Consultancy to investigate the dynamic of factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in Africa
TERMS OF REFERENCE
For a consultancy to investigate the dynamic of factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in Africa
Research title: Girls’ retention and performance in primary and secondary education: makers and breakers
Plan West Africa Regional Office
1. Context of the research to be conducted
Plan is an international non-governmental organization which is dedicated to the rights of children and to working with the most marginalized groups. The organization’s approaches promote children’s participation, protection and economic empowerment in order to reduce child poverty and to advance children’s human rights.
Across the world, girls face double discrimination due to their gender and age, leaving them at the bottom of the social ladder. Research has shown that girls are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, to be deprived of their right to education or to be subjected to different types of violence and harmful traditional practices (e.g. sexual abuse, female genital mutilation/ cutting, forced marriage and trafficking).
In order to reverse this trend, Plan started since 2007 to launch an annual publication entitled “Because I Am A Girl’” that aims at providing tangible proof of the inequalities that exist between boys and girls. The various reports focused on different themes:
o 2007: The state of world’s girls,
o 2008: Girls in the shadow of war,
o 2009: Girls in the global economy,
o 2010: Digital and Urban frontiers: girls in a changing landscape and
o 2011: Engaging boys and young men for gender equality.
In the 2012 report, Plan aims at highlighting key facts, challenges and progress in the area of girls’ education in developing countries.
In order to provide Africa specific data for the writing of the global report, Plan West Africa Regional Office (WARO) in collaboration with Plan East and Southern Regional Office (RESA) plans to conduct a research investigating the dynamic of factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in several African countries. The study also aims at producing ground breaking advocacy material for the first Because I Am A Girl – Africa-Report (to be launched in 2012) and for the post Millennium Development Agenda.
In order to obtain high quality outputs, Plan would like to confide the implementation of the study to a consultancy structure or (an) independent consultant(s) with expertise and Africa specific experience in the research domains. The current ToR outline the working assignment and framework for the consultants/ consultancy structure.
2. Goal of the research
To overall aim of the research project is to assess the dynamic of supporting factors and barriers that determine girls’ retention in primary school and their transition to secondary school.
The research will focus on particular themes that have been identified as research gaps in the African context.
2.1. Specific objective(s) of the research/ evaluation
The specific objectives are as follows:
1. To identify factors making girls particularly vulnerable or resilient to school drop out at different stages of their education, in particular during the transition from primary to secondary education
2. To assess the impact of policy changes trying to tackle causes of school drop out for boys and girls (high school costs etc.)
3. To explore the profile of school going girls vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy and the response mechanisms of schools to pregnant girls and student mothers in different countries
4. To assess the prevalence of engagement in transactional sex of school going girls and boys and the impact of the phenomenon on school retention and success.
2.2. Research Questions
We formulated a preliminary set of questions for each of the identified research themes. These question sets give some general directions on what type of information the current study will explore. The list will be revised jointly with the consultants and the participating countries during the preparation phase.
Questions for the theme “impact of policy changes”:
o Which countries have adapted school-related policies to tackle causes for school drop out of boys and girls? What type of policies? Are they gender aware and do they aim at making schools more “girl friendly”?
o To what extent have the measures defined in the policies been applied in the different countries? To what extent have infractions been reported and sanctioned?
o Are the measures defined in these policies known by community leaders, parents, teachers and school directors as well as girls and boys? Do they perceive them as having made a change, either positive or negative?
o Have the policy changes made any visible impact on primary school retention and completion rates? If not, what are the reasons?
Questions for the theme “early pregnancy”:
o How common are unwanted and early pregnancies in school going/ non school going girls in different residential areas and countries?
o What is the profile of school going girls vulnerable to early pregnancy? What is the profile of their sexual partners? Does early pregnancy systematically lead to school drop out?
o To what extent are early and unwanted pregnancy in school girls related to school costs and the engagement of girls in transactional sex due to lack of resources? How often is it a result of sexual violence/ coerced sex? Are their causal links with early marriage?
o What response mechanisms exist at national and at school level to respond to pregnant girls and to girl mothers and boy fathers who wish to continue schooling in the different countries?
o How do girl and boy peers, parents and community leaders react to and deal with early and unwanted pregnancies in different areas and different countries? How do households accommodate care for the infants and young children of teenage girls and boys?
