Procurement Notices

Re-Advertised

1.Background

In view of the RAMSI[1] drawdown and the need to maintain peace and stability, the Government of Solomon Islands, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNWOMEN and UN ILO are jointly implementing innovative and catalytic initiatives to strengthen national capacity for sustaining peace including the engagement of women and youth in peace and reconciliation. The projects aim to support sustaining peace in Solomon Islands in the immediate post RAMSI and election period through inclusive implementation of solutions addressing impediments to peace and development as identified in the national communique and agreed at the national / provincial dialogues, women and youth summits.  The projects not only aim to build consensus and facilitate initiatives to address key peacebuilding challenges such as on reparations/reconciliation; land disputes; governance and social cohesion, in an inclusive manner, taking into account the voices of women and youth together with men. But also empower marginalized young Solomon Islanders, particularly young women, both to engage in decision-making and as pro-active social entrepreneurs to address local sources of grievances. Additionally, it will also help establish and institutionalize structures at the provincial level to help address the key peacebuilding challenges.

In order for the Peace Building Fund (PBF)- projects to have credible and concrete information for the baseline and contribution and attribution analysis of UN PBF projects in Solomon Islands. The UN PBF Projects will conduct a perception survey/study on peacebuilding and social cohesion, using qualitative and quantitative research methods to generate evidence-based information, especially against the results frameworks of UN PBF funded projects.  An independent research institution/contractor will administer this Perception Survey in last quarter of 2019 which is designed to be a follow up from an earlier Perception Survey conducted in 2017.  The contractor will therefore build on the results of the 2017 survey where possible, tracking any longitudinal trends using common indicators. However, the current Perception Survey will be more limited in scope compared to the first and will focus on specific geographical areas where the Peace Building Fund Projects have been most engaged.

UNDP will be looking for strong technical proposals which describe how the contractor will approach the Perception Survey, along with a detailed methodology, sampling strategy, how the contractor intends to align the current survey with the previous, any immediately apparent risks or issues foreseen, and any enhancements or suggestions to improve the survey in order to capture public perceptions on the  outcome areas for the Peace building projects.

2.Project Outcomes

• Outcome 1: Consensus is built, actions and initiatives are taken amongst state and non-state actors, including women and youth, to address conflict causes and triggers (notably, reparation framework, land disputes, governance deficits, weak social cohesion) identified through the national and provincial dialogues, and youth and women’s summits.
• Outcome 2: Structures, inclusive spaces and solutions to address peacebuilding challenges identified through national and provincial dialogues are established at the provincial level, institutionalized and effective.
• Outcome 3: Young people’s, particularly young women’s, voices in decision making processes related to issues identified in the Peacebuilding Perceptions Survey strengthened.
• Outcome 4: Communities in the hotspot areas are more resilient to conflict with more socially, economically and politically empowered youth, with special attention to young women, engaging as peacebuilders.

3.Objective of the perception survey/study

• The perception survey/study will include collection and analysis of data corresponding to the original survey baseline of 2017. The survey report will retrospectively present achievements against targets and draw a comparison of the end line data findings against the baseline data. It will highlight significant trends, important gaps and any other findings of interest.
• The perception survey will be used to establish the baseline and targets for the PBF projects. Additionally, it will help to ensure a robust Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) mechanism of the project.
• The findings of the perception survey/study will be used to inform the implementation of project activities. Evidence-based advocacy initiatives, especially inclusiveness of young girls and boys in decision making processes and increased interface between the communities and government. 
• The ‘Bigger Picture’ for Strategic Vision Assessment: Another objective of the perception survey/study is to gather data with a forward-looking focus to draw on objective and concrete information that might inform future, peace building projects.

4.A guide to the study design & methodology

The Perception survey/study will aim to explore understanding & the perception of communities (including; youths, community leaders) and other stakeholders on the following PBF project areas;

5.A guide to the Perception Survey/Study Design

For the purposes of preparing a detailed technical and financial proposal the data below will help inform the bidder’s estimations of sampling, population size, and geographical locations.

Perception Survey/Study Population & Sampling

The tables below reflect status of population which has been taken from the population estimates projected by the National Statistics Office[2]: Solomon Islands for the year 2017. The population status will be taken as a reference to draw sample for Perception survey/study as the same status was taken during the perception study (2017). 

Perception Survey/Study Target Stakeholders & Target Locations of the PBF projects

Approach of Sampling Strategy

Proposals for this Perception survey/study should be results based and clearly describe % confidence interval and a % margin of error. A sampling strategy should be included with the survey design which aims at achieving a representative sample of the population in each geographical focus region. In order to further capture a representative sample of the total population, data collection and reporting should be stratified by location, sex, age and gender.

The PBF project’s beneficiary target group is youth: aged between 16-24, high school graduates, mostly concentrated in a rural setting. Importantly, 50% of the target beneficiaries of the project are females. Additionally, the other target stakeholders of the project include broader communities and relevant Ministries (see stakeholders’ detail in table above). Therefore, it is necessary that these important aspects to be taken into consideration for the overall design and implementation the baseline survey/study.

