selected to provide deeper understanding of the gender and social inclusion relations in these new woredas. In Amhara, the four kebeles will be selected from the previous SPIR N* control kebeles. The selection of the locations will be purposive and based on predetermined criteria such as the largest number of PSNP beneficiaries, distance from the woreda town, presence/absence of specific challenges such as conflict, drought, protection concerns such as prevalence of early marriages, presence of different population groups (pastoralists or landed farmers; religious or ethnic differences), presence/absence of other similar projects.

3.2 Data Collection Methods

The primary methodology for this analysis will be qualitative data collection, which will be supplemented by a desk review of available literature (secondary data, published research, grey literature, laws, and policies).

3.2.1 Desk review

The review will complement the research done under SPIR I (the 2018 SPIR GA, the SPIR Impact Evaluation) and will explore literature from multiple sources: 1) secondary data relevant to food and nutrition security, access to services, educational attainment, literacy, health and nutrition, income and livelihood, mobility, workload, morbidity and mortality, and violence; 2) Policies and laws related to women’s and girls’ rights, as well as to those related to agriculture, health, nutrition, PSNP; 3) Peer reviewed articles, and grey literature on cultural norms, values, attitudes, and practices related to gender in Ethiopia, and, as available, in the project target regions; and 4) Grey literature describing lived experiences, and opinions of critical groups and actors.

3.2.2 Qualitative methods

The analysis will employ a variety of qualitative methods including focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs), and observations. These methods will be used to explore contextual factors and most significant changes in agency, relations, and structure, and their impact on gender equality and social dynamics in the sampled locations.

FGD. The FGD will be organized with 6-12 participants and will be conducted with specific SPIR II beneficiary groups including 1) male caregivers of children under five years (CU5), 2) female caregivers of CU5, 3) FHHs, 4) male youth (15-29 years), 5) female youth (15-29 years). The FGD will help gain a better understanding of the core areas of inquiry at a household level, community, and institutional level, and on social and cultural norms, protection and GBV, rights denials/abuses, agency, decision-making, access to services, productive and reproductive roles, workload, women’s time constraints, participation in community groups, leadership and life skills, inequalities of the various vulnerabilities, and will encourage perspectives sharing.

As part of the FGD data collection, observations will be included and the Daily Activity Clock Tool and Seasonal Calendar Tool will be used to help communities map out their daily and yearly use of time, including during busy seasons.

KIIs. The KIIs will be conducted with a broad array of informants including 1) project staff at different levels, 2) local government officials, 3) community leaders, 4) community influencers/gatekeepers (mothers-in-law, religious leaders, etc.), 4) young married couples (separately), 5) community members (PWDs) and 6) IDPs. The community leaders and influencers/gatekeepers will be selected by the communities themselves. KIIs will be conducted to better understand the following areas of inquiry; government views; community dynamics and the identification of appropriate interventions and messaging; male engagement; household decision making; barriers to women and youth to access services; access to public spaces and services; GBV prevention and response mechanisms, early marriage trends; decisions around first pregnancy, family planning uptake, supportive services, and meaningful participation in public decision-making.

Data collection will be conducted in four sampled woredas, and in two kebeles per woreda. As there will be six types of FGD, and between 4-6 conducted per kebele, the total number of FGDs per woreda will be 10, per zone 20, for a total of 40 FGDs across both regions. For the KII, there will be five KII conducted at woreda and kebele level (some will be at woreda, others at kebele and some at both levels), for a total of 22 per region, or 44 KII across both regions.

The Table 2 below provides illustrative numbers of KII and FGDs to be held in each location and Table 3 an illustrative location for both types of interviews.

