Term of Reference

 

BACKGROUND

In 2013, Save the Children started to implement its long term Sponsorship Education Programme in West Sumba district and is expected to expand its coverage geographic area to Central Sumba in this year. Overall goal of this program is children are healthy and receive high quality education. To achieve this goal, Save the Children Sponsorship program will focus on improving access, quality, community participation as well as fostering an enabling environment through series of policies through intervention in four core programs: Early Childhood Care and Development, Basic Education, School Health & Nutrition, and Adolescent Development.

One of the areas Save the Children Sponsorship Program would like to improve is children’s access to education, both in ECCD and Primary School. Figure from District Education Office shows that there are 93 Primary Schools and 175 ECCD centers (both community based and school based) in 63 administrative villages and 11 urban villages. This figure shows that the access to ECCD and Basic Education in West Sumba is good. However, in contrast, the attendance rate of ECCD and primary schools students in West Sumba seems to be an issue. The Sponsorship Baseline Study conducted in early 2014 revealed that attendance rate for ECCD children is 61.4% while primary school student is 80.4%. These figures are relatively low, meaning that only 6 out of 10 ECCD children attend ECCD center on the average days and 8 out of 10 primary school students attend school on the average days.

The Sponsorship Program baseline did not identify factors affecting children’s absence from school.  However, factors may range from the family economic background, school environment quality, culture, weather, children and parents behavior, or even regulation. To increase children attendance at Primary School and ECCD centers, Save the Children sponsorship program would like to further identify factors affecting children absence at school and finding will help to develop strategy to increase children attendance at school. Finding from this study will help Save the Children to advocate strategy for improved children participation as well as for internal use of Save the Children program in West Sumba.

 

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study are :

1. To identify factors affecting children’s absence from school, how large the impact of these factors affecting children’s absence from school (based on no of days of absence,  no of times a year, and no of students affected), and periods when absence are high e.g.:
2. Access: distance, weather, socio-economic background, safety and security.
3. School quality; School environment
4. Household behavior and community and cultural practices
5. Health status
6. Regulation
7. Other potential factors that include health factors
   1. To develop a strategy to increase children attendance at school.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the school attendance rate in West Sumba, by age/ grade, sex, month, access to school (distance, etnic, socio-economy status)
2. What are the key contributing factors or combination of factors that most affect children’s absence in West Sumba both in ECCD and Primary School?
3. When in the calendar year do these key factors affect children’s absence?
4. What are recommended actions to improve children attendance?

 

TARGET POPULATION AND SAMPLING AREAS

The research will be conducted in West Sumba district, with focus on Primary School and ECCD center in 6 sub districts. The sampling areas for this study are primary schools and ECCD centers from 6 sub districts in West Sumba. Please refer to the followings document for sampling calculation:

To answer the research questions, respondents will be identified as information sources. The research is expected to include interviews and/or FGDs with the following groups of people. In addition, school records will be collected to analyze attendance rates and spot checks will be done to verify attendance on the date of the visit:

1. Primary school children
2. ECCD tutors
3. School representatives (teacher and school principals)
4. Parents & Community members
5. Relevant stakeholders which includes: Education Department, Health Department, District Planning Body)
6. Experts on related issue

 

METHODOLOGY

The study will use correlation research design through mixed methods analysis to explore the effect of factors on the the outcome of interest- absenteesim.  This mixed method will allows researcher to use quantitative and qualitative approach to examine which factors most affect student attendance rate in Sumba. The selected consultant will help to design and develop methodology for this research.

 

RESEARCHER

In this research, Save the Children will hire individual consultant who will managing all activity in this research. The selected consultant should meet criterias as follow:

i.        Bachelod Degree or (preferably) Master in Statistic, Education, Social Science, Public Health or related discipline.

ii.        Experienced in managing research or Monitoring and Evaluation at least 5 years.

iii.        Experience in managing data collection process, including managing enumerators and research management.

iv.        Advance knowledge and skills on research methodology

v.        Good analytic thinking and able to use statitiscal tools such as SPSS, STATA, etc.

vi.        Able to work independently and as team player who demonstrate leadership.

vii.        Able to organize workshop and good skill on participatory approach.

viii.        Preferably have experience working in education sector.

ix.        Advance skills in report writing both in Bahasa and English

x.        Willing to work and stay in Sumba during the research process.