Questions for the theme “transactional sex”:
o How common is transactional sex in girls and boys attending primary and secondary school in different areas of different countries? And in non-school going girls and boys? What forms of transactional relationships exist and what are the positive and negative aspects perceived by the girls, boys, parents and community leaders? How does the school environment influence the implication of boys and girls in transactional sex?
o What is the profile of girls and boys engaged in transactional sex in different areas of different countries? In what type of situations do girls and boys resort to transactional sex?
o To what extent is the financial or material gain used as an investment for education? How significant are these contributions to the school costs?
o How does the phenomenon impact on girls’ retention and completion rates? Are there links between school costs, girls engaging in transactional sex, school retention and performance, unwanted pregnancy or sexual transmitted infections including HIV and drop out?
o Does knowledge on safer sex practices prevent girls and boys from engaging in transactional relationships? Does knowledge on safer sex practices increase the use of condoms in transactional relationships?
o How is the choice of engaging in transactional sex perceived by different actors at community level? How do the girls perceive themselves (as active agents making reasoned decision about the relationships they engage in or as being forced due to lack of other options?) and how are they perceived by boys, parents, teachers and community leaders? How is the transactional sex negotiated and how do the power relationships between the girls and her clients look like?
A general underlying issue that will be investigated through answering the different questions sets is: Which girls drop out, where, when are girls most at risk of drop out in the primary phase and the transition to secondary school and what are effective program strategies to increase the retention rate of girls?
3. Methodology and scope
3.1. Methodological approach and key activities of the consultants
Plan WARO is currently conducting a desk review compiling background data on girl’s education in Sub-Saharan Africa and exploring the research questions listed in the previous paragraph. The report will be made available to the selected consultancy structure/ consultant after contract signature.
The methodological framework proposed by the consultancy structure/ consultants needs to include the following steps:
a) Development of gender sensitive and participatory tools for the data collection.
b) Facilitation of a regional preparation and method workshop with representatives from all the research countries: prior to the data collections, a regional workshop uniting representatives from all participating countries will be organized in Dakar, Senegal. The workshop is to be facilitated by the selected consultancy structure with support of Plan’s regional monitoring, evaluation and research team. The objectives of the workshop will be to agree upon and to fine-tune the methodological approach and the research questions and to prepare the data collections at country level. The consultants will present the developed tools and adapt them according to the participants’ feedback. The workshop should be implemented with a participatory approach enabling to integrate the point of views of all countries and the two regional offices.
c) The conduct of field studies in seven countries: The study should collect both qualitative and quantitative data. It is suggested to make use of structured questionnaires to generate quantitative data regarding certain perceptions, attitudes and practices of girls, boys, parents and other important stakeholders. To deepen the content of the questions explored in the quantitative toolkit and to analyze the dynamic of different factors, the consultants should also conceive a complementary and participatory qualitative toolkit (including playful and child-friendly tools to facilitate the expression of girls and boys and adapted tools for both literate and illiterate adult participants). The tools should actively engage girls and boys, women and men in the research process and invite them to explore questions further and to make use of the results for themselves.
d) Data entry, analysis and report writing;
e) A Regional result presentation and validation workshop: another regional workshop will be held to give an opportunity to the consultant team to present the results and to the participants to validate the findings. The workshop will also include a practical discussion on how to move forward with the next steps.
The proposed methodological framework should include the following components:
a. Capacity building of local resources: the data should be collected and analyzed by local researchers who will benefit from capacity building activities throughout the data collection.
b. Gender mainstreaming: Gender mainstreaming should be applied to all areas and stages of the research project including the human resources (e.g. presence of women and men researchers in the country teams, strengthening of women researchers’ capacity), design of tools, data collection, analysis and dissemination.
c. Child and youth participation: The child and youth participation in the current evaluation process should include (1) the presence of youth researchers in the evaluation team and (2) a participatory and child/youth appropriate evaluation design.
3.2. Scope of the research
The field studies will be carried out in seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Togo, Liberia and Uganda. The country studies should include data collections in both rural and urban areas.
4. Outputs to be submitted to Plan
The outputs to be submitted to Plan are:
- the raw data (filled out questionnaires, drawings, photos etc.)
- the qualitative and quantitative data base: the qualitative data base should be entered and submitted in one of the following software: Nvivo, MAXQDA or Ethnograph. The submission of a well structured coding format in MS word is also acceptable. The quantitative data base should be submitted in either SPSS, CSPro or Epi-info format.