Region

Zone

# of Woreda

# of Kebele

Methods

KII

FGD

Oromia

East Hararghe

1

2

KII (4/woreda)

5

KII (4/Kebele)

6

FGD (4-6/Kebele)

10

West Hararghe

1

2

KII (4/woreda)

5

KII (4/Kebele)

6

FGD (4-6/kebele) 

10

Total Oromia

22

20

Amhara

North Wollo

1

2

KII (4/woreda)

5

KII (4/Kebele)

6

FGD (4-6/kebele)

10

Wag Himra

1

2

KII (4/woreda)

5

KII (4/Kebele)

6

FGD (4-6/kebele)

10

Total Amhara

22

20

Grand Total

2

4

4

8

44

40

Illustrative Table 3. Types of discussants/informants at woreda and kebele level

Young married women

Young married men

Religious leader

Community leader

PWD

IDP

Gvt officials

SPIR II staff

M CU5 caregiver

F CU5 caregiver

FHH

Women

Men

Male youth (15-29) separate groups

Female youth (15-29) separate groups

Woreda

KII

x

x

x

x

x

FGD

Kebele

KII

x

x

x

x

x

FGD

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

2.2.3 Data Collection

Data Collection Instruments

Interview guides/questionnaires will be developed for the KII and FGD, which will also include checklist for observations by the enumerators. The guides/questionnaires will include series of specific questions related to the area of inquiry and its domains for both the FGD and KII. As different types of informants/discussants will be interviewed, the guides/questionnaires will be tailored to adjust for these differences and to obtain specific information from specific groups/informants.

The interview guides/questionnaires will include similar questions around specific themes to ensure for triangulation during analysis. The interview guides/questionnaires will be developed in English and translated to the local languages (Afran Oromo and Amharic). They will be pretested with the different types of informants/discussants and any adjustments will be made prior to data collection.

Training of Data Collection Teams

The data collection teams, enumerators, note takers, supervisors (see description of the teams later in the text), will be trained on several topics prior to data collection. This will include, but will not limited to, understanding gender, youth and social inclusion dynamics, gender equality, gender sensitivity, and intersectionality, the gender analysis protocol/SOW, research ethics, USAID’s guidelines on GBV and a Do-No-Harm principles, the selection criteria for the KII and FGDs, voluntary consent, on data quality and quality control, on coding, data management and storage.

Additionally, key principles for the data collection will be shared with the data collection teams which includes maximum participation of men and boys at all stages of the study; KII and FGD of women, female youth (18-29), young married wives, adolescent mothers, will be conducted by female data collectors/project staff to ensure that women/girls can express their opinions freely, the same care will be taken to ensure inclusiveness for youth, and PWD in the different contexts. Data collectors will be trained on how to handle voluntary disclosures of experience of violence if it happens in FGD settings.

2.2.4 Data Management, Coding and Analysis

Data Management and Coding

The 2022 SPIR II GA data collection teams/enumerators will have the KII and FDG guides/questionnaires, notebooks, and audio materials/recorders to record the interviews. Each KII/FGD will be conducted by two people: the interviewer and the note taker. The notes captured in the notebooks, questionnaires, and recorders will be transcribed by the note takers and translated into English. To ensure quality of the transcriptions, checks of the transcriptions will be done by the GA team, the Monitoring Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL), and Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) teams. Any inconsistencies will be fixed, and the team will ensure the required standards are adhered to and that no data was lost in the translation. The data collection team will also use standard checklists to identify and correct any data quality issues. They will come together at the end of each day to discuss major findings, emerging patterns, and challenges encountered.

A data analysis plan will be developed prior to data collection. The transcribed data will be organized per theme and will be coded to facilitate data analysis.

Data Analysis and Validation

The qualitative data analysis will be done using the “Nvivo” software package. Quantitative data will be analyzed and presented in tables and graphs. Triangulation of the data will be done using the various data sources (literature review, KIIs and FGDs) to ensure a balanced and sound understanding of the common patterns and variations in the data.

The preliminary findings of the 2022 SPIR II GA will be presented during validation and dissemination meetings at regional, and at federal levels with GA participants, government officials, local and international partners, including RFSA partners, and USAID.