Selection of households and respondents

• Household interviews are also anticipated so the bidders should describe how households are selected and how the interviews are intended to be conducted e.g.  face to face, questionnaire only, or a combination of both and how randomized sampling is to be achieved in the study’s methodology.
• To ensure sufficient geographical spread within selected sample, the selected contractor /institution and UN PBF team in Solomon Islands ultimately need to jointly design the sampling strategy and the final sample must be endorsed by the UN PBF project team in Solomon Islands.

Methodology & Tools

A full description of the intended methodology and research tools will be required.  Furthermore, it is a mandatory requirement   that the data collection methodology with  tools and reporting should be sensitive with required level of disaggregation including; location, sex, age and gender  While the original 2017 perception survey had very limited gender disaggregated data reporting, the intention is for the current Perception Survey to integrate these gender indicators as a baseline for future studies or surveys. The Methodology, quantitative and qualitative tools will ultimately be finalized after PBF project team’s approval.  Proposed tools may include but not limited to Secondary Research/Desk Review (especially original baseline perception survey report, progress reports), Survey/Questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Case Studies.

It is also expected that the technical proposal will include clear methodological safeguards for data validation. Data validation methodology will be reviewed at two levels:

1. Inbuilt methodological safeguards need to be embedded within the data collection tools.
2. Spot validations will be conducted by PBF Project-M&E.

6.Perception Survey/Study Deliverables

Inception phase:

1. Inception report outlining, gender sensitive Perception survey/study methodology with desk review, proposed sampling strategy, tools, details of data validation and a detailed field plan/workplan.
2. Present the inception phase report to stakeholders (UNDP, UNWOMEN, UN-ILO and relevant Ministries) for feedback and approval.

Data Collection:

1. Develop & pre-test the perception survey/study tools and data collection guidelines/manual for enumerators.
2. Train interviewers/enumerators on the survey methodology and tools/questionnaires. The tools should also be translated in local (Pijin) language.

Reporting:

1. Document interviews and FGDs with stakeholders to develop success stories/case studies for highlighting the qualitative results of the PBF projects.
2. Document interviews and FGDs with stakeholders to understand current situation in selected areas/provinces on peace building, youth entrepreneurship opportunities and aspects highlighted in section above (scope of baseline survey/study).
3. Perception survey/study report that critically analyzes, comparison with baseline study and establishment of new baseline, the perception and understanding of communities in the selected areas/provinces and provides quantifiable sex, location, age and gender disaggregated data analysis against PBF projects’ indicators and thematic areas.
4. Based on feedback received from PBF project team and other stakeholders, explain any data anomalies which may not tally with the expected results and how to mitigate this risk, revise the report and have it submitted to PBF project team for final review and approval.
5. Final PowerPoint presentation of consolidated findings will be presented to the PBF Project team (UNDP, UNWOMEN, UN ILO) and other relevant ministries.
6. Submit weekly brief progress report during consultancy period. The weekly report should detail:
7. activities /tasks completed to date
8. any challenges faced
9. any adjustments made in response to challenges
10. any deviations from timeline and explanations for deviations
11. others as per need

Documentation:

1. Fully ‘cleaned’ dataset in Excel and/or SPSS file format.
2. Provide all filled Perception survey/study tools/questionnaires in properly managed hard box files, if applicable.

7.Time Frame

Time for completing the assignment and provision of final report is within 8 weeks of signing of the contract agreement. The contractor will provide a work plan detailing all activities from initiation to the submission of final deliverables.

8.Intellectual Property Rights

All outputs under the assignment shall be the sole property of UNDP. The institution /contractor shall not exercise any rights on all the outputs and cannot share the same with any outsiders without the prior consent of UNDP.           

9.Expected Deliverables and Time Frame

The contractor will deliver the following over a period of two months:

10.Conflict of Interest:

The contractor should declare any potential conflicts of interest arising before, during the conduct of key activities or at the later stage that they may be aware of.

11.Reporting:

The contractor will report regularly to the Program Manager -PBF & M&E specialist who will also coordinate and support the process. In addition, the contractor will be asked to present to the UNDP senior management and other stakeholders involved in the project on completion of each of the deliverable/ output.

12.Skills Required

The consulting agency must have demonstrated expertise and experience in advanced techniques of conducting quantitative and qualitative research. More specifically, the contractor must be an established leader in social research with demonstrated experience in;

1. Designing qualitative and quantitative research methods and sampling strategies, especially with respect of gender sensitive approach.
2. Designing and conducting similar studies particularly in peace-building, gender promotion and youth promotion initiatives related projects and with national and international organizations.      
3. Statistical analysis with strong proficiency in data analysis packages such as SPSS, excel, or NVivo. 
4. Conducting baseline & end-line surveys, social research studies and evaluations, preferably on peace-building, reconciliation, promotion of coexistence and harmony, gender promotion and youth promotion initiatives projects.
5. Excellent communication and written skills in English and Pijin English (Western Pacific).

13.Payment Plan

This will be an output-based contract and payments will be made as per the following schedule:

[1] Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands -  created in 2003 in response to a request for international aid by the Governor-General of Solomon Islands. The mission officially ended on 30 June 2017

[2] Projected population by province 2010-2015 by Solomon Islands National Statistics Office: http://www.statistics.gov.sb/statistics/social-statistics/population