- Seven in-depth studies (country specific reports) about factors influencing school retention and performance of girls outlining the results of the field studies. The reports shall be submitted in MS word format and be written in the official language of the country (either French or English)
- A summary report on factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in Africa and on remarkable results of the field study (in English)
5. Qualifications, technical expertise and level of experience required
The study implementation requires 2-3 senior consultants who need to comply with the following profile:
- Master degree and/or proven expertise in child rights programming with a specific focus on protection, education and gender;
- Excellent experience in working with youth/children and adults at community level and a commitment to child and youth participation in programming;
- Solid experience in participatory workshop facilitation;
- At least 8 years of research experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and a solid understanding on child rights and child development issues in Africa;
- Published research work in the areas of education, gender or participatory child protection;
- Fluency in English and French;
- A track record of published research work;
- Excellent scientific writing skills in both French and English.
6. Submission of Proposals:
Responding consultants shall prepare and submit by 3rd October 2011 a financial and technical proposal including
• a description of the proposed research methods
• a proposed work calendar
• a detailed budget
• a CV of consultants/researchers carrying out the research
• two references of previous clients
to Abdoulaziz.Faye@plan-international.org in Plan West Africa’s Regional Office.
7. Disclosure of Information/child protection:
It is understood and agreed that the Consultant shall, during and after the effective period of the contract, treat as confidential and not divulge, unless authorized in writing by the Plan, any information obtained in the course of the performance of the Contract.
The selected consultant will commit to respect Plan’s child protection policy.
8. Period of Consultancy and Timelines:
? Deadline of proposal submission: October 3rd 2011
? Deadline for selection of consultant: October 14th 2011
? Contract start: 26th October 2011
? Regional method and preparation workshop: 1/2 – 4th November 2011
? Field studies: November 2011 – January 2012
? Submission of 1st draft of outputs: 15th January 2012
? Feedback for 1st draft of outputs: 24th January 2012
? Result presentation and validation workshop: first week of February 2012
? Delivery of final report: 15th February 2012
For a consultancy to investigate the dynamic of factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in Africa
Research title: Girls’ retention and performance in primary and secondary education: makers and breakers
Plan West Africa Regional Office
1. Context of the research to be conducted
Plan is an international non-governmental organization which is dedicated to the rights of children and to working with the most marginalized groups. The organization’s approaches promote children’s participation, protection and economic empowerment in order to reduce child poverty and to advance children’s human rights.
Across the world, girls face double discrimination due to their gender and age, leaving them at the bottom of the social ladder. Research has shown that girls are more likely to suffer from malnutrition, to be deprived of their right to education or to be subjected to different types of violence and harmful traditional practices (e.g. sexual abuse, female genital mutilation/ cutting, forced marriage and trafficking).
In order to reverse this trend, Plan started since 2007 to launch an annual publication entitled “Because I Am A Girl’” that aims at providing tangible proof of the inequalities that exist between boys and girls. The various reports focused on different themes:
o 2007: The state of world’s girls,
o 2008: Girls in the shadow of war,
o 2009: Girls in the global economy,
o 2010: Digital and Urban frontiers: girls in a changing landscape and
o 2011: Engaging boys and young men for gender equality.
In the 2012 report, Plan aims at highlighting key facts, challenges and progress in the area of girls’ education in developing countries.
In order to provide Africa specific data for the writing of the global report, Plan West Africa Regional Office (WARO) in collaboration with Plan East and Southern Regional Office (RESA) plans to conduct a research investigating the dynamic of factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in several African countries. The study also aims at producing ground breaking advocacy material for the first Because I Am A Girl – Africa-Report (to be launched in 2012) and for the post Millennium Development Agenda.
In order to obtain high quality outputs, Plan would like to confide the implementation of the study to a consultancy structure or (an) independent consultant(s) with expertise and Africa specific experience in the research domains. The current ToR outline the working assignment and framework for the consultants/ consultancy structure.
2. Goal of the research
To overall aim of the research project is to assess the dynamic of supporting factors and barriers that determine girls’ retention in primary school and their transition to secondary school.
The research will focus on particular themes that have been identified as research gaps in the African context.