Data Storage and Disposition

The data collection team will ensure that all personal identifiers are removed to de-identify study participants. Hard copy consent forms, completed questionnaires, and notebooks will be placed in lockable cabinets in the SPIR II CARE Head Office in Addis Ababa. All electronic files, including transcriptions, codebook, datasets, analyzes, will be password protected and saved on the SPIR II shared drive.

Disposition will be done in line with the Government of Ethiopia and USAID guidelines and requirements. All datasets and required accompanying information (informed consent, codebook, data collection instruments) will be submitted to USAID’s Development Data Library (DDL). The approved research report will be uploaded to the Development Experience Clearing house (DEC).

2.2.5 Ethical Considerations

The data collection plan and the training of the data collection teams, will specify steps to ensure informed consent/assent (should unmarried youth under 18 be interviewed), confidentiality, protection of minors, the steps to protect data collected and in the data management procedures. Prior to the field work meetings will be organized with key community leaders, religious leaders in the sampled locations to share the objectives of the 2022 SPIR II GA, to ensure their buy-in, protection of the study participants and GA teams.

Voluntary Informed Consent/Assent

The SPIR II gender analysis team will develop informed consent and assent forms for key informants and focus group discussants. Before each KII or FGD, enumerators will read a brief description of the SPIR II project, and its GA and inform them that their participation is voluntary and that they could discontinue participating at any time. Written (signed or thumb printed) or oral informed consent will be obtained from all respondents prior to conducting KII and FGDs. No unmarried youth/children under the age of 18 will be interviewed. Participation in KII and FGDs will be voluntary. No undue inducements for participation will be made.

Confidentiality

No personal identifiers will be used during data collection, data analysis, nor during reporting. Enumerators will use pseudonyms or participant numbers during the FGDs and interviews. 

KII and FGD will be held in private locations. For sensitive topics including GBV and IPV, interview locations will maximize privacy and safety of participants. The data collection teams and enumerators will be trained on how to recognize discomfort during interviews, and on how to manage voluntary disclosures of experience of violence, trauma, or feelings of insecurity, if they occur during interviews.

As mentioned, the GA team will ensure all data collected with be anonymous. All hardcopies will be placed in lockable cabinets and any recordings or will be stored at SPIR II CARE Head Office and will only be accessible by the lead researchers on the 2022 SPIR II GA.

Ethical Review

SPIR II will consult with USAID/BHA, IFPRI, and relevant Internal Review Board (IRB) approval bodies on the requirements and timelines to grant ethical approval if applicable for this 2022 SPIR II GA.

2.2.6 Preliminary Results Application Plan

The findings from the 2022 SPIR II GA, will be used to prioritize and act upon strategic GESI issues and gaps identified through this analysis. SPIR II will use the findings and recommendations to inform programmatic decisions and to identify specific actions to take or to avoid, to reach the project goal and objectives.

Based on the analysis and identification of key practical gender-related rights and strategic interests, SPIR II will use analysis to develop the gender action plan, strategy, progress markers (qualitative indicators), the women's and youth empowerment program, and the collaboration, learning and adaption (CLA) system. This will involve the following:

·      Incorporating the gender considerations across the programmatic cycle. These will be included into the program analysis, interventions, monitoring, assessment, and learning, as well as outcomes, activities, work plans, monitoring, and reporting formats.

·      Incorporating strategies to place gender relations, and the intersection of gender and other categories of social exclusion at the heart of the work.

·      Developing strategies to address the barriers and constraints and including these in program/ project intervention and implementation and ensure that they are adequately resourced.

·      Develop a concise but pragmatic integration matrix for gender, youth, and social inclusion across all the purpose areas to transform livelihoods for households and communities.

·      Using the findings to adjust key training manuals, technical program guidelines, standard operating procedures, and other program tools.

·      Incorporating methods to track changes in gender norms/relations and track key indicators related to important gender issues.

·      Identifying capacity building needs of SPIR II and partner staff and develop/implement a plan to address these needs.

