Request for Proposals – Kudziwa Project

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Kudziwa Project 

1. Background

BBC Media Action

BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development charity. It believes in the power of media and communication to help reduce poverty and support people in understanding their rights. Its aim is to inform, connect and empower people around the world. BBC Media Action is registered as an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) in Zambia and has its Secretariat in London, UK. BBC Media Action works around the world to:

• Raise awareness of development issues among mass audiences and opinion-leaders.
• Influence awareness, attitudes, and behaviour amongst less privileged communities through a wide range of educational programming.
• Build capacity in the media sector in developing and transitional countries.

Research underpins every aspect of BBC Media Action’s work, from determining campaign strategy and communication objectives to pre-testing output production and impact evaluation.

1.2. Restless Development

Restless Development is a registered INGO which support young people to uphold sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender equality, lead as active citizens and create change in their communities by influencing social and political structures, and those in power, with evidence-based solutions.

2. The Kudziwa Project Endline

BBC Media Action and Restless Development would like to invite proposals from research agencies to conduct the endline survey in June to July 2023 on the Kudziwa project. The Kudziwa project includes two specific media outputs – Radio Waves (targeting 15 to 55 years old) and Ishiwi project (targeting 15 to 24 years old) looking at governance and accountability issues and Tikambe which focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues targeting 14- to 24-year-old people. It is important to note, that whilst each output has distinct target audiences, and broadcast areas, there will be some people who may be exposed to both media outputs.

The endline evaluation household survey will be conducted to evaluate the Kudziwa project’s impact and establish the ‘reach’ and ‘engagement’ of the project programmes broadcast on each partner radio station (and overall) to get figures for overall reach and engagement amongst 14- to 55-year-olds. Specifically, this will be: –

• To establish % reach of Tikambe, Radio Waves and Ishiwi programmes, including overall reach and regular reach (disaggregated by gender & age).
• To establish extent people can recall key elements of the programmes, Tikambe, Radio Waves and Ishiwi (topics, presenters etc)
• % of Tikambe, Radio Waves and Ishiwi audiences that report that programmes provide timely, relevant, accurate and engaging programmes (disaggregated by gender & age).

This will provide audience profiles for each programme across both Radio Waves and Tikambe districts.  People who meet the key audience criteria for each (e.g., 14-24 year olds for Tikambe and in Tikambe districts and 16-55 year olds in Radio Waves districts) will be utilised to generate impact data for exposed audiences and unexposed audiences.

Tikambe project

BBC Media Action in partnership with Restless Development are supporting the uptake of healthier sexual and reproductive health (SRH) behaviours, and increased understanding of sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and related life skills issues in select provinces (Lusaka, Central, Copperbelt and Northern provinces) in Zambia through the effective and innovative use of mass media and interpersonal communication. Young people in Zambia face multiple SRHR risks including HIV/STIs, unwanted pregnancies, early marriages, limited decision making and support.

Both organisations have combined to bring their media and interpersonal strengths in working with young people together to form an evidenced-based health communications initiative that has worked to improve SRH health outcomes amongst young people, particularly young women, in the proposed areas of operation. Through an integrated approach of radio and TV programming, outreach activities, peer education and training in youth life skills, the project aims to empower young people in the four target provinces to claim their right to access youth-friendly SRHR information and services, and to be able to effectively interrogate and engage local and national authorities on key SRHR issues. The outcome of which is to give young people in Lusaka, Central, Copperbelt and Northern Provinces empowerment to demand greater government accountability in relation to their SRHR and SRH service provision and to have the knowledge, skills, confidence, and social support to uptake healthier SRH behaviours. The key impact is making young people less vulnerable to sexual reproductive health risks.

