Consultancy to support qualitative component of USDOL funded research in Tanzania

As part of the Transfer Project, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti (henceforth Innocenti), has received funds from the US Department of Labor (USDOL) to carry out in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis of the effects of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) program on children’s participation in school and work.

UNICEF - Consultancy to support qualitative component of USDOL funded research in Tanzania

Social and Economic Policy Unit

1 May – 30 December 2017

1. Background:

Social protection and social cash transfers are seen as a key tool for combating the triple threat of chronic poverty, hunger and HIV and AIDS in East and Southern Africa. However, there are still a number of unanswered questions about how, why and in what contexts social transfer programs are most appropriate and effective. The Transfer Project, an initiative of Save the Children UK and UNICEF, responds to this evidence gap by assessing the impact of government social transfer programs on children and their families' well-being, generating lessons across the region on key implementation and policy issues. The Transfer Project evaluates social cash transfer programs in 7 countries in Africa. Extensive data are collected to capture the effects of these transfer programs on a wide range of outcomes such as household demographics, health, productive activities, investment, credit-uptake, asset ownership, consumption, and children's participation in education and work.

As part of the Transfer Project, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti (henceforth Innocenti), has received funds from the US Department of Labor (USDOL) to carry out in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis of the effects of Tanzania's Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) program on children's participation in school and work.

The quantitative component of the USDOL funded research, which is currently being implemented by the Transfer Project team, aims to establish the extent to which the PSSN affects children's participation in school, work, and child labor for elimination as defined in Tanzania's national legislation and international conventions. The quantitative analysis also aims to establish to what extent measured effects are heterogeneous across subgroups (e.g. boys and girls, older and younger children), to what extent children combine school and work, and what mechanisms drive the observed effects.

Innocenti seeks to hire a consultant to support the qualitative component of this research.

2. Objective(s):

The qualitative research will both generate independent, new results and complement the mentioned quantitative analysis. The qualitative research will have the following objectives:
(i) to gain an understanding of household members' and in particular children's engagement in economic activities;
(ii) to obtain a detailed understanding of the types of economic activities in which household members and in particular children engage (including potential hazardous activities and worst forms of child labor);
(iii) to examine the interaction between school attendance and engagement in work and chores;
(iv) to independently establish the effects of the PSSN on children's engagement in school and work;
(v) to examine whether potential explanations for effects proposed mechanisms in the quantitative analysis can be confirmed;
(vi) to examine whether children are exposed to hazards when engaging in economic activities and household chores and
(vii) to establish benefits of child engagement in economic activities and household chores, such as on the job learning.

As part of the qualitative research, youths, caregivers, and teachers will be asked to participate in in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Youths and caregivers will be selected from the full sample of households participating in the quantitative study component.

3. Specific activities to be completed to achieve the objectives:

Specific activities of the consultancy include:
1. Support the preparation of the qualitative field work. Activities include: writing a brief overview of the relevant qualitative literature on child labor, drafting interview guides and enumerator manuals, updating interview guides based on comments and suggestions received, supporting the preparation of selection procedures for youths, caregivers and teachers, and preparing interview protocols.
2. Support the implementation of the qualitative field work. Activities include: drafting a training outline, preparation of all necessary materials for the training of enumerators, and a plan for fieldwork implementation. Activities possibly include travel to Tanzania for training of the interviewers, debrief at the end of every day of fieldwork, coordinating preparation and finalization of the quantitative data (base).
3. Preparation of the research report. Activities include: preparing a pre-analysis plan, analyzing the collected information in accordance with state of the art methods and procedures, preparing the draft research report, addressing and incorporating comments and suggestions including those from the USDOL, finalization of the research report.

The consultant will carry these activities out in collaboration with co-investigator at Innocenti.

4. Specific outputs/products/results with specific delivery dates:

The following deliverables are expected from the consultant (dates may be adjusted depending on timing of field work):
• May 15, 2017: Draft interview guides, manual, protocols, and selection procedures
• May 31, 2017: Final interview guides, manual, protocols, selection procedures, training plan, training materials, and plan for field work implementation
• July 31, 2017: Completed training of ethnographers
• August 31, 2017: Completed dataset and data analysis plan
• September 30, 2017: Qualitative data analysis completed
• November 15, 2017: Draft research report including literature review
• December 30, 2017: Final research report

5. Qualifications and/or specialized knowledge/experience required and desirable for undertaking the assignment:

Required:
 Masters degree in anthropology, public health, sociology, or related field
 Familiarity with state of the art methodology in qualitative research
 Demonstrated experience in the collection of qualitative data, including (i) the design of interviewer guides and materials and (ii) training of enumerators
 Demonstrated experience in the use of software for the analysis of qualitative data, such as atlas.ti
 Ability to speak and write fluently in English
 Ability to organize own work and to carry out a research project with limited supervision according to deadlines

Desirable:
 Experience working in developing countries
 Experience in writing qualitative research reports
 Experience in research in the area of child labor and education
 Ability to speak and write in Swahili

6. Duration of the consultancy

The consultant will work a total of 64 days in the period between 1 May 2017 and 30 December 2017 (approximate).

7. Supervision and work arrangements:

The consultant will work under the supervision of a social policy specialist. The consultant will work a total of 64 days, at a location of his/her own choice. The consultant may be requested to travel to Tanzania for fieldwork (dates TBC); UNICEF travel rules will be applicable. The consultant will be required to be in regular contact with the co-investigator on the USDOL funded project, to ensure timely implementation of the project.

NB: All applications must be accompanied by an all-inclusive daily fee in order to be considered further