·      Engaging in advocacy for broader change to empower women, address strategic gender interests and transform gender relations with in SPIR II operational areas.

SPIR II will foster ongoing learning, research, and assessments related to gender, youth, and social inclusion throughout the life of the project. Findings and learning will be shared through existing platforms, project team meetings, documentation, tool development, TOC refinements, to ultimately contribute to empowering of women and girls and facilitate gender equality/equity within households and communities.

3.    Expected Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the following products:

3.1 Specific Outputs

·      An inception report that details out sampling procedures, data collection tools and a data analysis plan.

·      GA training curriculum and field procedure manual for enumerators.

·      A comprehensive gender analysis report not more than 50 pages that includes:

o  Executive summary with a matrix of key findings (see below) and action plan by thematic areas and TOC purposes, as per the research questions (3-5 pages).

o  Introduction, background, objectives, research methods and process.

o  Findings and recommendations by gender domains and suggested revisions to the TOC by Purpose Area.

o  Gender Action Plan as part of the GA report.

·      Validation workshop report.

·      Original hard and soft copies of the transcribed data and tools.

·      Data sets for analysis or tabular information generated during the analysis.

·      PowerPoint presentations with summary of findings.

·      A set of progress markers for women’s empowerment and gender equality per each component and against the gender analysis areas of inquiry.

Illustrative Matrix of Results/Findings by Thematic Area/Domain by ToC

The following matrix is an illustrative example that would be helpful to include for each ToC purpose in the GA report executive summary and discussion section to serve as a roadmap of how the main findings from the gender analysis will translate into actions for each ToC purpose. This will serve both the donor and the implementing partner as a road map and means to track gender integration over the life of the award.

Gender Thematic Area/ Domain

ToC Purpose 1

Main findings

Action Plan (what you will do differently)

3.2 Workshops

The consultant will be expected to share initial findings on the GA in the following forums:

1)     Present the initial findings in a PowerPoint to the SPIR II team for inputs and feedback.

2)     In collaboration with SPIR II GYSDL, the consultant will participate in the gender action planning workshops.

3)     Present and discuss the progress markers for monitoring women’s empowerment and gender equality with MEAL and gender teams.

4)     In collaboration with SPIR II GYSDL, the consultant will organize two validation workshops (at regional level (Amhara and Oromia) and one result dissemination workshop at Federal level to share preliminary findings for verification, disseminate information and acquire input on the intervention priorities and recommendations.

The consultant will be tasked to:

·      Develop and share PowerPoint slides with the team prior to the workshops.

·      Present the assessment findings, intervention priorities and recommendation to workshop participants.

·      Produce workshop proceeding/report and incorporate the workshop inputs in the Gender Analysis assessment final report.

4.    Gender Analysis Team Composition

The 2022 SPIR II GA will be overseen by the SPIR II GYSDL with strong engagement from the SPIR II team, which will include the SPIR II Deputy Chief of Party, CARE US Gender Advisor, WV US GESI and Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Technical Leads, SPIR II purpose and technical leads, MEAL and CLA Leads, consortium gender and youth advisors/officers, and key government staff in SPIR II operational woredas.

SPIR II will hire an experienced consultant to lead the overall 2022 SPIR II GA. The consultant will work together with a SPIR II team and an experienced member of the CARE Gender Cohort.

The consultant will be responsible for:

An Action Plan: S/he will develop an action plan for the gender analysis with timelines and specific deliverables, including, but not limited to, designing a detailed methodology for the GA, a data analysis framework/plan, training materials, data collection guides/questionnaires, a detailed action plan for the field data collection, a report outline, and a specification of the level of support required from the SPIR II consortium as well as CARE, WV, and ORDA.

Review Literature: S/he will expand on the literature review already conducted by SPIR to create a coherent narrative of ‘what is already known’ and supplement it with additional policy analysis, secondary data, specific project implementation area context and how these contexts support or contribute to project outcomes.