2.1. Specific objective(s) of the research/ evaluation
The specific objectives are as follows:
1. To identify factors making girls particularly vulnerable or resilient to school drop out at different stages of their education, in particular during the transition from primary to secondary education
2. To assess the impact of policy changes trying to tackle causes of school drop out for boys and girls (high school costs etc.)
3. To explore the profile of school going girls vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy and the response mechanisms of schools to pregnant girls and student mothers in different countries
4. To assess the prevalence of engagement in transactional sex of school going girls and boys and the impact of the phenomenon on school retention and success.
2.2. Research Questions
We formulated a preliminary set of questions for each of the identified research themes. These question sets give some general directions on what type of information the current study will explore. The list will be revised jointly with the consultants and the participating countries during the preparation phase.
Questions for the theme “impact of policy changes”:
o Which countries have adapted school-related policies to tackle causes for school drop out of boys and girls? What type of policies? Are they gender aware and do they aim at making schools more “girl friendly”?
o To what extent have the measures defined in the policies been applied in the different countries? To what extent have infractions been reported and sanctioned?
o Are the measures defined in these policies known by community leaders, parents, teachers and school directors as well as girls and boys? Do they perceive them as having made a change, either positive or negative?
o Have the policy changes made any visible impact on primary school retention and completion rates? If not, what are the reasons?
Questions for the theme “early pregnancy”:
o How common are unwanted and early pregnancies in school going/ non school going girls in different residential areas and countries?
o What is the profile of school going girls vulnerable to early pregnancy? What is the profile of their sexual partners? Does early pregnancy systematically lead to school drop out?
o To what extent are early and unwanted pregnancy in school girls related to school costs and the engagement of girls in transactional sex due to lack of resources? How often is it a result of sexual violence/ coerced sex? Are their causal links with early marriage?
o What response mechanisms exist at national and at school level to respond to pregnant girls and to girl mothers and boy fathers who wish to continue schooling in the different countries?
o How do girl and boy peers, parents and community leaders react to and deal with early and unwanted pregnancies in different areas and different countries? How do households accommodate care for the infants and young children of teenage girls and boys?
Questions for the theme “transactional sex”:
o How common is transactional sex in girls and boys attending primary and secondary school in different areas of different countries? And in non-school going girls and boys? What forms of transactional relationships exist and what are the positive and negative aspects perceived by the girls, boys, parents and community leaders? How does the school environment influence the implication of boys and girls in transactional sex?
o What is the profile of girls and boys engaged in transactional sex in different areas of different countries? In what type of situations do girls and boys resort to transactional sex?
o To what extent is the financial or material gain used as an investment for education? How significant are these contributions to the school costs?
o How does the phenomenon impact on girls’ retention and completion rates? Are there links between school costs, girls engaging in transactional sex, school retention and performance, unwanted pregnancy or sexual transmitted infections including HIV and drop out?
o Does knowledge on safer sex practices prevent girls and boys from engaging in transactional relationships? Does knowledge on safer sex practices increase the use of condoms in transactional relationships?
o How is the choice of engaging in transactional sex perceived by different actors at community level? How do the girls perceive themselves (as active agents making reasoned decision about the relationships they engage in or as being forced due to lack of other options?) and how are they perceived by boys, parents, teachers and community leaders? How is the transactional sex negotiated and how do the power relationships between the girls and her clients look like?
A general underlying issue that will be investigated through answering the different questions sets is: Which girls drop out, where, when are girls most at risk of drop out in the primary phase and the transition to secondary school and what are effective program strategies to increase the retention rate of girls?
3. Methodology and scope
3.1. Methodological approach and key activities of the consultants
Plan WARO is currently conducting a desk review compiling background data on girl’s education in Sub-Saharan Africa and exploring the research questions listed in the previous paragraph. The report will be made available to the selected consultancy structure/ consultant after contract signature.
