Gender Analysis Study At Save the Children

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Gender Analysis Study

Programme Name: Okhokelamo ni Solha

Assessment Location: Morrumbala, Ile, and Mulevala Districts

Country: Mozambique

Project Background

Save the Children opened programmes in Mozambique in 1986 at the height of the Mozambican civil war, with a focus on tracing the families of children who were separated during the conflict. Since our early work in the country, Save the Children Mozambique (SCIMOZ) has focused on reaching the most marginalized and disadvantaged children and their families. Today, SCIMOZ has a mixed development and humanitarian projects in eight out of 11 provinces in the country – Maputo, Gaza, Sofala, Manica, Tete, Zambezia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado.

Okhokelamo Ni Solha is a Resilience Food Security Activity is a USAID/BHA funded five-year program that seeks to improve nutrition outcomes for children under two years of age (CU2) in Mozambique, Zambezia Province, Livelihood Zone 5. Okhokelamo will work through community-level implementation platforms to reach 1,157,575 participants within six districts in Zambezia (Alto Mólocuè, Derre, Ile, Mocuba, Morrumbala, and Mulevala***)*** to sustainably improve women’s nutrition including in the face of shocks; improve infant and young child feeding; and reduce early pregnancy and improve nutrition among adolescent girls.

The project has three pillars as presented below:

• Pillar 1: The mother. If the capacity of individuals, families, and communities to support healthy behaviors through the life cycle is increased, and if the access to and use of quality reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAHN) services is improved, and if women’s agency and resilience is increased, then women’s nutrition will be sustainably improved including in the face of shocks.
• Pillar 2: The child. If families have increased access to nutritious food year round, and if infant and young child feeding (IYCF) behaviors at HH and community level are improved, and if child health is improved, then IYCF and nutritional status will be improved.
• Pillar 3: The adolescent girl. If adolescent girls and boys have improved access to and use of quality adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) and nutrition services, and if adolescent girls’ and boys’ assets, agency, and contribution in the HH and community are improved inside a more gender equitable community, and if adolescent girls’ consumption of nutritious foods is improved, then early pregnancy will be reduced and nutrition improved among adolescent girls.

Okhokelamo plans to conduct a Gender Analysis to examine how gender intersects with other socially significant characteristics and power dynamics to create multilayered vulnerabilities and forms of exclusion as well as advantages and opportunities for key groups targeted by Okhokelamo’.

The results and findings of the Gender Analysis and other formative research and Year 1 activities will be triangulated and used to develop a cross-sectoral gender strategy and action plan, as well as feed into the SBC strategy and the youth engagement strategy. The Gender Strategy will present actionable approaches for all program purposes in addition to specific interventions to support social inclusion, gender integration and transformation. As part of the refine and implement deliverables, the formative research will inform appropriate ToC revisions and guide continuous learning points.

The Gender Analyses will complement other formative studies and Year 1 activities such as the Youth inclusive Need Assessment (YNA), Social and Behavior Change (SBC), and Cost of the Diet (CotD). SC is therefore looking for a consultant to conduct this research in collaboration with the Okhokelamo technical team, who as laid out in this ToR.

1. Purpose and Objective of the Gender Analysis
2. Purpose:

The purpose for this assessment is to provide situational information at project locations Alto-Mólocuè, Ile and Morrumbala in Zambezia Province. It is expected that it will inform programme intervention and strategies. Information from the youth needs analysis assessment will be used as standards to track performance towards achieving the project’s outcomes throughout the implementation.

1. Objective

The key objectives of the assessment are:

1. To provide important community level information to inform any changes or adaptations to Okhokelamo’s ToC and interventions, and;
2. To inform Okhokelamo’s Gender Strategy and Action plan as well as other cross-cutting program strategies.

Specific objectives are:

1. Understand the social norms, beliefs, and practices related to nutrition and health practices (including health seeking behaviors) for women, girls, adolescents (married and unmarried), infants, and young children.
2. Assess the role, willingness and motivation of men and boys to participate in infant and young children feeding (IYCF).
3. Understand the household decision making process around food production, harvest, purchasing, consumption, and sale, including for other household resources and income.
4. Identify safe and culturally appropriate social inclusion and gender integration strategies, pathways and influencers to leverage, and understand the perceived consequences of empowering, women and youth in the household and community.
5. Methodology [1]

The methodology will be developed by the consultant, as well as all relevant tools and presented in the inception report. The two research objectives and four specific objectives mentioned in section (II) should be assessed.

The data collection should include the use of a number of approaches to gain a deeper understanding of the outcomes of the project, including:

• Desk review of background documents (Assessments, proposal document, policies, strategies related to Gender, gender social roles, policies, etc.)
• At least 42 Focus group discussions with Pregnant and latent women (PLW), Grandmothers, Husbands/fathers of PLWs and CU2, two group of Adolescent boys and girls (Members of their parents’ home and Living on their own or with a partner) and first time parents. The group will be disaggregated as following:
  1. 6 Husbands/fathers of PLWs and CU2
  2. 12 Adolescent boys and girls (unmarried): 1 FGD male and 1 FGD female; 2 in each sampled districts
  3. 6 Women/mothers (including PLW & Caregivers of CU2); 2 in each sampled districts
  4. 12 Adolescents Girls (married/ parenting); 1 FGD male and 1 FGD female; 2 in each sampled districts
  5. 6 Men, including husbands of PLW & caregivers of CU2; 2 in each sampled districts
• At least 42 Key Informant Interviews, 14 in each of the 3 sampled districts with religious leaders, traditional, religious & community leaders; District Government gender focal points, women organizations, etc.