Research Tools: S/he will develop/adapt data collection instruments/interview guides/questionnaires for the 2022 SPIR II GA. In consultation with the GYSDL and other technical advisors from WV, CARE, ORDA, and IFPRI, the research consultant will make final decisions on specific analysis tools and frameworks to be used. S/he will oversee the pre-testing of the data collection tools and their adaptation prior to data collection.

Train/Orient the GA teams: S/he will develop training materials (in collaboration with the Gender Cohort member), and will conduct a training for the boarder GA team as well as an in-depth training for the data collection teams and enumerators, on the GA protocol, data collection tools, coding, data management, data quality, data cleaning, supervision, research ethics, gender dynamics, protection of subjects, including minors, and how to handle difficult situations (consent, disclosure, trauma).

Data Collection: S/he will provide oversight and guidance to the GA team during field work/data collection. Oversee the day-to-day field work and ensure the quality of the data collection by enumerators, problem solve on any issues that arise during data collection, that transcriptions and data cleaning are done timely, that the GA team members conduct the necessary supervision and spot checks. S/he will work with the SPIR II GA teams, and ensure the logistics are in place, that the KII and FGD are identified, that safe spaces are allocated for the interviews, the proper filing of the consent forms, and all hard copy and soft copy documents are stored per the data storage guidelines. S/he will also be responsible for deploying 10-15 enumerators/data collectors, contributing to and attending the data collection training that will be organized by the Research consultant, pre-testing of tools and incorporating the feedback, monitoring and supervision of data collection and ensure quality of data collection, data management and transcriptions, etc. S/he will be holding debrief with the data collection team to incorporate on-the-spot feedbacks, provision of transcripts and translated files in English, and addressing feedback from the SPIRII team on the findings

Lead the Data Analysis: Using a pre-agreed qualitative data analysis plan and tool, s/he will lead the data analysis and triangulate the findings and present them in line with the most appropriate purpose areas of the project. S/he will facilitate an oral debriefing on the findings with the SPIR II GA team.

Progress markers: Work with the SPIR II team to set progress markers for women’s empowerment and gender equality per each component and against the gender equality framework.

Report Write up: S/he will prepare a detailed draft report of the findings (not more than 50 pages per USAID guidance). S/he will be expected to respond to comments from the SPIR II team.

Presentations and workshops: S/he will present the initial findings to all SPIR project staff, participate in the SPIR II workshop and will guide the team to 1) determine priority action areas, and 2) to draft gender progress markers, and 3) lead the gender action plan with the support of SPIR II GYSDL. and share the progress markers for discussions. She will also produce workshop proceeding/report and incorporate these inputs in the GA final report. S/he will also present the findings to stakeholders during the result validation/dissemination workshops, produce workshop reports and incorporate any relevant comments into the GA report.

Final Report: The final report will include key recommendations on the TOC, a Gender Action Plan, Gender Progress Markers, and an annotated bibliography. The report will be submitted to CARE Ethiopia. S/he should be expected to respond to comments from the SPIR II consortium members as well as to issues letters from USAID/BHA.

5. Timeframe

5.1 Timeline for the GA

The 2022 SPIR II GA is expected to take approximately five months. Table below provides illustrative activities and timelines.

Activity

Timeline

Responsible

Deliverable

Preparation

Hiring research consultant

July

CARE

Local Consultant on board

Establish the SPIR II GA team

July

CARE

GA team on board

Conduct Literature review

3rd- 4^th Week of July

Research consultant

Inception report, with methodology, data analysis plan, data collection plan, draft KII and FGD guides/questionnaires.

Develop work plan for the GA

   1 ^th -2^nd week of August

Research consultant

Review GA methodology and data collection instruments

3 ^rd week of August.

SPIR II GA team

Revised methodology and data collection instruments

Design training materials for GA data collection team

4 ^th week of August.

