1. Background

Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) is a diaconal organization established in Norway to work with people around the world to eradicate poverty and injustice. Our vision is Together for a Just World. NCA began its work in Somalia in 1993, following the humanitarian crisis caused by the collapse of the central government in 1991. NCA became active in Puntland following the 2004 tsunami, 2007 in Banadir and 2013 in Lower Shabelle and has maintained this presence and programmes implementation since then. NCA’s Somalia 2020-2024 strategy will contribute to support people in need during emergencies and recovery, advocate for their rights and to build their resilience through the following programmes: Climate Resilience WASH, Gender-based Violence, Peacebuilding, Climate Smart Economic Empowerment and Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. NCA also supports strengthening of civil society and advocacy efforts. NCA Somalia programmes are in line with Somalia National Development Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals.

For over 90 years, Save the Children (SC) has been making a difference in children’s lives in more than 120 countries. We are the world’s largest independent child rights organization, underpinned by a vision in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. SC is an equal opportunity organisation dedicated to our core values of Accountability, Ambition, and Collaboration. Creativity and Integrity. Our culture is embedded in these values, along with a strong commitment to our Child Safeguarding Protocol, ensuring that all representatives of Save the Children demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour towards children both in their private and professional lives. Save the Children in Somalia/Somaliland has over 40 years been working in partnership with Civil Society Organizations

NCA/SC Joint Programme in Somalia

During the period 2020-2024, the joint NCA & SC programme to end FGM & CEFM will be in its third phase of implementation to build on the efforts and gains made in the previous phases while expanding to other locations for wider outreach and coverage. The overall goal of the joint programme is to contribute towards the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM/C) and Child Early Forced Marriage (CEFM) in targeted communities.

The joint programme is guided by a Theory of Change (ToC) to respond to four outcomes areas, which include:

• Dominant social norms transformed to protect girls and women from FGM and CEFM.
• Women and girls at risk of violence and survivors of FGM have access to appropriate and adequate medical, psychosocial support (PSS), and livelihood services.
• Women and girls are empowered to realize their rights and protect themselves from FGM and CEFM.
• Laws and Policies to end FGM and CEFM are enacted and enforced.

NCA and SC will continue to use various strategies such as community conversations to discuss and explore local solutions that will lead to abandonment of harmful practices; engage influential religious leaders to advocate for abandonment; media to foster awareness and sensitize communities, and capacity-building of community actors to advocate against practices. Engaging men and boys as change agents to influence their peers will continue as a key strategy along with new models promoting gender equality and economic empowerment. The programme will be implemented in seven districts, i.e. Bosasso, Gardo, Garowe and Eyl in Puntland state, and Garbaharey, Belet Hawa and Luuq in Gedo in Jubaland state.

NCA works in partnership with KAALO Aid for development, a local NGO in Puntland (Garowe and Eyl) and SEDHURO in Gedo (Garbaharrey, Luuq and Belet Hawa). Save the Children will implement the programme in Bosaso and Qardo districts through partnership with Tadammun Social Society.

2. Purpose and Scope of the baseline

Purpose of the Baseline.

The main objective of the baseline study is to collect baseline values of which progress can be monitored against the specific project impact and outcome indicators and effectiveness of the joint programme intervention in the Midline and Endline Evaluations. Additionally it is expected to provide qualitative information on the contextual social norms within the field, to inform the programme approach and substantiate future documentation and learning.

Specifically, this study aims to:

• Estimate baseline values for outcome and impact indicators in intervention areas.
• Estimate baseline values for outcome and impact indicators in comparison/non-intervention areas and evaluate balance of the estimates between intervention and comparison areas.
• To understand the knowledge, attitude and practices that drive FGM/C and CEFM among different stakeholders i.e men, women, boys, girls, and religious leaders in the target locations.
• To investigate the role of religious leaders and young men in interventions to eliminate FGM/C and CEFM.
• Provide recommendations that the programme should consider based on the findings.

Scope of the Baseline.

The baseline will involve a desk review of programme documents, household survey, FGDs and KIIs. The study will involve as interviews and interaction with a range of stakeholders including beneficiaries/right holders and duty bearers in project locations, NCA/SC partners, local administration and government representatives, religious and community leaders as well as health professionals, teachers, students as well as women, girls, men and youth. Geographically, the baseline will cover the following locations**

• Gedo- NCA, SEDHURO
• Puntland – NCA, KAALO Aid for Development and SC/TASS.

Programme Impact and Outcome Indicators

IMPACT/OUTCOME INDICATORS

IMPACT

• FGM/c prevalence amongst girls aged 5-15 years in the target communities (disaggregated by age.
• CEFM Prevalence rates amongst girls 10-17 years in the target communities (disaggregated by age).

OUTCOME 1

• 1.1 % of men, women, boys and girls reached through structured behavioral change interventions who demonstrate change in their perception and behavior on FGM.
• 1.2. % of men, women, boys and girls in the target communities who support abandonment of all forms of FGM by committing not to cut their daughters
• 1.3 % of men, women, boys and girls % of individuals reached through structured behavioral change interventions who recognize CEFM as harmful and violation of human rights
• 1.4. % of men, women, boys and girls in the target communities who support abandonment of CEFM

OUTCOME 2

• 2.1 % of girls and women who are aware on where to seek support services
• 2.2.(a) % of girls and women affected by FGM who accessed support services
• 2.2 (b)% of girls and women affected by CEFM who accessed support services

OUTCOME 3

• 3.1. % of women and girls who are able to protect themselves from risks
• 3.2 % of supported women and girls who report increased influence and/or participation in decision making at private and public spaces
• 3.3 % of targeted boys who express support towards girls and women’s empowerment

OUTCOME 4

• 4.1. Strategies, Policies and Laws enacted and enforced to protect women and girls from FGM
• 4.2. Strategies, Policies and Laws enacted and enforced to protect women and girls from CEFM

3. Methodology

The consultant is expected to present a detailed methodology in the technical proposal submission which will be further refined in consultation with NCA and SC during the inception phase. In general, baseline study will employ a quasi-experimental design through the use of a comparison group to allow for comparability of rate of changes between intervention and non-intervention areas in the subsequent evaluations. The sample will be drawn from both intervention and non-intervention areas. During inception phase, NCA, SC and consultant will develop the selection criteria to guide the section of the comparison group. For comparative analysis, a panel survey will be used to compare changes between the baseline, mid-line and endline in the intervention relative to comparison areas.

The baseline will use household survey as the main method of data collection while qualitative methodology will be used to triangulate the data and explain the findings of the survey. The study will therefore combine statistically representative household survey with in-depth qualitative research, which will largely be participatory through engagement with key stakeholders including project’s direct and indirect beneficiaries, women, girls, men, boys and youth, government officials at various levels as relevant, health professionals, and religious leaders among others. The baseline should ensure that the respondents are representative of diversity across the target locations in Somalia (Gender, age, profession, urban, rural, IDP settlements, etc.).

As the unexpected Covid 19 pandemic will have an implication on this study, the consultant should propose an adapted methodology-mitigation actions as part of the inception report.

Sampling strategy and size

The sampling strategy will be finalized collaboratively with the external consultant. The target communities will be selected by NCA and SC with inputs from the consultant and will include rural, urban communities and IDP settlement from both the intervention and non-intervention areas. Sampling will take into account the demographics, stratifications, gender and geographical coverage of interventions. The samples will be allocated in respect to proportion to population sizes of the targeted geographical areas while ensuring that the sample size is representative and adequate to compare change in the intervention areas for all impact and outcome level indicators.

NCA, SC and the consultant will also come up with an appropriate samples for qualitative data collection based on data needs. It is expected that a sample constituting appropriate right holders, duty bearers and other stakeholders will be purposively selected with balance of collective and diverse responses to answer key baseline questions. The selection will be based on the ability to provide objective information for key baseline questions and other fitting inputs into the wider aspects of the context and strategy.

Data collection

The following data collection methods are expected to be used. However, the methods are flexible to any fitting amendments by NCA, SC and the consultant.

i) Desk Review

A background review of the joint programme’s documents including the application and the results framework. Information and publications from external sources related to the programme and baseline objectives will be included in baseline study.

ii) Surveys

For the quantitative method, a standardized questionnaire will be used to generate information on outcome indicators. Structured questionnaires will be administered to the targeted beneficiaries guided by indicators as the units of analysis. These populations will be predetermined during the sampling process.

To maintain the quality of the data, all quantitative data will be collected using mobile data collection. Random onsite verification of data will be undertaken to ensure that the process remains as objective as possible.

