SCOPE OF WORK (SOW) FOR
CONDUCTING A BASELINE STUDY
FOR THE REAL FATHERS PROJECT
(4 PAGES)
Release date: March 25, 2014
Deadline for submission of proposals: April 8, 2013
1. Background
Georgetown University’s
Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) is collaborating with Save the Children
to develop and test the Responsible Engaged and Loving (REAL) Fathers Project-
a mentoring program and community awareness campaign that aims to build
positive partnerships and parenting practices among young fathers (ages 16-25)
in northern Uganda. The intervention will be implemented in Attiak sub-County
of Amuru District from July 2013 to January 2014.
The REAL Fathers Project will
be evaluated with a Pretest-Postest Control experimental study design in which
340 young fathers will be randomly assigned to intervention and control groups.
Men who are assigned to the intervention group will participate in the 12
mentoring sessions (six individual and six group), and men assigned to the
control group will only be exposed to the community awareness campaign. After
endline data have been collected and analyzed, control group members will have
the opportunity to receive elements of the intervention proven to be most
successful.
Men will be recruited to
participate in the intervention who:
a.
Reside in the study community;
b.
Are married or cohabiting with an intimate partner;
c.
Are between the ages of 16 and 25 years old; and
d. Have a child at least one
year of age and no children older than three.
All young fathers will be
interviewed at baseline (before the start of intervention activities) and
endline (four months after intervention activities are complete). The general
objective of evaluation study is to measure the acceptability, feasibility, and
effectiveness of the REAL Fathers Project.
2. Purpose of this
assignment
IRH intends to conduct
interviews with participants in the REAL Fathers Project to provide baseline
information from which to measure the effectiveness of the intervention in
achieving desired outcomes. Page 2 of 4
Specifically, the evaluation will measure whether the
intervention was successful in: 1) improving positive parenting techniques
among fathers, 2) increasing positive interactions between children and
fathers, 3) increasing self-efficacy related to fatherhood, 4) increasing
emotional investment by fathers in children’s lives, 5) decreasing incidence of
IPV, 6) decreasing utilization of harsh punishment, and 7) increasing
participation of fathers in non-traditional parenting roles.
We are looking
for a Uganda-based consultant or research organization to conduct the field
portion of this baseline study as outlined in section 3 below. This scope of
work is only for baseline data collection. A separate request for
applications to conduct endline data collection will be released in 2014.
3. Scope of
work
All study
activities will be undertaken in close supervision by IRH. The scope of work
will include, but may not necessarily be limited to, the following activities:
Reviewing relevant documents including: the project concept
note, research protocol, project brief, draft interview instrument, consent
forms, and other relevant literature, in order to become familiar with the
research and the context.
Undertaking credible research ethics certification prior to
the start of the study (if not already undertaken). The FHI 360 online research
ethics certification course is preferred.
Translating the interview instrument and consent forms into
Acholi, then pretesting them in communities having similar population
characteristics as those of the targeted study population. Reviewing and
finalizing the interview instrument and consent forms prior to the study.
Overseeing the entire field process including, but not
limited to, identifying and hiring data collectors and supervisors,
collaborating with IRH to train data collectors and supervisors on research
methods and ethics; and conducting/managing data collection activities in 8
parishes in Attiak sub-County, Amuru district.
Conducting structured individual interviews (as per the
research protocol) with 340 young fathers (ages 16-25 years old) across 6
parishes in Attiak. Potential participants will be identified by Save the
Children staff who will introduce research staff to the young fathers who have
expressed interest in being interviewed.
Creating
data entry screens. The screen can be in a program of choice (such as CSPro or
Microsoft Access), but the program must allow for data cleaning and
Page 3 of 4
dictionary creation, and must be exportable into SPSS
(including complete dictionary of variables and values)
Conducting data entry, using double entry procedures;
comparing the two versions and cleaning up the data
Conducting basic quantitative data analysis such as
frequencies and descriptive statistics, based on guidelines provided by IRH
Submitting a
baseline research report and datasets (in SPSS) for review and further
analysis. Please note that the report will need to reviewed and approved by IRH
and may require multiple rounds of edits by the research
consultant/organization before being considered final.
4. Expected outputs
1. An inception report detailing the work plan, providing
comments to the baseline data collection instrument & SOW, listing key
documents to be reviewed, and outlining the format for final report.
2. Weekly technical report describing the process of data
collection: what went well, what didn’t work and why, what are some
recommendations of human resources and/or other resources required to better
support the data collection during the endline study.
3. Final and cleaned raw data, in SPSS, including complete
dictionary of variables and values.
4. A detailed
final report of the preliminary analysis, outlining among others: background
characteristics of respondents; attitudes and behaviors related to gender
roles, parenting, and violence; and respondents’ participation and exposure to
intervention components.
5.
Methodology
The consultant/research
organization will be required to conduct baseline structured individual
interviews with 340 young fathers between the ages of 16 and 25 years old. The
research protocol details the execution of the methodology, including: sampling
and recruitment of study respondents, obtaining informed consent, interview
procedures and data collection, research tools, data management and analysis.
IRH will provide a draft interview instrument for pre-testing.
6. Time
frame for the evaluation
The evaluation
study is planned to commence on June 1, 2013 with document review and training;
data collection should conclude no later than June 31, 2013; and data analysis
and report writing should conclude no later than August 1, 2013.
7.
Submission of proposals
Page 4 of 4
Interested bidders are required to submit a detailed
technical and financial proposal in response to this SOW.
The technical
proposal needs to clearly illustrate the consultant(s) or organization’s competency
in conducting baseline studies and particular knowledge and prior experience in
working with similar populations (youth) and on similar topics (GBV, SRH). It
should present methodologies and an illustrative work plan narrative for each
phase of the baseline process against the timeline given. It should also
include the CVs of all proposed key staff (required) and any supporting staff
as appendices (not required but desired if you know the person(s) with whom you
plan to work).
The financial
proposal should be a separate document from the technical proposal and should
be easy to read and relate with in terms of monetizing the technical proposal.
Please provide a competitive professional fee.
Selection
criteria are the following:
Suitability of qualifications to the assignment and
demonstration of relevant experience and thematic expertise.
Evidence working on previous youth, SRH , and/or
GBV-related baseline studies as the lead consultant/organization.
Demonstrated understanding of the proposed baseline study
as illustrated by the technical proposal and the clarity and appropriateness of
the methodology/work plan.
Cost and
competitiveness of budget.
An exclusion
criterion is an incomplete proposal submission and one not adhering to the
above guidance. Please note that costs associated with proposal preparation,
submission and/or negotiation cannot be reimbursed as a direct cost of the
assignment. All technical questions regarding this SOW should be directed
to mka46@georgetown.edu with fmubiru.great.irh@gmail.com, and
g.masendi.great.irh@gmail.com on copy.
8.
Submission guidelines
The proposals are due 5 pm Uganda time on April 8, 2013.
Proposals are to be submitted electronically to mka46@georgetown.edu and
fmubiru.great.irh@gmail.com , g.masendi.great.irh@gmail.com and
mkg54@georgetown.edu on copy. The successful consultant/firm will be notified
within two weeks of the deadline.
