Firm for Transforming Masculinities Baseline
Request for Proposals (RFP)
to Conduct a Baseline Evaluation of Transforming Masculinities in
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Date of Issuance : 9 February 2016
Due Date for Questions : 15 February 2016. Submission of Questions or requests for clarification in writing via email to cjm296@georgetown.edu by 17:00 Hours[local DRC time]
Deadline for Proposals : 22 February, 2016. Proposals (including detailed technical and financial proposal) are due 17:00 Hours Washington DC time. No late submissions will be accepted. Proposals are to be submitted electronically to cjm296@georgetown.edu and CC-ed to tjs248@georgetown.edu and kaa82@georgetown.edu. Emailed submissions must contain the subject line “Transforming Mascutlinities Baseline”. The successful consultant/firm will be notified within 10 days of the deadline.
Purpose
Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) has received funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement the Transforming Masculinities study in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). IRH is seeking a qualified, local DRC evaluation subcontractor to conduct and manage baseline evaluation aspects of a USAID-funded program, Transforming Masculinities.
This scope of work sets forth the background and objective for the evaluation and the scope of work for the evaluation subcontractor.
Period of Performance: March 15, 2016– September 15, 2016
Location: Kinshasa, DRC
Background
In partnership with Population Services International (PSI), Association de Sante Familiale (ASF), Tearfund, and FHI 360, IRH is implementing Transforming Masculinities, a gender transformative program, in Kinshasa, DRC. Transforming Masculinities is part of the multi-initiative USAID-funded Passages project. The overall goal of Passages is improved family planning (FP) use and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) among youth, especially very young adolescents (VYA), newly-married youth and first-time parents. Specifically, Passages aims to transform social norms for adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health, including impediments in accessing health services and prevalent social norms.
Within the Passages context, IRH and its partners will implement Transforming Masculinities through faith-based organizations (FBOs) and religious leaders. Tearfund developed the Transforming Masculinities approach as an evidence-based intervention for religious leaders and faith communities to promote positive masculinities and gender equality. Gender inequality is embedded in culturally constructed roles of men and women, boys and girls, and enforced through social structures, including religion and biblical strictures. Transforming Masculinities is a program for religious leaders and congregants, which uses a process of participatory scriptural reflection and dialogue to identify, create, and embrace new, positive masculine identities. IRH and partners will build on the original Transforming Masculinities curriculum to include components on FP/SRH education. In addition, the Transforming Masculinities study applied here will include a link to PSI/ASF’s Confiance clinics, pharmacies, community health workers (CHW) services, and free FP hotline. This will roll out in 28 mixed denominational congregations in Kinshasa. Within this study, the Transforming Masculinities approach will be adapted with the goal to reduce social acceptance of gender-based violence (GBV) and other gender inequalities, which support early childbearing and high fertility rates and prevent women from accessing and using modern FP, and increase men’s role as supportive partners. In doing so, the project aims to create a normative environment supportive of FP up take, and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) generally, among newly married youth and first-time parent swithin the 18 to 24 age range.
Transforming Masculinities consists of multiple intervention components including workshops and trainings that guide religious leaders and congregation members through a process of scriptural reflections to identify, create, disseminate, and embrace new, positive masculinities, and then take action. The hoped for outcome is community-wide attitude and behavior change that leads to normative masculine identities supportive of non-violence, shared decision-making, gender equality and FP and SRH use, reduced social acceptance of GBV and other gender inequalities, increased engagement around GBV prevention, reduced GBV perpetration, and increased modern FP uptake. The intervention also aims to diffuse these GBV- and FP-related social norms beyond direct participants. Intervention components include:
1) Training with national/regional level faith leaders
2) 2-3 day orientation workshops with community/parish faith level leaders
3) 3-5 day Gender Champions training– male and female community members who in turn conduct a series of six-week long community dialogue sessions in their congregations around gender roles and inequalities.
4) Community dialogues – six-week long small group discussions (two-hour dialogue per week) with couples facilitated by the Gender Champion to explore harmful notions around gender and identify positive gender identities through scriptural reflections. During the first five weeks, these participants will be divided into two same sex groups. On the sixth week men and women will come together in one group to share and reflect as one group.
5) Health Talks on FP/SRH by trained PSI/ASF community health workers to the assembled community dialogues groups, and broader congregation members, at intervention site congregations. The community health worker will also hand out referral cards with the information of the nearest Confiance clinic and ask participants to leave it in a box at the clinic reception should they visit the clinic.
Baseline Evaluation details:
Anticipated start date for the evaluation data collection is April 15, 2016 (TBD). The evaluation consists of a prospective, experimental two group, pretest/post-test design with 28 congregations randomly assigned to either a control or intervention group. The congregations will be matched on religious affiliation (e.g. Catholic, Anglican, Islam), and demographic characteristics such as size, location (peri urban/urban), denomination, and ethnicity of congregants. The intervention group receives the Transforming Masculinities intervention with added FP and SRH components, whereas the control group receives no intervention.
The aim of this evaluation is to provide a baseline from which to assess the effectiveness of the Transforming Masculinities intervention in meeting its stated aims among 14 congregations in Kinshasa, DRC.
The evaluation subcontractor will oversee and conduct all components related to the baseline, which has the following research components:
- Research activity 1: 1,344 orally administered baseline questionnaires with a randomly selected cohort of couples (male and female members) in 14 control and 14 experimental congregations. This will assess individual and community level changes in: GBV/IPV acceptance, masculine identities, gender roles, FP acceptance and use and SRH more generally.
- Research activity 2: Social network mapping in six experimental congregations among 600 conveniently selected couples (male and female congregation members), pre intervention, to identify mechanisms of social norm diffusion in faith communities.
- Research activity 3: 68 semi-structured in-depth interviews with purposely selected faith leaders, gender champions and influential members in 8experimental and 4 control congregations, and selected regional/national faith leaders, at baseline to explore attitudes regarding GBV and FP.
Recruitment criteria.
Criteria for selecting participants for research activity 1 and 2 include:
- Married couples
- Reside in one of 28 Kinshasa congregations identified for the intervention
- Are newly married or first-time parents
- Are between the ages of 18 and 24years old
Criteria for selecting participants for research study 3 will be those fulfilling the identified positions
Locations. The 28 congregations are in the following communities: Gombe, Kinshasa, Barumbu, Lingwala, Kintambo, Ngaliema I, Ngaliema II, Mont Ngafula, Makala, Bumbu, Matete, Masina I, Masina II, Ndjili I, Selembao I, Kimbanseke I, Kimbanseke II, Maluku, Kinsenso, Ngiringiri, Bandalungwa, Kalamu I, Kasavubu, Limete I, Limete II, Ngaba, Lemba I, and N’sele.
Methodology. The IRH research protocol details the execution of the methodology, including: sampling and recruitment of study respondents, obtaining informed consent, questionnaire, social network mapping and in-depth interview procedures and data collection, research tools, data management and analysis. IRH will provide the subcontractor with a copy of this research protocol and any accompanying documents on the research process, draft data collection instruments and data analysis plans. IRH will provide orientation and support on these instruments for the subcontractor.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. The Transforming Masculinities research protocol and all associated data collection instruments will be provided by IRH, and reviewed and approved by the Georgetown University IRB and a local DRC IRB prior to the start of any research activities. IRH will prepare and submit all DRC national IRB application materials and manage the correspondence with both Georgetown and DRC IRBs. Some support to the DRC IRB process, may be needed.
