Invitation for Consultancy Service for

DFSA Community Conversation Assessment

 About CRS: “Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partner’s people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.”

 In Ethiopia, CRS has a long and rich history of providing emergency relief and development assistance to the people of Ethiopia since 1958. At present, CRS/Ethiopia implements multiple projects through different partner organizations.  CRS/Ethiopia has a highly diverse portfolio ranging from very large food-supported emergency response to cutting edge development programs. The current CRS/Ethiopia budget stands at $100 million with funding from the U.S. Government, UN agencies, private foundations, individual donors, and CRS private funds.

 CRS strictly adheres to its Policy on Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults among its staff, consultants, volunteers, and affiliates. CRS is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer: women, minorities and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Background

CRS’ DFSA is a USAID Office of Food for Peace (FFP) supported initiative to sustain and build upon the food security improvements achieved under the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) framework of the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). The goal of the CRS DFSA is Food, Nutrition and Livelihoods Security of Households and Communities Improved and Sustained. The DFSA project has three Purposes (PSNP Systems Strengthening, Economic Livelihoods, and Health and Nutrition) and one cross cutting Sub-Purpose (Gender and Youth). This Activity operates from September 30, 2016 through September 29, 2021.

CRS’ DFSA is strongly focused on the development of women and youth, given their greater vulnerability and the transformational roles they have the potential to play. Therefore, it offers a suite of activities targeting behavior change including Community Conversation (CC). This is a socially transformative approach that galvanizes communities to address the underlying causes of underdevelopment and vulnerability. CRS Ethiopia has adapted CC as a tool to influence behavioral change in program interventions and have engaged communities in CC groups to enhance that community’s ability in public participation around formal and informal development processes of economic and social concerns.

CRS is proposing to conduct a study to generate detailed information on the importance and effectiveness of CC groups at influencing changes in beliefs, norms, attitudes and perceptions for promoting and sustaining gender equity and equality. Specifically, as it relates to vulnerable women and youth access and control over resources at household and community levels, and to their participation and leadership in community structures. Thus, an intentional emphasis will also be placed on assessing if the positive changes that the approach seems to be achieving while the activity is being implemented could be sustained after it ends in September 2021.

Objective of the assessment

The overall objective of this study is to assess the contribution of CC groups to the achievement of the DFSA goal of supporting participating households to achieve food, nutrition and livelihoods security, by identifying and addressing individual and collective concerns, values and beliefs embedded in social systems and structures to influence needed behavioral change for effective program implementation.

Therefore, CRS will need a total of 20 facilitators that will need to be available for training and data collection activities from 13-17 January and 28 January – 25 February (4 weeks), respectively.

These facilitators need to be University Students or degree holders as follow:

• 5 in Sociology
• 5 in Psychology, Social Psychology
• 5 in Social Work
• 5 in Gender Studies

Primary Responsibility

The primary responsibility of the facilitators will be to conduct interviews with participants in the field and record the resulting responses using digital devices with the SenseMaker Collector app.

Specific Responsibilities

·         Conduct interviews following the prescribed SenseMaker guidelines

·         Enter responses accurately (without alterations or omissions) during the interviews onto the tablet using SenseMaker

·         Transcribe and translate the responses/audio records/ from the interviewees

·         Sync the data onto the online database daily

·         Liaise with Community Conversation assessment on reporting issues at field level to ensure understanding and to maintain accuracy.

·         Maintain quality control by reviewing narratives before uploading

·         Complete the number of interviews required per day

Deliverables/outputs

• Inception report which includes the work plan, survey design/sampling plan, and data treatment and analysis plan, draft data collection instruments)
• Finalized survey instrument(s), in English and Afan Oromo
• Training manual(s) for field staff, in English and in relevant local language(s)
• Pre-test and finalize the survey instrument
• Finalized data collection and, transcribe and translate the audio recording

Responsibility of CRS and partners in the overall process of the study

• Review and provide comments/feedback on the various documents mentioned above the consultant produces and submits
• Support in giving training for data collectors and supervisors
• Support in providing the skills training to the projects’ team
• Support with recruitment of data collectors
• Select study Kebeles, participants and organize Woreda level study team
• Supporting on the data collection supervision activities

Time Frame

The CC assessment will be conducted between January 2020 and February 2020.

Qualifications and Experience

• A University Student or degree holder in Sociology, Psychology, Social work and Gender Studies, as specified above
• Fluent in Afan Oromo and English
• Capacity to communicate effectively in verbal English and Afan Oromo
• Capacity to communicate effectively in written English and Afan Oromo
• Excellent listener
• Education, training and experience in qualitative research methods particularly in in-depth interviews
• Proven experience in conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to create rapport with respondents, empathize and be culturally sensitive
• Very good understanding of the local context and cultural nuances of the following Woredas: Heben Arsi, Negele Arsi, Shalla, Ziway Dugda, Babile, Deder, Dire Dawa, Melka Balo and Midega Tola
• Open-minded to new ways of knowing, curious and open to new approaches and methods, and willing to unlearn old ways of data collection
• Basic knowledge of Smart Phone use
• Basic understanding of rural livelihoods
• Ability to work in a team
• Ability to work independently, within specific deadlines
• Ready to work in a rural setting for the duration of the engagement