International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Background:
IFPRI, with support from USAID is developing new metrics to measure women’s empowerment in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. The metrics being developed are intended to serve both as diagnostic tools as well as to measure changes over time and as a result of specific WASH-related interventions. We anticipate that these metrics will allow us to better understand the relationships between empowerment and WASH-related outcomes, as well as to determine whether WASH interventions lead to impacts on empowerment outcomes. The purpose of this activity is to field test in Malawi the newly developed Women’s Empowerment in WASH (WE-WASH) questionnaire along with additional validation modules. The data will then be used, along with data from other countries, to develop a dashboard of WE-WASH indicators and provide evidence of the validity of the indicators.
Statement of Work:
IFPRI seeks a qualified survey firm to conduct this fieldwork in either late 2022 or early 2023. The work will be accomplished by conducting a household survey (n= ~810 households) that includes individual interviews with women and men in each of the 800 households (~1,620 individual interviews) and is representative of select areas of Malawi. We anticipate identifying target households through a multistage cluster randomized sample in which we purposefully select 2 districts from each of the 3 regions of Malawi (6 districts total). Within each district, we will randomly select 9 primary sampling units (PSUs) for a total of 54 PSUs. Within each PSU, we will randomly select 15 households to be interviewed. We anticipate the household interview, including the consent process, will take approximately 30 minutes and that each individual interview (conducted with 1 woman and 1 man in each household) will last approximately 1 hour. The final sampling approach will be determined in consultation with the survey firm that is ultimately selected and will take into account budget and contextual considerations.
Activities:
- Provide input and support on the sampling plan.
- Assist in submission of study protocol for local ethics approval.
- Prepare a detailed COVID-19 safety protocol to mitigate the risk of COVID transmission among the field team and study participants. This will include precautions to be followed during training, travel, and data collection.
- Select and train all field staff.
- Ensure there are sufficient numbers of women and men on the field staff so that women interviewers can interview women respondents and men interviewers can interview men respondents.
- Make the necessary logistical arrangements for training and piloting.
- Translate the questionnaire into the local language(s).
- Program the survey using a computer-assisted personal interviewing program
- Pilot the questionnaire.
- Procure necessary materials for training data collection, including the rental of tablets, ensuring that sufficient copies of training materials, etc.
- Be responsible for the logistics of fieldwork, including transportation and accommodations.
- Provide regular updates on the progress of fieldwork.
- Conduct regular checks to ensure the quality of data collection.
- Deliver the final clean dataset and field report in an agreed upon format.
Required Qualifications:
- Demonstrated experience successfully conducting large household surveys.
- Knowledge and experience with work on gender.
- Ability to provide adequate logistical resources to recruit, train, deploy, and supervise enumerators.
- Ability to conduct interviews in target languages while providing data and documentation in English.
- Experience in building trust and good relations with village leaders, interviewees, and communities.
- Strong program management skills: demonstrated experience successfully coordinating large field teams and managing deliverables.
- Excellent computer skills and experience using CAPI software packages.
Application:
- The application requires a letter of interest elaborating on capacity, experience and availability to conduct the work within the presented timeframe, as well as a budget. Please include CVs of key personnel