Research consultant

Training materials

Field data collection

Training of GA data collection team

5th  week of August

Research consultant, GYSDL

GA data collection team trained in tools, protocols, gender, research ethics, data management

Pre-testing of data collection instruments (KII and FGD guides/questionnaires)

1 ^th week of September

Research consultant, GA team

Tools adapted for data collection

Field work/Data Collection

2 ^th week of June-3^rd week of September

Research consultant, GA team, SPIR II technical team

Data collection

Transcriptions, data entry and cleaning

4^th week of September

Research consultant, GA team

Transcriptions and translations done; data cleaned

Analysis and Report Preparation

Data analysis

1^st and 2^nd week of October

Research consultant

Key findings assembled

Draft report and debrief of the key findings

3^rd and 4^th week of October

Research consultant

Draft GA report

Reviewing draft report

1^st  week of Nov

GA team

Adapted draft GA report

Validate finding at regional level (Oromia and Amhara)

2^nd week of Nov

Research consultant, GA team

Validation workshop held; comments included

Disseminate findings with USAID and SPIR II partners at Federal level

3^rd week of Nov

Research consultant, GYSDL

Dissemination workshops held

Gender action planning, setting progress markers, revising TOC

4^th  week of Nov

Research consultant, GYSDL, Gender and other technical advisors at IP level WV, ORDA, Purpose Leads

SPIR II Gender Action Plan, Progress markers, adapted TOC

Finalization and Presentation of Reports and Program Strategy

Finalize report, with Gender Action plan, and submit for comments

5^th  week of Nov-1^st week of Dec

Research consultant, GYSDL

Comments included in GA report

Submission of GA report to BHA

2^nd week of Dec

WV

Final GA report

Responses to any issues letters from BHA

3rd week of Dec

Research consultant, GYSDL, SPIR II team.

Approved GA report

4.2 Reporting Timeline

·      Inception Report of maximum 10 pages to be produced after one week from the start of assessment. The report should include the table of content, initial findings (secondary data), methodology and process of collecting data, any difficulties encountered or expected.

·      Draft final report of maximum 50 pages (main text, excluding annexes). This report shall be submitted no later than 15 days after the data collection and analysis process (see the schedule above). The draft report shall be subjected to comments from SPIRII team, CARE Gender Cohort and relevant stakeholders. The detailed analyses underpinning the recommendations will be presented in annexes to the main report.

·      Final report with the same specifications as the draft final report (per donor requirement for deliverables), incorporating any comments received from the parties on the draft report. The deadline for sending the final report is five days after the progress marker and action planning workshop/step. The final report will also include set of progress markers as an addendum.

·      The final report (as well as previous reports) must be of very high quality, including language. The findings, analysis, conclusions, and recommendations should be thorough and the link between them should be clear. The recommendations should be concrete and realistic and presented in a logical structure following on their importance and level of details.

5.    Submission of Proposal

5.1. Required Documents

Consultants/firms who meet the requirements below should submit a proposal in English, which should include the following:

1.      Cover letter describing how the consultant/firm’s previous experience matches the consultancy objectives as well as the candidate’s interest for the consultancy. This letter should not be longer than two pages.

2.      Technical proposal. containing the interest and motivation of the consultant or firm, clear framework, methodology and approach, timeline/work plan, comments on the Terms of Reference (TOR), brief experience and profile of the consultant or firm, and any other relevant information regarding the specific assignment. A work plan for this assignment should be developed in relation to the methodology suggested by the consultant/firm and the number of days set for this assignment. This technical proposal should not be longer than 20 pages.

3.      Copy of the following:

3.1  Renewed trade license

3.2  TIN

3.3  Tax clearance

3.4  VAT registration

4.      CVs, including detailed work experience and education

5.      No other annexes or attachments should be included.

6.      Financial Proposal. The consultant should estimate the cost and prepare a detailed budget to the key activities or phases in the work plan. Cost estimates may cover items including local transportation, professional fees, per diem and other expenses, payments for interviewers, data processors, and secretarial services, applicable tax, etc. This should be presented in a separate envelope and should indicate the breakdown of the proposed cost.

