REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: TEGA LOCAL IMPLEMENTING PARTNER (TANZANIA)
September 2021
WHO WE ARE
Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need.
From chatbots to chat shows and TV dramas to tech, our content reaches millions of girls in Africa and Asia to make choices and changes in their lives, igniting their confidence to act differently at a time that can define their future.
We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts, and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, relationships, and so much more. And we use innovative technology so we can reach girls at scale. We arm girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible, so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, her health, her learning and livelihood.
When a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, her community, her country. That’s the Girl Effect.
ABOUT TEGA
Adolescent girls are one of the hardest groups to reach in society. The challenges they face are often under-reported or described on their behalf. Without including their perspective, solutions designed to support them aren’t as effective as they could be.
Co-created with girls, TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) is Girl Effect’s mobile-based research tool that allows girls to collect real-time insights into the lives of their peers. This unique approach unlocks the open and honest conversations that might be lost or not included in traditional research.
TEGA networks have gathered data from girls and communities on nutrition, economic empowerment, health and wellbeing, vaccines, mobile access, social media and education. This girl-talk method is beneficial when researching sensitive topics like HIV or sexual health.
HOW IT WORKS:
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- Girl-researchers aged 18-24 are recruited and supported by a local partner. They are given a phone and trained to collect data through the TEGA app, which collects qualitative data through video, photo and audio capabilities, in addition to quantitative data capture and digital consent features.
- Data instantly transfers to our secure Data Hub and disappears from the girl’s phone to ensure safety and confidentiality.
- Girl Effect researchers analyse the data, which uncovers insights that are then validated again with our TEGA researchers and research participants, to ensure everything we do is from girls’ perspective.
- Once verified, insights and recommendations are delivered to our content and partner programmes.
- TEGAs are paid researchers and gain an internationally recognised market research qualification as part of their training (Market Research Society). Girl Effect has live TEGA networks in India, Rwanda and Tanzania and associate networks in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nigeria and the USA.
TEGA IN TANZANIA
Our TEGA network in Tanzania was established in 2018 and operates in Temeke, Dar es Salaam in 3 wards, Azimio, Charambe and Mbagala, and has 14 TEGAs.
SCOPE
- The role of the Local Partner for TEGA is crucial; a trusted, committed and flexible partner who is passionate about empowering girls will be the ideal partner for the intended project.
- Accordingly, the selected Local Partner will be on the ground throughout the ongoing TEGA operations and research process and will be accountable for the following major areas:
- Cultural Scoping and Community Engagement:
- The local partner needs good local government/leadership and facilitates any necessary permissions for TEGA to operate. (Having operations in Temeke district is an added advantage.)
- The Local Partner will be responsible for identifying local adaptations to the TEGA training and TEGA fieldwork methodology to ensure that TEGA is culturally relevant and that TEGAs can operate safely within the communities where they conduct research.
- The Local Partner will introduce the young female researchers (TEGAs) to the officials of their districts to ensure they are informed about the ongoing TEGA research work, necessary permissions have been obtained, and potential areas of collaborations (e.g. safeguarding) have been discussed. They will also be responsible for identifying safe spaces for the TEGAs to visit if they feel vulnerable during fieldwork, i.e. community spaces and shops.
TEGA recruitment and training:
TEGAs are young women that are from the communities in which they carry out research. Currently, we have a total of 14 TEGAs in Temeke district. The local partner will be required to conduct refresher training and other required training with the TEGAs to ensure their skills are constantly refreshed.
When required, the Local Partner will organise and manage the recruitment of further young women across agreed locations that could perform the TEGA role on an ongoing basis. Girl Effect will support the recruitment process by providing job descriptions, recruitment criteria, and quality assurance through the selection process.
The Local Partner will provide Field Officers to support the TEGAs in the field. Typically this will be one Field Officers per pair of or per four* TEGAs. Girl Effect will take a ‘train the trainer’ approach to equip the Local Partner with the knowledge and skills required to train the
girls appointed as TEGAs.
