“A consultancy work for conducting Baseline Study of Lifting Healthy, Empowered And Protected Girls And Women In Cox’s Bazar (LEAP) Project”

Project overview

Cox’s Bazar is one of 20 districts in Bangladesh, lagging behind on development indicators, with approximately 33% of the population of 2.29 million (2011) living below the poverty line compared to the national average of 31.5%. The influx of Rohingya refugees since 2017 have brought new and compounding challenges to the already weak local health and protection systems. Approximately 949,000 people live in host communities (49.6% women and girls) and 920,000 Rohingya refugees live in camps (51.7% women and girls), most of whom face deteriorating situations in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and protection from Gender Based Violence (GBV). Families, especially women and girls, are vulnerable to trafficking, violence, child abuse and neglect and child, early and forced marriage (CEFM There are gaps in the outreach of safe and quality and refugee-friendly gender-based violence (GBV) services (like health and legal services and safe accommodation) and referral mechanisms. Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services are non-existent.

The project aimed to respond to the interrelated barriers, Plan International's LEAP (Lifting Healthy, Empowered and Protected Girls and Women) project aims to advance the realization of SRHR and protection from SGBV of the most vulnerable adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) ages 15-24 years in all their diversity in refugee camps (Ukhiya) and host communities, in partnership with four local partner NGOs: 1) Partners in Health and Development (PHD); 2) Samaj Kallyan O Unnayan Sangstha (SKUS); 3) Mukti Cox’s Bazar; and 4) HOPE Foundation. This ultimate outcome is aligned with the 2020 Joint Response Plan (JRP), emphasizing building the capacity of both Rohingya refugee and host communities in Cox’s Bazar District. Specifically, pillar 3 of the protection framework for the humanitarian response, guiding the 2020 JRP, focuses on fostering the wellbeing of host communities in Ukhiya and Teknaf Upazilas and refugee camps to promote alternatives to negative coping mechanisms and promotes peaceful co-existence. The duration of the project is March 2022-2025

Objectives:

The LEAP project intends to conduct a baseline study that will collect relevant data to be used as a benchmark against which to monitor and assess the project’s progress and effectiveness during implementation and at the end. This baseline study will collect data disaggregated by age, marital status, geographical location and other intersectional factors as appropriate and in line with GAC’s Gender Based Analysis + framework which assesses how diverse groups of AGYW have different
experiences to policies and programming. The objectives are:

  • To establish baseline values for the approved indicators of the project’s intended outcomes.
  • To provide information for setting realistic and achievable targets for the 3-year project.
  • To provide information for annual reporting on GAC key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • To provide evidence on key contextual factors that identify the root causes of gender inequalities and exclusion and verify Plan International’s understanding of the social and gender barriers faced by AGYW in the project implementation area of Cox’s Bazar.
  • To inform Plan’s partners and stakeholders on AGYW’s empowerment status vis-à-vis their SRHR, using Plan International’s five-domain analytical framework on gender equality and inclusion, which focuses on social and gender norms, roles and responsibilities, decision making and participation, access to and control over resources and institutional responsiveness.

Assignment deliverables:

The scope of work will preferably include, but not limited to:

  • Review of project documents and other necessary project relevant documents
  • Develop appropriate methodology, data collection instruments in consultation with Plan International Bangladesh, translate, pilot and finalize the instruments.
  • Prepare an inception report
  • Administer data collection in the study area that includes supervision, cross validation, quality control and data transcription.
  • Engage qualified enumerators; train them on data collection and quality control.
  • Data management and analysis as per study themes in the objectives.
  • Submit initial, cleaned data sets and take corrective actions to provide final validated data
  • Prepare draft primary data collection findings
  • Produce draft report and share with Plan International Bangladesh for feedback.
  • Finalize study report by addressing feedback of team members.
  • Maintain regular communication with the key contact person(s) of Plan International Bangladesh throughout the assignment period.
  • Ensure all original data collection (whether in paper or electric form), i.e. raw data, are maintained and submitted to PIB
  • Prepare study brief or presentation for wider circulation/communication purposes

Due to the evolving start-up phase of this project, the details of this ToR, including the study design and timeline, are subject to change (in consultation with the consultant) until the end of the start-up phase. Therefore, the methods and scope of the study as outlined in the final approved inception document will replace those described in these ToRs and the contract as the final agreement between PIB and the consultant.

Submission of Proposal

Interested consultant/consulting firms are requested to submit a technical and a financial proposal through email at Planbd.consultant.hiring@plan-international.org with a cover letter addressing the Operations Manager, Cox’s Bazar Project Office, Plan International Bangladesh. The deadline of proposal submission is the 28 May’2022

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Terms of Reference (TOR) can be downloaded from this link. For any clarification related to the project and research, please contact to Samiha Younus, Research and Knowledge Management Specialist at samiha.younus@plan-international.org