Job Requirements

5.2. Eligibility, Knowledge and Experience of the Team

Applications must be led by an Ethiopian researcher/research consultant with expertise in gender and social inclusion, expertise in conducting gender analyses, and experience using qualitative research analysis packages. Members of the research team may include gender experts with qualitative research experience, qualitative data collection and analysis expertise, as well as data collectors, field supervisors/regional coordinators with gender expertise and transcribers. The lead researcher must hold a Ph.D. or a master’s degree in a relevant field.

5.3. Skills and Qualifications of the Team Lead and Research Team

·      Postgraduate university degree

·      A minimum of eight years’ experience in social development and gender analysis.

·      Demonstrated experience and expertise in gender and social inclusion analysis and socioeconomic analysis and training.

·      Experience in undertaking similar assessments/evaluations on food security projects or social protection programs, including on protection issues including GBV.

·      Demonstrated experience and expertise of developing gender and youth strategies and approaches and of integrating GESI considerations into a development project activity.

·      Proven experience in developing strategies for effective gender mainstreaming.

·      Experience in USAID-funded assessments and studies and good understanding of RFSA programs.

·      Research team with extensive experience of conducting similar studies on topics related to livelihoods, nutrition, gender, and climate change.

·      Strong skills in using NVivo software.

·      Experience of enumerators on interviewing and focus group facilitation skills for similar studies.

·      Solid understanding of gender transformation in development programs.

·      Ability to supervise and manage data collection and data entry for quality control.

·      Strong qualitative data collection skills and the ability to manage.

·      Skills of speaking the local languages (Afan Oromo, and Amharic).

·      Impeccable written English language and transcription skills.

·      Excellent qualitative data analysis skills and English report writing.

·      Very strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills.

Please note that no substitution of personnel will be allowed without the prior approval of CARE.

How to Apply

5.4. Submission Deadline and Process

Deadline to submit the proposal is June 24th, 2022.

All applications should be clearly marked as “SPIR II Gender Analysis 2022”.

Applications (technical and financial separately) should be submitted as follows:

1)     Two hard copies(one original and one copy) delivered to CARE Ethiopia, Procurement Unit, Addis Ababa, around 22 Mazoria, behind Lex Plaza building, next to Ha’Geez Cultural Restaurant. The original and the copy should be clearly marked.

Please direct any questions about the grant or application process to CARE Procurement team through +2511-6-183294.

Selection/Evaluation Criteria

The selection committee will review all applications after the submission deadline. All applicants must meet the minimum requirements described above. The following are the evaluation/selection criteria for the technical and financial proposals: 

Technical

SN

Criteria

Points (100%)

1

Understanding of ToR

10%

2

Methodology

15%

3

Work plan detail

25%

4

Relevant experience, organization past performance in relevant job, and team composition

30%

Overall assessment

80%

Financial

SN

Criteria

Points (20%)

1

Budget realism and reasonableness

15%

2

Bottom line price analysis

5%

Overall assessment

20%

Applicants should submit their technical proposal and financial proposal separately. The technical and financial proposals constitute 80% and 20% of the total evaluation score, respectively. The three firms/consultants with the highest technical points will have their financial proposals evaluated, and the bidder with the highest total of technical and financial scores (with their respective weights) will be selected. CARE Ethiopia has the right to contact short listed and potential candidates to present their proposal to the team and negotiate on terms and conditions if required.

CARE reserves the right to reject any and all non-responsive or otherwise unacceptable proposals.

[1] Impact Evaluation of the Strengthen PSNP4 Institutions and Resilience (SPIR) Development Food Security Activity (DFSA) Baseline Report. November 26, 2019. Harold Alderman, Fantu Bachewe, Daniel Gilligan, Melissa Hidrobo, Natasha Ledlie, Gayathri Ramani and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse