National Consultant: Rapid Assessment Survey including baseline assessment dialogues before start of each SASA phase in 6 districts in Zimbabwe- Activity 1151

Background

Zimbabwe has an estimated 1.4 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), 1.2 million of whom are between the ages of 15 and 64. Adult HIV prevalence has steadily decreased over the last ten years, declining from 18.1% in 2005 to 13.8% in 2015. Prevalence among children (0-14) is estimated at 1.6%. While the epidemic has declined among both men and women (15-49), women continue to bear the disproportionate burden with prevalence levels of 16.7% compared to 10.5% among men in 2015. The same gender disparity is true for new infections, where women have an HIV incidence of 0.67%, compared to 0.28% among men (15-49).  Violence poses a substantial barrier to the effectiveness of existing HIV strategies, undermining the uptake and adherence to proven biomedical prevention and treatment options. Violence against women and HIV/ AIDS are inextricably intertwined and mutually reinforcing in the lives of millions of women and girls.

The 2015 ZDHS recorded that 14% of females who are 15-49 years have experienced have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by intimate partners. Existing studies estimate that the attributable fraction of HIV due to intimate partner violence (IPV) is between 12% and 22% - See Link to Annex 1.  Fear of violence prevents women from negotiating safe sex, seeking voluntary counselling and testing for HIV, returning for their test results, or getting treatment if they are HIV positive or services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. In addition, research has shown that men who are violent toward their intimate partners are more likely to have multiple sexual partners than men who are not violent toward their partners, a risk factor of HIV. A WHO study found that fear of violence was a barrier to HIV disclosure for an average of 25% of participating women whilst in some countries the proportion was as high as 86% - See Link to Annex 2

And while the country’s constitution provides equal protection under the law, legislation is rarely enforced to protect women. To combat and prevent this abuse, Zimbabwe Association of Church-related Hospitals (ZACH) will roll out SASA! an innovative phased community mobilization approach that has been proven effective at preventing violence against women and HIV.

SASA! is an acronym for the social change process: Start, Awareness, Support and Action and uses the language of power as a lens for looking at violence against women and girls (VAWG). It is an exploration of power initiative —what it is, who has it, how it is used, how it is abused and how power dynamics between women and men can change for the better. SASA! -demonstrates how understanding power and its effects can help us prevent violence against women and HIV infection.

Start Awareness Support and Action (SASA) model

Geographical coverage: 6 districts, namely Chimanimani, Umguza, Kwekwe and Umzingwane, Masvingo and Bindura with a selection of 10 wards per district.

The four-phase process of SASA! includes:

• Start thinking about violence against women and HIV/AIDS as interconnected issues and the need to personally address these issues;
• Raise Awareness about communities’ acceptance of men’s use of power over women, which fuels HIV/AIDS and violence against women;
• Support women and men directly affected by or involved in these issues to change.

Take Action to prevent HIV/AIDS and violence against women. SASA model focuses on changing uneven power dynamics between genders. The model will utilize 180 community champions at district level.

ZACH recognizes that addressing the nature and levels of gender based violence in Zimbabwe is a collective responsibility that requires involvement and partnership of all broader government stakeholders, community and civil society. It is with the above knowledge, ZACH seeks the services of a lead consultant to carry out the SASA! Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) in the 6 districts. The RAS is a 28 question closed answer tool assessing knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors related to violence against women (see Annex 1). Please note that the RAS is primarily designed as an internal program learning tool, to facilitate discussion, program monitoring and help determine when a community is ready to ‘graduate’ to the next SASA! phase. The non-experimental design is not intended to generate rigorous evidence of program impact.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of scope of assignment and timelines

The lead consultant will work closely with ZACH to complete the following: 