 

SCOPE OF WORK

The consultant will work to:

1. Explore related documents through desk review activities.
2. Develop research design and methodology together with Save the Children’s Sponsorship MEAL Officer, including develop sampling design and calculate sampling size.
3. Develop research tools for this study, including quantitative and qualitative research tools.
4. Trial tools to ensure the reliability of tools used, in close collaboration with Save the Children’s Sponsorship MEAL Officer.
5. Recruit enumerator and prepare them for data collection through enumerator’s training.
6. Manage data colletion process, including coordinate enumerators during data collection process.
7. Responsible for data collection and data input process.
8. Ensure data quality and validity
9. Conduct data analysis process
10. Provide Power Point Presentation in English and Bahasa of the research findings
11. Organize and conduct workshop to develop strategy to increase children attendance rate
12. Provide high quality report in English and in Bahasa Indonesia. Draft report should be submitted to Save the Children for feedback. Satisfactorily report should be received by Save the Children prior releasing final payment to consultant.

 

CONSULTANT RESPONSIBILITIES

The consultant shall carry out the following activities:

1. Activity 1: Desk review to explore related documents
2. Activity 2: Develop research design, indicators, and research instruments
3. Activity 3: Design sampling methodology and calculate sampling size
4. Activity 4: Conduct trial tools to ensure instrument’s reliability
5. Activity 5: Recruit, train, and prepare enumerators for data collection process
6. Activity 6: Provide reliable instrument to be used by enumerators in data collection process.
7. Activity 7: Conduct coordination with targeted schools or communities to prepare data collection process.
8. Activity 8: Coordinate and supervise enumerators in data collection process and data input process.
9. Activity 9: Analysis and synthesis data, and prepare report writing process.
10. Activity 10: Organize and conduct one day workshop to develop strategy to increase children attendance rate. The workshop should be participated by Save the Children key-staffs, government representatives from district level and subdistrict level, and other stakeholders.
11. Activity 11: Deliver final report to Save the Children, both in hardcopy and softcopy.

 

DELIVERABLES

Deliverables of this consultancy work are:

1. Research Design, including sampling size calculation and list of indicators.
2. Reliable instruments to be used by enumerators
3. Data collection plan that include protocol/ operational procedure for enumerators
4. Training required numbers of enumerators and data entry person.
5. Clean and valid SPSS data set and other related soft-copy documents such as interview transcript and sound-recorded, photo, and other reference documents.
6. Workshop report that include: participant’s information, process conducted, and strategy and action plan developed as results from the workshop.
7. Two printed and electronic copy (in 2 CDs/DVDs) of final report in Indonesian and English, to include:

a)     Summary

b)    Background

c)    Objectives

d)    Research Design

e)    Result (presented in naratives and table/graphs)

f)     Recommendation

g)     Attachments; Data set, photo, interview transcripts, reference documents, result-indicators matrix, and Workshop report,

 

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

1. Language

All documents related to this tender shall be in English and all costs shall be expressed in IDR.

1. Format
   Proposals may be submitted electronically. All pieces to the proposal must be labelled clearly. Acceptable formats include Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and PDF. The applicant may fax the signed cover page.
2. Page Setup

The document should be on A4, single-spaced with one-inch margins, and 12-point font with Gill Sans MT

1. Length
   The proposal should not exceed 20 pages. The technical section may not exceed 10 pages. The suggested breakdown is as follows: cover page (1pg.); organizational profile, institutional capacity (4pgs.); Technical Section (10pgs.); and, Cost Narrative (5pgs.).

There is no limit on the length of spreadsheets associated with the cost estimates or on any annexes.

 

1. Annex Material

Appropriate annex material may include: Curriculum Vitae of key personnels, sample copies of reports, and recommendation letters.