Tikambe Research Objectives  

The specific objectives for Tikambe are

• To understand listeners’ self-reported knowledge, attitude, and practices related to the adoption of safe sexual & reproductive health & rights (SRHR) behaviours  and to understand differences between those exposed to programming against those unexposed among young people (males and females aged 14-24 year olds).
• To assess knowledge, attitude, and practices related to access to SRH services among young people (males and females aged 14-24 year olds) among those exposed to the programme and those unexposed.
• To assess knowledge, attitude, and practices related to participation in discussions relating to SRHR from the perspective of young people aged 14-24 year olds with other young people (14-24 year olds), the wider community and gatekeepers among those exposed to the programmes and those unexposed.
• To understand the extent to which young people (14 – 24 years olds) feel supported around their SRHR issues by gatekeepers and wider community
• To understand the extent to which project programming has influenced any change among young people’s behaviour around discriminatory and harmful gender and social norms (comparing exposed vs unexposed)

The survey will seek to respond to the following Tikambe indicators listed below:

Self-reported behaviour amongst Tikambe listeners: –

• % of Tikambe audience that report that Tikambe programmes give ordinary young women and men the opportunity to demand answers from local and national government and relevant institutions for implementing SRHR policies/strategies /protocols (disaggregated by gender & age).
• % of Tikambe audiences that report receiving support from key gatekeepers (including parents, traditional, civic, and religious leaders) to make informed voluntary decisions that can improve their SRHR (disaggregated by gender & age)

Understanding differences between people exposed and people unexposed to Tikambe

• % of young people that report adopting healthier SRH behaviours
• Regression analysis (of quantitative survey) comparing those exposed to Tikambe media and interpersonal interventions* vs non exposed:

– Knowledge and understanding of healthier SRHR behaviours/actions

– Discussion of healthier SRHR behaviours/actions

– Supportive attitudes towards healthier SRHR behaviours/actions (disaggregated by gender & age).

• Tikambe media and interpersonal interventions vs non exposed:

– Confidence to implement SRHR behaviours/actions

– Reported actions taken in relation to key healthier SRHR behaviours

• Percentage of young women and men that report satisfaction in the quality of SRHR services (confidentiality, privacy, non-judgmental) and information
• Level to which those exposed to Tikambe compared to those not exposed question social norms and gender norms in relation to decision making in relationships to foster an acceptance of increased gender equity (disaggregated by gender & age).

Radio Waves project and Ishiwi

The governance side comprises of the two components: Radio Waves component that seeks to support people to know and understand their rights and responsibilities, encourage political participation, hold those in power to account and support social cohesion and peaceful negotiation of differences while the Ishiwi component where BBC Media Action working with Restless Development seeks to support young people to engage in governance through ensuring that more radio stations’ programming actively engages young people. BBC Media Action’s overall objective in Radio Waves and Ishiwi is strengthened independent media sector supports citizens’ rights, public dialogue, free and fair elections, political participation, government accountability and a more inclusive society in select provinces (Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Northwestern, Northern provinces, Southern and Western) in Zambia through the effective and innovative use of mass media and interpersonal communication.

Radio Waves and Ishiwi Research Objectives

Below are the Radio Waves and Ishiwi outcome and output indicators to drive the survey:

• BBC Media Action supported programmes across 12 supported stations are reported by audiences as being more engaging, relevant, and balanced.
• % of audience across 12 supported stations that report that BBC Media Action supported programmes give ordinary people the opportunity to demand answers from decision makers
• Regression analysis (of quantitative survey) comparing audiences vs non-audiences:

– awareness and understanding of their rights and freedoms

– knowledge of and engagement with development and governance issues/processes (including elections/voting)

– confidence and motivation to demand answers from leaders

– motivated to vote

– support for a more equal distribution of wealth, resources, and power among Zambians from different regions/tribes

– belief in an inclusive Zambian identity

• Reach of programmes across 12 supported stations (disaggregated by gender, age, region)
• % of audience across 12 supported stations that report that BBC Media Action supported programmes give ordinary people the opportunity to discuss development and governance issues
• Comparing audiences of young people in the two localities (Kabwe and Chingola) vs non-audiences of young people:

– awareness and understanding of their rights and freedoms

– knowledge of and engagement with development and governance issues/processes (including elections/voting)

– confidence and motivation to demand answers from leaders

– support for a more equal distribution of wealth, resources, and power among Zambians from different regions/tribes

– belief in an inclusive Zambian identity

• Extent of improvements in balance, accuracy and research in local partner stations governance programming

3. Research Plan

The selected districts are as follows:

Tikambe

Central Province	Chibombo, Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi, Mkushi, Luano, Ngabwe, Chisamba, Serenje
Copperbelt Province	Chililabombwe, Chambishi, Kalulushi, Chingola, Kitwe, Luanshya, Lufwanyama, Masaiti, Mufurila, Mpongwe, Ndola
Northern Province	Chilubi, Kasama, Luwingu, Mporokoso, Mungwi, Mbala, Nsenga Hill
Lusaka Province	Lusaka, Chongwe, Kafue, Chilanga, and National because of ZNBC (Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation) radio 2 and 4.