*local partner to recommend
Respondent recruitment:
The Local Partner will be responsible for recruiting respondents that align with the recruitment criteria provided by Girl Effect for each round of fieldwork. This means that the Local Partner will also need to ensure that informed research consent is collected for each interview respondent recruited. That all respondents names are recorded, and consent forms are scanned and returned to Girl Effect.
As crucial learning from the covid-19 pandemic, there are occasions where the TEGA activities will need to be conducted virtually; thus, we are looking for a partner with the ability and experience to facilitate virtual recruitment of respondents when required.
Fieldwork management:
The majority of the research that TEGAs will conduct will be within their districts (i.e. home and neighbouring communities). However, depending on research needs, TEGAs might be required to complete fieldwork outside of their neighbourhoods, which will require some travel to neighbouring districts and/or regions.
The nature of TEGA work requires robust (child) safeguarding and gender policies and in-field support processes to be in place. The Local Partner is the first point of contact in the local districts in case of emergency. They will support the TEGAs to obtain necessary assistance in person within a short period. Moreover, the Local Partner will help the TEGAs in the field with projects set up, including recruitment of participants, setting up interviews etc. and regularly check in with them on their personal and professional well-being.
Girl Effect will work with the Local Partner to ensure the final TEGA safeguarding agreements align with the Girl Effect safeguarding policy.
The local partner should also demonstrate the ability to coordinate data collection via interviews or paired interviews.
The Local Partner should have the legal ability to hire local staff and receive international funds for work completed.
TEGA support and communication:
The Local Partner will act as the first line of communication and support to TEGAs, including providing advice and assistance with technology troubleshooting, feedback on performance, and other related support as and when necessary.
Safety: Safety is at the heart of TEGA:
The Local Partner will ensure TEGA safety by building a safety code of conduct across its work ethics, including safeguarding TEGAs in the field. The safety of data is key to our overall safeguarding policy. The data in the Data Hub, where all data collected by the TEGAs is stored, is protected by restricted access. The Local Partner will be required to document how information on the TEGAs and respondents will be stored, retrieved and destroyed after the project.
Staff working directly with children or who will have access to children’s personal data will receive training on safeguarding and Girl Effect’s minimum requirements for safe conduct. Girl Effect and the Local Partner will work collaboratively to ensure the correct safeguarding policy is in place.
Technology Management and Troubleshooting Set-Up:
The local partner may also be required to support connectivity testing in the areas of activity to establish which mobile network operator is best to work with. In this situation, Girl Effect would train the local partner how to implement and report findings.
Translations:
The local partner will also be required to recruit translators fluent in translating local language(s) to English. They will be provided with an online platform where they can listen to audio files and transcribe and translate the content into English.
Translators must have their computers/laptops with Google Chrome, headphones and a mouse. This will be a temporary position and will only be required during/after research.
Dissemination events:
When necessary, the local partner will be required to organise dissemination events to disseminate different findings and insights from the research conducted through TEGA.
Girl Effect will work with the local partner to organise such events. These might also include other forms of community engagement events.
TEGA Network Setup:
Girl Effect Tanzania may want to set up new TEGA networks in Tanzania in future. The Local Partner would facilitate the recruitment, training and ongoing management of TEGAs in this case.
WHO YOU ARE:
Applicant organisations are expected to fulfil the following competencies – the first 3
competencies being vital:
- Demonstrate an understanding of Child Protection, Safeguarding and ethical issues in research.
- Have existing community relationships (especially presence/relations in Temeke district) to engage with the community or leverage other networks.
- Experience working with and supporting young people, particularly adolescent girls and specific knowledge of gender dynamics at individual, household and community levels.
- Experience in conducting research and researching with young people/adolescent girls, preferably in the target districts.
- Experience in, and a good understanding of, recruiting respondents for research.