• Recruit and hire a team of enumerators to implement the survey. It is essential that the team consist of an equal number of women and men, with demonstrated ability to collect quantitative data (in Shona and Ndebele), actively participate in daily debriefs, adhere to ethical protocols, and professionally represent the study in the 6 districts.
• Co-facilitate (with ZACH) a three-day training on the Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) tool and SASA! Assessment dialogues (see Annex 1 and 2 and adapt tools for adolescent boys and girls), including sampling criteria, understanding of the questions, review of translations, ethical protocols, etc. Day three will include pretesting of the tools.
• Administer the SASA! Baseline survey to collect and analyze data on knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors of the community before the beginning of SASA! programming on an equal number of men and women within communities in the respective districts
• Supervise the team in collecting quantitative data from approximately 1800 total participants (final sample size to be determined in consultation with ZACH), including at least 300 participants per district (100 women, 50 girls, 100 men and 50 boys per district). The lead consultant will be expected to undertake any necessary trouble-shooting/problem solving. Note that on average, data collectors can complete about 6-8 RAS surveys in one day.  Part of the supervision process includes daily debriefs with the data collection team and calls to check in with ZACH as needed
• Conduct at least 8 SASA! Assessment Dialogues/FGDs - (2 for women, 2 for men, 2 for adolescent girls and 2 for adolescent boys) per district with different groups of people to assess the situation of violence, gender relations and power in their communities. Each dialogue should be comprised of same-sex groups to ensure women, girls, men and boys can participate equally.
• Enter all data into the EpiData or Access screen provided, including a minimum of 30% double entry to assure data quality, and reconcile any errors noted. It is recommended that data entry commence simultaneously with field work to ensure timely completion of the work.
• Carefully document all data collection activities each day of fieldwork (and prepare a field report highlighting key issues raised (within two days after completion of data collection).

Time Frame and Deliverables

Time Frame: 30 Days                                                                 

• Design, methodology and detailed work plan – Deliverable: Adoption of tools and review methodology, develop work plan.
• Inception Meeting, Initial briefing – Deliverable: Adoption of tools and review methodology, develop work plan.
• Assessment – 
• Draft findings and report - Deliverable: Draft Report
• Report Finalization – Deliverable: Final Report

Inception report:

This is to ensure that the consultant and the key stakeholders (the ZACH and the NAC) have a shared understanding of the survey. The inception report therefore should detail the research/assessment design – locations, sampling techniques to be used; numbers of people to be interviewed; fieldwork calendar; size of team and time to be taken in field conducting the assessment as well as method of analysis of the data – data analysis tools etc.

Draft report

The Consultant will prepare a draft survey report, in the appropriate format. The draft report will be shared with AGYW key stakeholders for review and comments. The consultant will consolidate the input within 5 working days after submission of the Inception Report.

Final Survey Report:

The comprehensive final report is submitted to ZACH after addressing all comments emanating from the draft report not later than 30 days from the inception of this consultancy

Methodology

The TA will use both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The TA will use qualitative methods to come with the baseline on knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors related to violence against women as well identifying and coming up with a baseline of problems leading to GBV in the targeted districts. Quantitative data will be collected to come up with baseline data about men and women’s health, relationships and GBV copying strategies. The SASA! baseline tools and detailed methodologies are already available and need to be adapted to our context .

Annexes:

Annex 1: GREENTREE II; 2015; Violence against Women and Girls, and HIV report on a high-level consultation on the evidence and implications; 12–14 May 2015, GREENTREE Estate, NEW YORK; http://strive.lshtm.ac.uk/sites/strive.lshtm.ac.uk/files/STRIVE%20Greentree%20II%20report.pdf; accessed 17 April 2018; page 23 and  page 12; A systematic review that examined 12 DHS surveys from 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa found consistent and strong associations between HIV infection in women and physical violence, emotional violence and male controlling behaviour

Annex 2: http://www.health-genderviolence.org/training-programme-for-health-care-providers/causes-and-dynamics-of-gbv/linkages-between-hivaids-and; accessed 19 June 2018.

Duty Station

The duty station of the work is Harare, Zimbabwe.

Management Arrangements

UNDP will contract the consultant on behalf of ZACH and NAC. The consultant will however report to both the NAC and ZACH on technical issues. All contractual issues will be handled by UNDP.

Competencies

• Technical knowledge of gender issues in development, particularly GBV, including relevant international human rights standards;
• An understanding of gender equality, violence against women and HIV and experience of programming in the area of gender equality and women’s health issues;
• Excellent technical writing, research and analytical skills;
• Ability to deliver on time.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Qualified organization/persons referred to as consultants below are expected to:

• Advanced university degree in public health or a related field with specializations on gender equality issues/women’s rights, HIV/AIDS, social sciences, development studies,

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in development, with a focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment, health and/or HIV/AIDS
• At least 5 years of increasingly responsible relevant professional experience, including experience in programme management, conducting designing and appraising proposals and actively liaising with relevant and potential project partners;
• Research experience on gender issues, women’s health , HIV as well as violence against women.

Language:

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written and strong presentation skills in English.

How to apply:

Interested Candidates to submit a detailed proposal, workplan and CV as part of the application.