Consultant to Co-Design a Menstrual Cup Free to User and Market Based Model At Aga Khan Foundation

Consultant to Co-Design a Menstrual Cup Free to User and Market Based Model (Aga Khan Foundation)

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of private, non-denominational development agencies that share a mission to improve the living conditions and opportunities of marginalized communities in target countries across Africa and Asia. AKF was established by His Highness the Aga Khan in Switzerland in 1967 and began working in East Africa in 1974. In Uganda, AKF operates a multi-sectoral portfolio that includes programming in Education, Economic Inclusion, Civil Society, Health, and Early Childhood Development predominantly in the Central and West Nile Regions. AKF is committed to ensuring that girls and boys, women, and men, are equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to help them interact effectively with the world and be contributing members of a pluralistic society.

Background

Over the past 06 months, AKF has been working with community and school-based design teams in Yumbe district (West Nile Region in Uganda) to identify, prioritize, and design new ways of addressing barriers faced by adolescent girls and boys limiting their access to school and provision of equitable learning. Through various Human Centered Design (HCD) processes, participating teams have identified menstrual cups as potential intervention for supporting adolescent girls deal with issues of menstrual hygiene management at school and within their communities. The processes also tested desirability, feasibility, and market research. AKF is now seeking to engage an experienced consultant to support pilot design teams to co-create scaleup processes for Arua and Yumbe districts.

Scope of Work

Critical to menstrual cups uptake is developing of deeper school community awareness of the benefits and convenience of the cups as well as using existing infrastructure to deliver the cups to targeted beneficiaries. As such, the successful consultant will work with design teams to support co-creation processes for:

1. Development of free to user model: This will involve identifying multiple varieties of menstrual cups/brands/models available on market and comprehensive product review for top brands.
2. Identification of market-based model: Work with design teams or an elected leadership group to generate more evidence for preference of menstrual cups over other sanitary products such as pads or tampons. This will also include working with the teams to propagate increased application and support to more girls and women to invest in menstrual cups and increased utilization.
3. Mapping of distribution model: Includes Identification of appropriate distribution channels and vendors based on research findings from the design teams and market demand as well as purchase cups at locally available distribution points.
4. Support monitoring & evaluation activities: work with AKF M&E teams to developmonitoring and evaluation tools for generating data and document impact of menstrual cups uptake on school attendance and learning outcomes for primary school aged girls in Arua and Yumbe
5. Conduct joint presentations for promoting menstrual cups: Where required, collaborate with AKF to jointly present key findings to other likeminded actors including partner district local governments, line ministries and other civil society organizations.

Deliverables

• Graphic report visualizing the model and user journey for primary girls to access free cups at or near or within their school communities.
• Test the free to user model with at least 10 primary schools and 50 learners, to inform scaling approach to other schools.
• Test the market-based solution with at least four distribution points in Yumbe and 2 in Arua, to inform the broader market-based approach.
• Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for assessing the impact of access to cups on attendance and learning.
• Produce three short stories/case studies detailing user experience of girls benefiting from this initiative.
• Produce three short stories/case studies detailing the user experience of community members (men and women) who have accessed the cups through the market-based model.

Expected Qualifications and Experience

AKF is looking for an individual or organization that has experience developing, implementing, and monitoring free to user and market based menstrual cup models. It is expected for the successful applicant to work closely with the AKF team and other key stakeholders, especially learners and teachers, as required.

• Prior experience in developing, implementing, and monitoring menstrual cup projects in East Africa
• Experience of working in West Nile, Uganda, is an added advantage.
• Samples of prior work demonstrating experience related to implementing menstrual cup pilots in low resource settings.
• Ability to deliver on time and with quality.