 

PROPOSAL CONTENTS

Applicants should address the following areas in their proposals:

1. Applicant Profile

Applicants must present in narrative format a description of their: (i)  profile (supplemental material may be placed in the annex); (ii) capacity to conduct the scope of work; (iii) previous experience conducting similar work; (iv) training capacity; and (v) letters of support/ recommendation letters (attached in the annex).

1. Technical Proposal

In the technical section, applicants should describe their approach to the following: (i) research design, research method, indicators and implementation plan; (ii) sample size calculations and sampling design; (iii) enumerator training; (iv) fieldwork; (v) data processing; and (vi) methodology to check the error data and quality assurance method; (vii) data analysis; (viii) technology used for data entry & analysis; (ix) timeline & Person in Charge for each activity

1. Cost Estimation

Applicants must provide a detailed financial proposal that covers the following items and includes a narrative on the assumptions behind their estimates:

1)    Salaries/Fees. Includes personnel for technical assistance, data collection, data entry and analysis (e.g. staff, interviewers, supervisors and drivers).

2)    Daily costs for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses during training and during fieldwork; mode of transportation; vehicle rental; gasoline, etc (breakdown items)

3)    Supplies. Includes paper, pens, and other materials for fieldwork.

4)    Training costs

5)    Airfare cost for consultant trip

Please use the following template for budget:

 

 

 

TIMELINE

The research will be conducted on September-October 2015. We expect the data collection can be conducted on September 2015 and the Final Report can be delivered to Sponsorship Program Manager and MEAL Officer in the end of October 2015. Please include the timeline in the proposal with the following template below:

No

Activities

September

October

November

W1

W2

W3

W4

WI

W2

W3

W4

W1

W2

W3

W4

1

Desk Review

2

Research design & instrument development

3

Hire enumerators

4

Instrument Trial

5

Instrument Finalization

6

Enumerators Training

7

Data Collection

8

Data Input

9

Analysis

10

Workshop

11

Final Report

 

TERMS AND CONDITION

Period of Validity

The proposal shall be valid for a period of 50 days, starting from the submission date.
Notice of Non-Binding Solicitation

Save the Children reserves the right to reject any and all bids received in response to this solicitation, and is in no way bound to accept any proposal. Additionally, we reserve the right to negotiate the substance of the finalists’ proposals, as well as the option of accepting partial components of a proposal if appropriate. Quantities provided are estimates only at this time and will be subject to change.

 

Confidentiality

All information provided as part of this solicitation is considered confidential. In the event that any information is inappropriately released, Save the Children will seek appropriate remedies as allowed. Proposals, discussions, and all information received in response to this solicitation will be held as strictly confidential, except where noted otherwise.

 

Notification
Prior to the expiration of the validity of the proposal, Save the Children shall notify in writing the successful company that submitted the highest-scoring proposal and will invite them for contract negotiations. Save the Children reserves the right to invite the second ranking company for parallel negotiations.

 

Right to Final Negotiations

Save The Children reserves the option to negotiate final costs and final scope of work, as well as reserves the option to limit or include third parties at Save the Children’s sole and full discretion in such negotiations.  Upon failure to reach agreement on the contents of the contract as stipulated in this document, Save the Children has the right to terminate the negotiations and invite the next best-rated company for negotiations.

 

Communication
All communication regarding this solicitation shall be directed to appropriate parties at Save the Children. Contacting third parties involved in the project, the review panel, or any other party may be considered a conflict of interest, and could result in proposal disqualification.

 

Acceptance
Award of a proposal does not imply acceptance of its terms and conditions. Save the Children reserves the option to negotiate on the final terms and conditions

 

TAX

Tax will be charged to the consultant

 

OWNERSHIP

All of the materials the consultant developed and all materials the consultant prepares and delivers to Save the Children shall belong exclusively to Save the Children.

 

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL

Interested consultants must submit their proposal by September 9^th 2015 before 5 pm WIB to the email below: Procurement.Indonesia@savethechildren.org. Recommended maximum size: 2MB. Write the subject: SUMBA ECCD – <your name>

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

For information regarding this engagement, please contact:

Yahdi.Mayasya@savethechildren.org