Questionnaires will be translated into Somali to prevent misunderstanding and misinterpretation of questions by the enumerators.

iii) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)

Focus groups discussions (FGDs) with relevant stakeholders including right holders in the target locations will be a main part of the information gathering, in order to ensure that the perspectives of different groups are taken into account. The focus groups should be organized taking into account the diversity of the different groups on the basis of demographics such as age, gender and profession. Participants in the FGD will include women groups, men groups, religious leaders, community leaders, young men, young women, students, etc. The FGDs will be separated by men, women, young men, young women, boys and girls to provide safe space for them to discuss freely and share honest participation by. All interview templates will be available in English and Somali. Interviews will be conducted in Somali, and in-depth notes will be taken on each discussion. Where security permits, interviews will be recorded for better transcripts. **

iv) Key Informant Interview (KII)

Key informant interviews will be used to assess crucial opinions of project stakeholders allowing for in depth data to be collected. KIIs will be used to gain local perspective and up-to-date information as a supplement to information already available and to also triangulate the quantitative data. Key informants will include but are not limited to NCA/SC staff and partners, community leaders, religious leaders, government officials, health professionals, teachers, community education committees etc. In-depth interviews will be important to gauge the opinions, attitude and perceptions of the various stakeholders on FGM/CEFM.

Data Quality Assurance

The joint programme commits to ensure quality data is collected and transmitted from various sources. Quality control will be integrated in all the process including; data collection tools, proficiency based training, pre-testing of tools and onsite verification processes. For high quality, it is recommended that competent research assistants with masterly of sectoral subject matter and deep probing skills will be deployed.

Ethical consideration

Bearing in mind the sensitive nature of this project, specific consideration will be given to ethical issues of research design, piloting of tools, data collection, reporting and storage. Trust, sensitivity and ethical procedures are essential, therefore, the design of the tools, the phrasing of the questions and the skills of the enumerators are key to obtaining valid data. The enumerators will be trained on ethical research, consent and coercion, child safeguarding, child protection, non-judgemental data collection and ethical interviewing, as well as the specific use of the research tools, confidentiality and secure data handling. Participation of children will be done only through qualitative group discussion. Teachers/parents or guardians will be requested for consent before children are interviewed. Child friendly questions and a safe environment for the children will be ensured.

4. Deliverables – i.e. the report and potential oral presentation of findings/conclusions.

• Inception report including literature review and detailed description of methodology including draft tools.
• Final Data collection tools.
• Draft baseline report.
• Validation workshop including PowerPoint presentation on the main findings and key recommendations.
• All collected data including HH survey data sets interviews and FGDs summaries or transcripts. All collected data including reports and transcripts.
• Baseline values as per the indicators in the results frame
• Final baseline report, which should include the analyses of the findings, lessons, learnt as well as recommendations. (max. 40 pages, excluding annexes).

The draft and final baseline study reports need, as a minimum, to contain the following components:

• Executive summary
• Baseline background
• Literature Review
• Methodology
• Indicator by indicator with baseline values disaggregated by FGM and CEFM, gender and age.
• Findings
• Analysis on key social norms guiding the current practices of FGM and CEFM.
• Lessons learned from data collection – to inform midline and endline study process
• Recommendations and conclusion.
• Link to raw data

5. Timeframe – schedule

The deliverables outlined under section 4 shall be completed within Max. 40 days of work.

6. Technical Evaluation

For the evaluation of the technical proposals, the Contracting Authority shall take the following criteria into consideration, with the indicated weights:

Technical evaluation

• Candidate’s relevant academic qualifications
• Candidate’s relevant experience with relevant research methods
• Candidate’s knowledge and familiarity with country
• Candidate’s analytical, communication, language and report writing skills
• Candidate’s knowledge of FGM/CEFM
• To what degree does the proposal show understanding of the task?
• Have the Terms of Reference been addressed in sufficient detail?
• Is the Methodology well described and articulate
• Is the sequence of activities and the planning logical, realistic and promising efficient implementation to the Contract?

7. Qualifications and skills

• University degree in any field, preferably Social Sciences. Post graduate education is an added advantage.
• In-depth knowledge and experience on research methods (household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions).
• Experience in conducting baseline studies, impact evaluations using experimental designs.
• Knowledge of and familiarity with Somali context.
• Fluent in both oral and written English.
• Knowledge and experience in GBV with a special focus on FGM and child, early and forced marriage .
• Previous experience in conducting research on social norms.
• Excellent Analytical, Communication and Report writing skills.