Radio Waves/Ishiwi

Central Province	Chibombo, Kabwe, Itezhi Tezhi, Kapiri Mposhi, Shibuyunji, Chitambo, Mkushi, Luano, Mumbwa, Ngabwe, Chisamba, Serenje
Copperbelt Province	Chililabombwe, Chambishi, Kalulushi, Chingola, Kalulushi, Kitwe, Luanshya, Lufwanyama, Masaiti, Mufurila, Mpongwe, Ndola
Eastern Province	Chadiza, Chipata, Lundazi, Katete, Mambwe, Nyimba, Petauke
Luapula Province	Mansa, Milenge, Samfya, Lunga, Chilubi, Chifunabuli
Northern Province	Mbala, Nsenga Hill
North-Western Province	Kasempa, Mufumbwe, Solwezi
Southern Province	Choma, Gwembe, Mazabuka, Monze, Kazungula, Livingstone
Western Province	Kalabo, Kaoma, Lukulu, Mongu, Senanga, Sesheke

• Client expectations from the agency
• Sampling

Sample Size:

BBC Media Action has calculated the sample size for this survey to be:

• Around 2000 males and females aged 16 – 55 years old on radio waves, representative of this population within each of the districts as detailed above
• Around 1500 males and females aged 14 – 24 years old on Tikambe representative of this population within each of the districts as detailed above. 1200 will be on random sampling while 300 will be a booster sample purposively targeting young people exposed to Restless Development’s interpersonal activities.

Sampling Design:

A probability proportional to size multistage cluster sample approach should be employed with the sample being representative of the target population in each district (by age, gender, urban/rural location, and socio-economic status). At all stages, the selection of clusters should be random and self-weighting. The sampling frame should be constructed using the most recent census data (or the agency may propose a more suitable alternative if more recent).

The successful agency will be expected to provide the sampling frame to BBC Media Action for final checks ahead of data collection if the sampling frame is available.

4. Research ethics

Researchers and agencies working with BBC Media Action need to adhere to a strict code of ethics and endeavour to address major concerns around consent, confidentiality, anonymity, and the potential impact of the research on both those researched and researchers.

Permission to Conduct Research in Zambia 

The agency will be responsible for obtaining ethical approval to conduct fieldwork in each of the districts and will operate under the agreed ethical clearance.

5. Questionnaire

BBC Media Action will provide two questionnaires (one on governance and the other on SRHR) in English to the agency. The instruments will consist of mainly closed questions. We expect the survey will take approximately 50 minutes to complete for each.

The survey should be conducted in the languages that are locally appropriate to each district. The agency will be responsible for translation and back-translation (to allow us to check translation) prior to fieldwork.

The agency will need to pilot the questionnaires prior to fieldwork and provide a pilot report to BBC Media Action, detailing any issues with the questionnaires and providing an overview of the interview length. BBC Media Action will then consider any changes in consultation with the agency and provide a final signed-off survey. The agency will be responsible for making any changes to translated versions of the survey. Sufficient time must be allowed within the proposed timeline for this piloting process.

6. Training of fieldwork team

The agency will be responsible for recruiting and providing sufficient training to enumeration teams. Please detail this process clearly in your proposal (including who will be recruited to fieldwork teams, composition of enumerators/supervisors, number of days of training and what training will cover). There should be two separate teams, one for Tikambe (SRHR) and the other one for Radio Waves/Ishiwi (Governance).