1. Deliverables

The Consultant will be expected to share findings, details, methods, and other information with the other formative research teams. The Consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

• Inception report (including draft survey tools; timeline; desk review; data collection, monitoring, and quality plan) in the BHA recommended template with the following sections: methodology and limitations of the research, and preliminary results from the data collection;
• Refined and finalized research questions;
• Detailed presentation of preliminary findings; then draft the incorporates BHA feedback;
• Detailed presentation of the results of the formative research before crafting the final report;
• Weekly coordination calls with the other formative research teams to triangulate information;
• Stakeholder debrief/validation workshop with the Okhokelamo team in Zambezia;
• Final report in English that will be submitted to Save the Children and BHA that includes (final report outline can be found in Annex 1):
  • A methods section with adequate detail for us to ensure the veracity of the results;
  • Line up the results with the activity ToC purposes and thematic areas/domains;
  • State clearly the implications for changing the TOC, activity design, interventions;
  • State clearly what you will do differently;
  • Gender Strategy/action plan that includes:
    • Recommendations to inform development of other formative research strategies (SBC, Cost of the Diet, and youth).
    • Research, learning and knowledge management dissemination plan
    • Research notes
  • Annexes:
    • Data collection tools (questionnaires, FGD questions, etc.)
    • List of the communities that participated in the data collection
    • Thematic aligned research notes
  • Include all required components of the final report in one document no longer than 50 pages total (excluding references and annexes).
• First draft of the final report will be shared with Save the Children for review and feedback; consultant is responsible for incorporating feedback and sharing a second draft with Save the Children;
• Second Draft of the final report will be shared with BHA for submission;
• Consultant is responsible for incorporating BHA’s feedback and comments.
• Coordinated learning event with other research consultants to triangulate findings to and to share findings with the project stakeholders. The structure and activities of the learning and validation meeting will be agreed with Save the Children. We expect attendance of 20-30 people in Zambezia.

1. Indicative timeframe

The data collection phase in the field is to be confirmed between the consultant and Save the Children. We anticipate the consultancy will start in May 2023 and cover approximately four months of preparation, data collection and analysis of results. Results are anticipated to be available in August 2023 and the final report delivered in early September 2023.

1. Qualifications and experience

Required

The Consultant should have the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree in social sciences, gender studies, international development or relevant field;
• 7-10 years of experience conducting qualitative research on gender in Southern Africa;
• Experience in gender programming and developing cross-sectoral gender strategies for USAID funded programs;
• Familiarity and experience in Mozambique;
• Experience leading research teams and conducting enumerators trainings for qualitative research;
• Excellent speaking and writing skills in English and Portuguese, local language applicable to the Zambezia context would be an added advantage.

Preferred

• Strong understanding of humanitarian and evaluation ethics and a commitment to ethical working practices
• Advanced English writing skills
• Experience of working in insecure environments in Mozambique and managing security risks
• Action-oriented and evidence-based approach and strong drive for results;
• Highly developed self-management, and communication skills;

1. Guiding Principles and Values

Adherence to Save the Children Code of Conduct, Child Safeguarding practices and confidentiality when interviewing or photographing children. Gender mainstreaming is key to Save the Children and the donor; therefore, the lead consultant will have to ensure that the research team is gender balanced, ensuring that females are available to interact with female beneficiaries and vice versa. The consultant will also take into account principles of impartiality, independence, objectivity, participation, collaboration, transparency, reliability, privacy, and utility throughout the process.

1. Selection process

Save the Children will use its internal guidance, checklists and an interview process to select the successful consultant. The guidelines require consultant to submit a proposal explaining their comprehension of the ToR and how they would approach this assignment with a summary of their methodology especially in terms of how they plan to meet the objectives, including a timeframe, and budget. The proposal should also include the team composition with the lead consultant and at least one other experienced evaluator, and the CV of each person to be involved in the assignment including relevant experience, a detailed budget and time availability.

1. Evaluation of the proposals and scoring criteria

Save the Children will assign a multi-thematic committee to evaluate the proposals submitted by consultants. The selection committee will evaluate the bidders based on the criteria set below.

Criteria and Selection

1. Technical Proposal-70% broken down in to the below;

• Understanding of the Terms of Reference ( 15%)
• Skills and experience (3-4 Years) in conducting research/studies, similar to the proposed assessment/research ( 10%)
• Qualification of the lead consultant and consulting team
• Proposed Methodology ( 10%)
• Samples of work reflect a high level of attention to detail, quality, and analytical rigor ( 20%)
• Samples of work reflect a high level of attention to detail, quality, and analytical rigor ( 15%)

1. Financial Proposal ( 30%)
2. Submission of application

Along with their CV, interested candidates should submit:

• A technical proposal explaining their comprehension of the ToR and how they would approach this assignment, summarising the methodologies and approaches they plan to use, including a timeline.
• At least two samples of similar previous assignments
• Confirmation of availability
• A financial proposal outlining their expected fees, costs of return flights, visas, meals, accommodation, field operation and logistics and life insurance. In their proposal, candidates should consider that the budget will cover the entire research period.

[1] Please note that Protocol for this study is submitted to ethics committee for review. The successful consultant will execute the assessment in line with submitted protocol.