- Experience in fieldwork supervision.
- Ability to report and respond to comments and questions in a timely, appropriate manner.
- Good technology infrastructure (use of email, fast internet connection/wi-fi that ideally allows video conference for meetings and training and laptops that can be updated to the latest version of Chrome).
- Good digital skills (be familiar with web browsers and some experience with using android apps).
INTENDED TIMEFRAME
- Terms of reference published: Thursday 16th September
- Deadline for responses: Wednesday 13th October
- Supplier selection, contracting and briefing: November
- Project commencement: January
- Cultural Scoping, Local Partner onboarding, Community onboarding, TEGA recruitment – January – February 2021.
- Local Partner and TEGA training of the 1 TEGA networks – Feb-March 2021
- On-going research in the 1 TEGA networks – Throughout
EXPECTED COMMITMENT
The TEGA local implementing partner in Tanzania will manage the TEGA activity from January 1st 2022, until May 31st 2022. The contract is subject to renewal upon satisfactory performance and funding availability.
Girl Effect conducts approx. 6-8 research projects per year using the TEGA network, and there is also the possibility that external partner organisations will research the TEGA networks.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS
Interested suppliers are asked to submit a proposal setting out:
Introduction (2 pages maximum)
Background about the organization, vision, mission, strategies/values, detailed information on geographies/locations where the organisation has staff presence and implements programmes either directly and/or through an existing network of partners.
A brief outline of experience working with young women and girls and the capacity to recruit, train, and support girls within communities will be selected in collaboration with the Local Partner.
A brief outline of experience in research or technology-related projects.
Justification (1-page maximum)
Why the organization wants to be part of TEGA, what added value they bring, and their unique selling point.
Suggest areas where the Local Partner has a presence within the 2 regions where you think TEGA will help improve girls’ lives in these areas and where research is needed. For instance, there is a known gender data gap.
Work Plan and Activities (2 pages maximum)
The support structure and safeguarding for TEGAs (1-page maximum)
The supplier to showcase that they have offices or places that could be used as safe spaces when needed by the TEGAs.
Program Management Working structure/flow of the organization (1-page maximum)
This should include a brief structure of how the TEGA project will be managed and a brief summary of the experience (one paragraph) of the key people involved in the project.
Please include recommendations for wherein each region you think TEGA would work best. We are looking for a mixture of urban, peri-urban, and rural locations – somewhere within each district that best represents a girl’s life in the district as a whole, considering safety, access to literate girls and ease of travel to and from.
Technology and Digital competency of the organization (1-page maximum)
Monitoring and evaluation plan (1-page maximum)
Risk Assessment and Mitigation of TEGA (1-page maximum)
Budget in TZS- template supplied by GE. Please clearly indicate in your application the costs for the work from contract initiation until the end of May 2022. Refer to this link to fill in the detailed Budget. Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents. Financial bids will not be opened until the conclusion of the technical evaluation and then only for those proposals that are deemed qualified and responsive.
Additional required documents from Applicants:
Organization contact details.
Contacts of three organizations (national/international) with whom you have worked previously who can be contacted for a reference.
Copies of other registration documents (Business license, Commercial registration certificate and TIN certificate).
Here is the link to the complete RFP for TASKS AND ACTIVITIES in more detail, SAFEGUARDING, CHILD PROTECTION AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS, BUDGET DETAILING TEMPLATE and EVALUATION CRITERIA.
If you encounter any problem accessing the documents, please contact the Girl Effect procurement team via email suppliers@girleffect.org
HOW TO APPLY
Please submit proposals, as described above, to suppliers@girleffect.org by October 13th 2021, 5:00 pm EAT latest. Please clearly mark your email with the subject ‘Local implementing Partner- Tanzania’.
Prospective respondents who may have questions regarding this RFP may submit their enquiries to the same address provided by 23rd September 2021 5:00 PM EAT.