The methodological framework proposed by the consultancy structure/ consultants needs to include the following steps:
a) Development of gender sensitive and participatory tools for the data collection.
b) Facilitation of a regional preparation and method workshop with representatives from all the research countries: prior to the data collections, a regional workshop uniting representatives from all participating countries will be organized in Dakar, Senegal. The workshop is to be facilitated by the selected consultancy structure with support of Plan’s regional monitoring, evaluation and research team. The objectives of the workshop will be to agree upon and to fine-tune the methodological approach and the research questions and to prepare the data collections at country level. The consultants will present the developed tools and adapt them according to the participants’ feedback. The workshop should be implemented with a participatory approach enabling to integrate the point of views of all countries and the two regional offices.
c) The conduct of field studies in seven countries: The study should collect both qualitative and quantitative data. It is suggested to make use of structured questionnaires to generate quantitative data regarding certain perceptions, attitudes and practices of girls, boys, parents and other important stakeholders. To deepen the content of the questions explored in the quantitative toolkit and to analyze the dynamic of different factors, the consultants should also conceive a complementary and participatory qualitative toolkit (including playful and child-friendly tools to facilitate the expression of girls and boys and adapted tools for both literate and illiterate adult participants). The tools should actively engage girls and boys, women and men in the research process and invite them to explore questions further and to make use of the results for themselves.
d) Data entry, analysis and report writing;
e) A Regional result presentation and validation workshop: another regional workshop will be held to give an opportunity to the consultant team to present the results and to the participants to validate the findings. The workshop will also include a practical discussion on how to move forward with the next steps.
The proposed methodological framework should include the following components:
a. Capacity building of local resources: the data should be collected and analyzed by local researchers who will benefit from capacity building activities throughout the data collection.
b. Gender mainstreaming: Gender mainstreaming should be applied to all areas and stages of the research project including the human resources (e.g. presence of women and men researchers in the country teams, strengthening of women researchers’ capacity), design of tools, data collection, analysis and dissemination.
c. Child and youth participation: The child and youth participation in the current evaluation process should include (1) the presence of youth researchers in the evaluation team and (2) a participatory and child/youth appropriate evaluation design.
3.2. Scope of the research
The field studies will be carried out in seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Togo, Liberia and Uganda. The country studies should include data collections in both rural and urban areas.
4. Outputs to be submitted to Plan
The outputs to be submitted to Plan are:
- the raw data (filled out questionnaires, drawings, photos etc.)
- the qualitative and quantitative data base: the qualitative data base should be entered and submitted in one of the following software: Nvivo, MAXQDA or Ethnograph. The submission of a well structured coding format in MS word is also acceptable. The quantitative data base should be submitted in either SPSS, CSPro or Epi-info format.
- Seven in-depth studies (country specific reports) about factors influencing school retention and performance of girls outlining the results of the field studies. The reports shall be submitted in MS word format and be written in the official language of the country (either French or English)
- A summary report on factors influencing school retention and performance of girls in Africa and on remarkable results of the field study (in English)
5. Qualifications, technical expertise and level of experience required
The study implementation requires 2-3 senior consultants who need to comply with the following profile:
- Master degree and/or proven expertise in child rights programming with a specific focus on protection, education and gender;
- Excellent experience in working with youth/children and adults at community level and a commitment to child and youth participation in programming;
- Solid experience in participatory workshop facilitation;
- At least 8 years of research experience in Sub-Saharan Africa and a solid understanding on child rights and child development issues in Africa;
- Published research work in the areas of education, gender or participatory child protection;
- Fluency in English and French;
- A track record of published research work;
- Excellent scientific writing skills in both French and English.
6. Submission of Proposals:
Responding consultants shall prepare and submit by 3rd October 2011 a financial and technical proposal including
• a description of the proposed research methods
• a proposed work calendar
• a detailed budget
• a CV of consultants/researchers carrying out the research
• two references of previous clients
to Abdoulaziz.Faye@plan-international.org in Plan West Africa’s Regional Office.
7. Disclosure of Information/child protection:
It is understood and agreed that the Consultant shall, during and after the effective period of the contract, treat as confidential and not divulge, unless authorized in writing by the Plan, any information obtained in the course of the performance of the Contract.
The selected consultant will commit to respect Plan’s child protection policy.
8. Period of Consultancy and Timelines:
? Deadline of proposal submission: October 3rd 2011
? Deadline for selection of consultant: October 14th 2011
? Contract start: 26th October 2011
? Regional method and preparation workshop: 1/2 – 4th November 2011
? Field studies: November 2011 – January 2012
? Submission of 1st draft of outputs: 15th January 2012
? Feedback for 1st draft of outputs: 24th January 2012
? Result presentation and validation workshop: first week of February 2012
? Delivery of final report: 15th February 2012
| Job Email id: | abdoulaziz.faye(at)plan-international.org |
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