Who We Are
Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need.From chatbots to chat shows, TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa and Asia make choices and changes in their lives. We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, and relationships, empowering girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.
Our reach is 20 million and counting, and we use technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, health, learning, and livelihood.
Because 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, community, and country.
That’s the Girl Effect.
Background
Over the last 15 years, Girl Effect has pivoted several times to serve the needs of adolescent girls. From advocacy groups to donors, we’ve played different roles in fighting gender inequality at different times. Girl Effect is evolving to become an expert in digital media and the leading driver of demand for services, products, and opportunities amongst adolescent girls in Africa and Asia. Through our portfolio of brands and digital products, we aspire to tackle issues that girls and young women face by equipping them to adopt and maintain new behaviors that will improve their mental well-being and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and empower them economically.
As per previous campaigns at GEI, one of the reasons for girls’ low outcome expectations is that their partners play a key role in the decision-making of contraception uptake and it is not an individual decision. This built on our understanding of the role of key influencers in girls’ decision-making. Therefore including boys in conversations around sexual and reproductive health was identified as one of the next steps in a newly launched program called The Tipping Point Program (TPP). The GE India Strategy thus highlights the importance of engaging parents, peers, and partners of girls in the brand ecosystem and products.
In doing so, the first step is to understand the perceptions, experiences, and behavior of adolescent boys and young men (18-24 y.o.) around love, relationships as well as sex and contraception. Based on these insights, the team aims to deliver digital content that suits the consumption needs of adolescent boys and young men to engage them in conversations around sexual and reproductive health while recognizing their unique needs in a relationship.
What You’ll Do
- Research Set up: Lead in concept note writing, IRB submission, tool development, translations, and other research set-up
- Data Collection: Through self-administered digital surveys, lead data collection with men and women (18-24 y.o).
- Ensure Exposure: Ensure exposure to the content (all available digitally) to the cohort.
- Data Analysis: Responsible for data analysis with support from the GE India Evidence and Insights team.
- Report Writing: Responsible for the report writing, based on inputs from the GE India Evidence and Insights team.
Suggested Method
Primary Research Objective: To explore how TPP has led to a shift in the below-mentioned indicators.
Outcome 1: AGYW discuss sexual health needs and curiosities with partners and peers.
Knowledge:
- Unmarried girls (18-24 y.o) understand the benefits and importance of discussing their sexual health needs, and how it contributes to a couple’s overall well-being”
- Unmarried boys (18-24 y.o) ABYM understand the benefits and importance of discussing their partner’s sexual health needs, and how it contributes to the couple’s overall well-being “
Attitude
- Unmarried girls (18-24 y.o) express positive attitudes towards discussing their SRH curiosities, concerns and needs with partners and peers
- Unmarried boys (18-24 y.o) express positive attitudes towards discussing their SRH curiosities, concerns and needs with partners and peers
Perceived Social Support
- Unmarried girls (18-24 y.o) feel peers /partners will be supportive of them discussing their SRH concerns, needs, and curiosities.
Outcome 2: Positive mindset shifts among AGYW & ABYM regarding gender expectations, roles, and responsibilities in relationships.
Knowledge:
- Unmarried girls and boys (18-24 y.o) understand the benefits of discussing and questioning gendered expectations, roles and responsibilities with peers and partners.
Attitude:
Unmarried girls and boys (18-24 y.o) express positive attitudes towards shared responsibility and decision-making in financial matters and employment in their relationship
Perceived Social Support:
Unmarried girls and boys (18-24 y.o) feel peers /partners will be supportive of them discussing gendered expectations, roles and responsibilities in relationships.
Secondary Research Method:
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To explore the effectiveness of each format (the content is available in three formats – podcast, short fiction series, and vox-pop).
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To explore the dose-effect
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To explore the effectiveness of influencers when used as role models vs a promotional tactic for long-term behaviour change.
Research Methodology
Study Design
This study will employ a quasi-experimental pre-post design with randomized exposure groups to assess changes in knowledge, attitudes and perceived social support regarding sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender norms among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and adolescent boys and young men (ABYM).
A self-administered survey will be conducted at two time points—pre-assessment (baseline) and post-assessment (after exposure to TPP products)—to measure changes in participants’ responses.
Study Population & Sample Size
- Target Population: Unmarried adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and adolescent boys and young men (ABYM) aged 18-24 years.
- Total Sample Size: 300 participants (can be revised)
- 150 AGYW (50%)
- 150 ABYM (50%)
Sampling Strategy
- Stratified Random Sampling: Ensures balanced representation across sex and exposure groups.
- Recruitment Criteria:
- Aged 18-24 years.
- Unmarried at the time of participation.
- Willing to engage with TPP content.
- Provide informed consent.
- Exclusion Criteria:
- Married individuals.
- Those with prior structured exposure to similar SRH interventions.
- Participants unwilling to complete both pre- and post-assessments.
Data Collection Methods
1. Pre/Post Quantitative Surveys
- Survey Type: Self-administered, structured questionnaire.
- Mode of Administration: Digital surveys using Google Feedback Forms or Technology-Enabled Girl Ambassadors (TEGA-GE’s in-house survey tool) for secure and private responses.
- Question Type: Primarily closed-ended with 1-2 open-ended questions to gather participant reflections.
Key Survey Measures
- Knowledge Assessment:
- Understanding of SRH topics (e.g., benefits of discussing SRH needs in relationships).
- Awareness of gender norms and equitable roles in decision-making.
- Attitudinal Measures:
- Comfort and willingness to discuss SRH needs with partners and peers.
- Perceptions of gender expectations in relationships.
- Perceived Social Support:
- Perception of partner and peer receptivity towards discussing SRH concerns.
- Expected levels of stigma or encouragement.
- Engagement & Impact (Post-Assessment Only):
- How engaging was the TPP content?
- Did it change your views on SRH communication?
Intervention Exposure & Randomization
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three exposure groups:
- Group A (Single Product Exposure) → One TPP product.
- Group B (Multi-Product Exposure) → Two TPP products.
- Group C (Full-Exposure Group) → All three TPP products.
Participants will engage with their assigned TPP materials over a structured exposure period before completing the post-assessment survey.
Ethical Considerations
- Informed Consent:
- Participants will be briefed about study objectives and confidentiality.
- Informed digital consent will be obtained before participation.
- Confidentiality & Privacy:
- Surveys will be anonymous, with unique IDs for pre/post matching.
- Participants’ responses will be stored securely with access limited to research personnel.
- Ethics Review:
- The study protocol will be reviewed by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent ethical review body.
- Adherence to WHO Guidelines on Adolescent Health Research will be ensured.
Data Analysis Strategy
The study will employ rigorous statistical analyses to assess changes in behaviour, knowledge, attitudes, and perceived social support.
1. Quantitative Data Analysis
- Descriptive Statistics:
- Frequencies and percentages for categorical variables.
- Mean and standard deviation for continuous variables.
- Pre-Post Comparisons:
- Paired t-tests (for continuous variables) and McNemar’s test (for categorical variables) to detect significant changes between pre/post responses.
- Multivariate Regression Analysis:
- To examine predictors of positive attitude shifts (e.g., exposure level, baseline knowledge).
- To assess the dose-effect relationship (i.e., whether exposure to multiple TPP products leads to greater shifts in responses).
- Subgroup Analysis:
- Sex-based comparisons: Differences in impact between AGYW and ABYM.
- Exposure-group comparisons: Examining the effectiveness of single vs. multi-product exposure.
2. Analysis of Open-Ended Responses
- Responses to open-ended questions will undergo basic qualitative coding to identify common themes.
- Sentiment analysis will be used to categorize responses as positive, neutral, or negative.
- Thematic categorization will highlight key insights into participant experiences and engagement with TPP content.
Expected Outputs
- Comprehensive Pre/Post Analysis Report:
- Changes in knowledge, attitudes, and perceived social support across exposure groups.
- Comparative Evaluation of Exposure Groups:
- Identification of the most effective TPP product(s).
- Dose-response analysis of exposure and impact.
- User Engagement Insights:
- Perceived relevance and effectiveness of TPP content.
- Key takeaways from participant reflections.
- Programmatic Recommendations:
- Recommendations for refining TPP interventions based on impact and engagement findings.
Timelines
Quant
Planning
2nd week of March
Recruitment
3rd week of March
Data collection
Last week of March
Analysis/Report
1st-15th Apr
Deliverables
- Evaluation Design (with GE’s support and input)
- Participant sampling
- Survey tool
- Consent and Assent forms
- Translations of survey tools into relevant languages and formats
- Risk assessment
- Ethical approval certificates
- Training plan
- Raw data files for each stage (baseline, and endline)
- Clean data files for each stage (baseline, and endline)
- Analysis plan
- Data quality report
- Data tables as per GE specification, including sig testing for each stage (baseline, and endline)
- Report in PowerPoint presentation format
Location
The agency must be based in India.
Reporting
The agency will have a primary point of contact in our Global Evidence and Insights Manager but will work closely with the local managers and global manager, especially for tool translation and fieldwork components.
Who You Are
Skills and expertise:
- Extensive experience in designing and conducting quantitative research
- Capacity to deliver all areas expected of this research from design, through recruiting and training researchers, to leading the data collection process in target field locations, ensuring quality assurance and working in line with research ethics principles and delivering high-quality reporting.
- Experience designing and conducting quantitative studies in India, especially with young men and women.
