PMC- Zambia RFP: Community Radio Program (CRP) Flexy Track Surveys
Background
Population Media Center-Zambia (PMC), a non-profit organization with its headquarters based in South Burlington, Vermont, USA has been implementing a four-year funded USAID project called “USAID Community Radio Program (CRP) to Improve the Health of Women and Children project” in Zambia. The program includes the production of one Bemba-language (Kwishilya) and one Lozi-language (Sinalamba) Radio Serial Drama (RSD). Each 312-episode RSD is broadcast on strategically selected community and commercial radio stations in Muchinga, Luapula, Northern and Central provinces for the Bemba drama, and Western province for the Lozi drama. The primary target audiences are women and adolescents ages 15-49. The secondary audience includes men ages 15-59. The RSDs address the following thematic issue areas:
Core Issue Areas
Family Planning: tied to reproductive and maternal health.
Nutrition: tied to maternal, newborn and child health and development and early
childhood development
Gender Based Violence (GBV): including ending child marriage and adolescent pregnancy.
HIV: with a focus on adolescents, Test and Start and Adherence to treatment
Supporting Issue Areas
Malaria Prevention and Treatment
Education, including keeping girls in school.
Civic Engagement with a focus on adolescents
Crosscutting Issues:
Gender Equality
PMC-Zambia will be collecting data to establish program performance against key performance indicators (KPIs) and established targets that will also inform strategies, adaptive programming, and learning. The major component of this assignment will be gathering, synthesizing, analysing, and reporting on the data collected through Flexy Track Survey; a short household survey to be conducted in the CRP operational areas. The data will be used to track progress towards the KPIs and targets, and as such will inform strategies throughout the remaining life of the program. PMC-Zambia, is currently seeking a research organization/firm with the capacity to conduct a rigorous standardised Flexy Track Survey (FTS) process across the operation areas.
Flexy Track Surveys Overview
The FTS will be conducted in the areas where the RSDs are broadcast. Five (5) rounds of the surveys will be conducted during the 19 months lifespan of the project. The timing will be determined and agreed upon between the research firm and PMC-Zambia. The initial contract will be for implementation of one round only, with the option to extend for the additional implementations based on performance.
The FTS will follow the standardized protocol and sampling framework that will be developed and agreed upon. Data from FTS will provide critical input for understanding the audience being reached, their views about RSDs, informing strategies, adapting programing and learning; in addition, it is an essential source data for reporting on the following example performance indicators:
Percentage of audience who recall hearing or seeing a specific USG-supported FP/SRH message
Percentage of population with knowledge about the drama
Percentage of audience who accessed FP/SRH services as a result of exposure to PMC drama.
Percentage of population that desire to listen to the drama again.
Percentage of listeners who would recommend the RSDs as evidenced by the Net Promoter Score
Percentage of audience demonstrating positive attitudes, practices, and community support in relation to family planning and SRH and rights.
Percentage of young listeners (15-25yrs)
Scope of Work
The research partner will manage and implement all aspects of the FTS, coordinating closely with PMC’s Research team. It is anticipated that the Research Consultant will begin round one work immediately upon award of contract, carrying out the work in three primary phases:
Phase 1: Planning and Preparation: June 2021
Familiarize themselves with materials provided by PMC -Zambia.
Coordinate with PMC – Zambia to obtain population estimates needed for sampling.
Produce a sampling plan following the standardized sampling framework tailored to each of the broadcast areas of the dramas. Firms should propose an overall sample size that allow for statistical confidence levels at the P < .05 level or lower for the survey. The research firms may propose a sampling methodology based on their knowledge of the country and regions to provide a representative sample of the target population of the broadcast regions.
Collaborate with PMC research experts to design the FTS. The length of each interview is estimated at approximately 12-15 minutes.
Oversee and test translation of the questionnaire.
Secure national ethics review (IRB) approval.
Prepare data entry format and analysis plan, working in close conjunction with PMC’s research
Phase 2: Implementation: July 2021
Coordinate with PMC’s Research focal point person on logistics and implementation requirements.
Orient all relevant personnel on the FTS methodology, including PMC staff.
Pilot/validate the questionnaire as needed.
Recruit, train, equip and supervise all enumerators.
Conduct first round of household FTS in urban and rural regions of the five provinces of the broadcasting areas ensuring strict adherence to the protocol and quality and integrity of the data.
Facilitate observation of the data collection process by PMC’s focal point person, including responding to questions/feedback as relevant and swiftly as possible.
Ensure full adherence to the prevention COVID 19 issues guidelines as provided by the government of Zambia through Ministry of Health (MoH).
Phase 3: Analysis and Reporting: End of July- Mid August 2021
Clean data
Code data
Weight data with a separate weighting variable in the data
Analyse data
Present results to PMC Team, may be on a rolling basis as relevant with all results delivered by Mid-August 2021.
Deliver cleaned and coded dataset in SPSS version 20 or higher to PMC- Zambia.
Timeline
The successful Research firm should be available to design work for Round one in June and then undertake fieldwork by June-July 2021, with a final report due in July-August. Below are the timelines for the subsequent rounds. (Upon signature of the contract, a final agreed-upon timeline should be submitted).
Survey Round # Planning & Preparation Implementation Analysis & Reporting
FTS R1 End of June 2021 July 2021 End of July- Mid Aug 2021
FTS R2 Early -Sept 2021 Mid -Sept 2021 Mid Oct 2021
FTS R3 Mid – Dec 2021 Early – Jan 2022 End of Jan 2022
FTS R4 Early – March 2022 Mid- March 2022 Mid – April 2022
FTS R5 Early – June 2022 Mid -June 2022 Mid -July 2022
Consultancy Pricing and Requirements
Please provide:
Budget in US Dollar (based on the exchange rate of Zambian Kwacha) for the delivery of the scope of work by phase/key category.
Indicate day rates by type of staff needed for each phase.
Indicate days required for the scope of work for each phase.
Number of dedicated staff required and examples of experience of proposed staff.
Any additional costs or fees associated.
Project timeline and sequencing to deliver the scope of work within specified timeframe.
RFP Format
PMC-Zambia requests that proposals are submitted in Word or PowerPoint format evidencing how the organisation’s experience and proposed approach will meet the requirements of the scope of work along with the consultancy pricing information and requirements.
Evaluation and Award Process
The contract will be awarded to the organisation who can best evidence meeting the required scope of work and provide a commercially competitive proposal, using the following scoring criteria:
Experience in quantitative research methodologies.
Experience conducting large-scalesurveys and analysis.
Experience in the implementation of rigorous research processes in-country.
Experience in family planning and sexual and reproductive health research (will be an advantage).
Experience with national ethics review processes.
Evidence of past experience on similar assignments undertaken.
Experience with collecting data electronically using Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI).
Feasibility of approach and timeline.
Strength of proposed personnel.
Feasibility and competitiveness of pricing.
Process Schedule
Shortlisted organisations will be invited to discuss the proposal further in person. All organisations who submit a proposal will be contacted two weeks after submission to advise them of the outcome and next steps. The deadline for proposals is COB Monday, June 14, 2021. Please email to: ozulu@populationmedia.org with copy to, connolly@populationmedia.org , fjah@populationmedia.org ,ckalonga@populationmedia.org and egoldberg@populationmedia.org