7. Fieldwork

The agency will carry out fieldwork to a high standard within the agreed timeframe.  Fieldwork will consist of:

• Face to face interviews by trained staff from each of the selected districts who can speak the local dialects. The local interviewers should not be known to respondents. Therefore, please outline the approach you will take in terms of house to house visits.
• The agency will provide weekly field reports with a breakdown of interviews completed by district and age, gender, urban/rural location, and socio-economic status.
• The agency will record all unsuccessful visits in a non-response table, detailing the reasons for no interview (e.g., refusal, no one at home etc).
• Throughout fieldwork, the agency will complete a context spreadsheet with any events, either national or local, such as power cuts, strikes etc. which could have an effect on the fieldwork.
• The agency will conduct quality control checks on fieldwork and will provide BBC Media Action with a detailed fieldwork plan so that BBC Media Action can also conduct quality control checks if desired. Please provide a breakdown of percentage of interviews to be quality controlled by call backs, spot checks and supervisor accompaniment.

8. Quality control

BBC Media Action researchers will attend a training session carried out prior to the pilot study and may also attend trainings with local agents who will carry out fieldwork.  Our research team will also travel to a number of areas where data is collected to carry out spot checks and back checks at a number of households sampled in the study in order to monitor the quality control of the data collection. This is standard practice for all surveys that BBC Media Action commissions and the agency and fieldwork staff should be aware of and comfortable with this degree of involvement. The agency should provide a detailed full fieldwork plan so monitoring can be carried out as required.

In addition to fieldwork checks BBC Media Action will conduct an early data check on the first 100 cases for each project Tikambe and Radio waves) that are entered. This is to check that there are no problems with the data entry process, identify any coding issues, and to confirm that interviewers are following questionnaire routing and other instructions as directed on the survey tool. The first 100 cases for each program should be delivered to BBC Media Action (as an SPSS file) no later than 4 days after fieldwork has commenced. During this data checking by BBC Media Action, all data collection by the agency should be paused. BBC Media Action will check the first 100 cases on the governance and 100 cases on health program and report back to the agency any data management issues or changes within 2 working days.

9. Data management

The agency will provide a clean and labelled (according to our specifications) dataset in Excel and SPSS format. We request that data entry occurs simultaneously to data collection.

The SPSS dataset will also contain labelled variables detailing all levels of cluster sampling, except the household level. If any variables are derived by the agency, the agency will provide the syntax file to BBC Media Action.

With the proposal, the agency will provide a data entry plan, outlining how many people will be allocated to this task, how quality control will be implemented and whether data will be processed locally or sent to an external data processor.

10. Project management

The agency will provide one point of contact for BBC Media Action, as well as a detailed description of the proposed project management structure and team to include project manager, supervisors, translators, interviewers (clearly detailing gender and languages spoken) and data processing.  Please provide CVs of key personnel (no more than one page per person).

11. Risk management

When submitting the proposal, the agency needs to address the potential risks that could affect the overall operation of the survey process.  These potential risks include, but are not limited to, factors such as delays to fieldwork, staff absence, potential harm to researchers and respondents during fieldwork, security risks to researchers and respondents during fieldwork, potential language barriers between the researchers and participants, etc. For each risk identified, the agency needs to state a clear mitigation strategy in the proposal.

12. Timings

The following (below) are the Radio Waves! Zambia Speaks endline survey timelines.

Task	Date
Submission of tenders	By  22nd May 2023
Proposal presentations from selected agencies	25th to 26th May 2023
Final amendments to proposal (if required)	By 31st May 2023
Contract Awarded	2nd  June 2023
Engagement meetings with Agency and sharing of tools	5th to 6th June 2023
Translation and back translation of tools	7th to 14th June 2023
Ethical Clearance	16th to 30th June 2023
Scripting of instruments	1st to 5th July 2023
Training field team, piloting, finalise methodology and instruments	7th to 12th July 2023
Fieldwork	15th to 29th July 2023
Delivery of first 100 cases for each program	Within 2 days of fieldwork commencing
Data Entry and Cleaning	Done By 1th August 2023
Delivery of cleaned SPSS dataset and data tables	By 2nd August 2023

13. Research agency deliverables

The successful agency will provide the following:

• Detailed design of the sampling approach according to our specifications and a sampling frame
• Piloting of the research tools and sampling approach (with opportunity to revise these before main data collection commences)
• Training of fieldworkers to cover BBC Media Action briefing notes and guidelines
• Delivery of the first 100 cases for each program (Radio Waves and Tikambe) after one week of fieldwork, with a pause in fieldwork while checks are conducted
• Suitable quality control procedures over fieldwork and data entry/checking
• Interviews with a total of around 2000 males and females aged 16-55 years old on Radio Waves, representative of this population within each of the districts as detailed above.
• Interviews with a total of around 1500 males and females aged 14-24 years old on Tikambe, representative of this population within each of the districts as detailed above. 1200 will be on random sampling while 300 will be a booster sample purposively targeting young people exposed to Restless Development’s interpersonal activities.
• Weekly field reports with a breakdown of interviews completed by district.
• Cleaned, weighted, and labelled dataset in English in SPSS format – plus a syntax file to show any variables that have been derived.
• Data tables

Expected use of findings

This study will serve as a basis for comparison with earlier findings from the previous endline evaluations, and these findings will be used in evaluating the project’s impact among those who are exposed to the media programmes produced on the project. Findings from this research will be used for evidence-based decision making by BBC Media Action teams as well as the donor and other relevant stakeholders in the wider health and governance community.

14. Expectations for the tender

When responding to this RFP, your proposal should provide details and evidence of the following:

• An outline of the agency’s skills and capacity to undertake and manage the research, including details of relevant previous work experience, examples of previous work in the field and detailed CVs of the key persons involved in the study.
• The names and contact details of two referees for whom your organisation has carried out similar work.

• A detailed plan of how the research will be carried out, including:
  • The sampling strategy (addressing our specifications)
  • Details (content and number of days) of the training proposed for fieldwork teams
  • Piloting and fieldwork plan – please outline how long it will take to collect the data; how many teams you will send into the field and how this process will be overseen to ensure a quality deliverable
  • Quality control procedures
  • Data entry plan outlining how many people will be allocated to this task, how you will implement quality control and whether data will be processed locally or sent to an external data processor
  • A description of deliverables.

• All submitted proposals should include a section describing how the agency plans to meet and adhere to ethical protocols, including:

• How informed consent will be gathered and recorded during piloting and fieldwork;
• How you will obtain permission and consent for those aged 14 to 17 years old;
• How respondents will be assured of their confidentiality and anonymity of data;
• Procedures relating to how data will be transported securely during fieldwork and how it will be stored both in hard and soft copy in agency offices

• A data entry plan, outlining how and where the data will be entered into electronic format. Please specify how many people will be allocated to this task and how you will assure quality. We are particularly interested to find out whether your data will be processed locally or whether you intend to send it to an external data processor.
• Provision of a detailed timeline for the studies: this should include an explanation of how the project will be managed to deliver data to us on time and to a high standard. Please outline how long it will take to collect the data; how many teams you will send into the field and how this process will be overseen to ensure a quality deliverable.
• Complete breakdown of costs including VAT, applicable taxes etc. and unit costs.

15. Assessment of tenders

Overall assessment of proposals will be concerned with value for money, taking account of the cost and quality of each research proposal. In particular, assessment will focus on:

• Relevant skills and experience of the research agency, in particular the team that will be involved.
• Proposed methods, including sampling, fieldwork and data management, quality assurance and project management.
• The acceptability of the proposed timetable.
• The proposed costs compared to the implementation plan.

16.Formatting and submission of tender

The full proposal, including both technical and financial components, should be no more than 20 pages. The proposal should be written in a font no smaller than 11 point. Annexes may be included with the proposal and will not count against the 20-page maximum limit.

Proposals submitted in response to this RFP should address the research objectives set out in this brief and should be written in English. Proposals should be submitted in PDF format and put “[Agency Name] proposal to BBC Media Action Zambia – “Kudziwa” as the title of the email.

Soft copies and sealed hard copies of the technical and financial proposals and other supporting documents should be addressed to the Country Director and be sent by end of day Lusaka time by 10am on 22^nd May 2023 to the email address below.

Country Director

BBC Media Action

Plot 17 Roan Road, Kabulonga

Lusaka – Zambia Ph: +260 974 003 703/0977947510

Email: [email protected].