- Experience conducting sensitive research with hard-to-reach, most vulnerable populations
- Experience in interviewing adolescents and with safeguarding policies and procedures
- Excellent and demonstrated understanding of Child Protection/ Safeguarding and ethical issues in research
- Excellent fieldwork supervision and data quality control strategies
- Ability to conduct a risk assessment and mitigation plans for research
- A fieldwork team of interviewers
- A fieldwork team of female interviewers for girls and young women interviews
- Proven record of effectively managing relationships with research partners
- Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstration of effectively managing relationships with research partners
- Exceptional communication and organisation skills
- Ability to respond to comments and questions in a timely, appropriate manner
- Experience in delivering outputs on time and budget
- Ability to write clearly and concisely in English
- The reputation of the responding agencies and any previous experience in similar surveys/research will also be considered.
Proposal Submission
Interested agencies are asked to submit the following to support their candidature (Max 10 pages):
Technical Proposal
- Your understanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
- Credentials – Please showcase any previous work that you consider relevant to what we are trying to achieve, how we approach our work and the audience we cater to. Describe the qualifications, experience, and capabilities of the firm or consultant in providing the requested services (CV/Profile).
- An initial proposal for design – method, sampling, exposure assurance, and analysis plan
- Workplan with Clear Timelines
- Reference – Provide at least three references for similar contracts with a description of the service provided, the value of the contract, and the contract periods of performance
In their technical proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the TOR and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria. The technical proposal must not exceed ten pages.
Financial Proposal
- A breakdown of the financial proposal in INR indicating the daily rate for each of the proposed experts, time input and all applicable reimbursable expenses
- All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;
Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents. Financial bids will not be opened until the technical evaluation and then only for those proposals deemed qualified and responsive.
GE is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.
The proposal’s VALIDITY shall be 90 days from the bid closure date.
Evaluation Criteria
The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below.
Technical Evaluation
- A well-written capability statement clearly outlines your experience in delivering the Scope of Work and how you meet the ‘Who You Are’ requirements above – 20%
- An initial proposal for design (to be finessed with the GE team upon contracting) – 20%
- Ability to achieve project goals/deliverables, i.e. does the proposal clearly have strong feasibility to move forward the critical deliverables on schedule? -10%
- Demonstrate geographic experience in North India – 10%
- Clear and Concise CV demonstrating relevant expertise – 10%
- Evidence of a minimum of three contactable references – 10%
Financial Evaluation
- Value for money/proposed budget breakdown – 20%
Procurement Timeframe
- Terms of reference published: 25th February 2025
- Deadline for Questions/Clarifications: 27th February 2025
- Deadline for responses from GE: 28th February 2025
- Proposal submission:3rd March 2025
- Supplier selection, contracting, and briefing: 7th March 2025
Ethics
- The successful agency must adhere to Girl Effect protocols and safeguarding measures during all stages of research. This will ensure all girls’ participation will be conducted safely and securely.
- Ethical approval must be submitted to the relevant ethical board to ensure the research takes place with the proper permissions.
- Consent must be obtained from girls with consent forms that clearly state that at any time, research participants are free to decide to leave the research should they feel a reason to do so.
- Care also should be taken by the successful agency to maintain the confidentiality of the information provided by the respondents during the community. Informed voluntary consent should be taken before starting from the community, and parent/caregiver consent should be obtained for a minor. If an individual refuses to participate, they should not be compelled to participate or demoralized by any means. These cases will be treated as no-response under this survey. The research team must all undergo safeguarding training per Girl Effect’s safeguarding procedures and sign the Girl Effect safeguarding policy.
- All data must be stored in password-protected electronic files and shared with Girl Effect via a secure file transfer protocol (FTP)
Questions/Clarifications
If you have any questions about this RFP, please email suppliers@girleffect.org by 27th Feb. All questions will be answered and shared through an FAQ.
Tax
Girl Effect India is obliged by the Indian tax authorities to ensure all taxes are charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position regarding provisions to Indian tax legislation when developing their proposals.
Copyright
All materials/documents arising from this consultancy work shall remain the property of Girl Effect.
Disclaimer
GE reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. GE shall inform ONLY successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow.
Please note: We will evaluate only proposals submitted following the application process outlined in the TOR and using our specified email address (suppliers@girleffect.org).
Safeguarding
You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organisational values at the interview stage. The successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero tolerance for violence against children, beneficiaries, and staff.
Equal Opportunities
Girl Effect Services is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity, or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
We are committed to building an increasingly representative organisation that works extensively with the communities we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy service organisations and individuals with diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.
How to apply
Please submit proposals, as described above, to Girl Effect’s procurement team (suppliers@girleffect.org) by the 3rd of March. Please mark your email with the subject line, ‘‘Proposal – TPP Programme Quantitative Evaluation- India.’