ELP Systems Research - Jamaica Parent Place Impact Evaluation Consultancy Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Jamaica

Summary : ELP Systems Research - Jamaica Parent Place Impact Evaluation Consultancy

Deadline : 01 Mar 2021

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 50266008

Document Ref. No. : 1272989

Competition : ICB

Financier : Other Funding Agencies

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : THE WORLD BANK GROUP
Charmaine Wright 3rd Floor, Courtleigh Corporate Centre, 6 St. Lucia Avenue, Kingston 5 Tel:+1 (876) 960-0459
Jamaica
Email :cwright2@worldbank.org
URL :https://www.worldbank.org/en/

Tender Details

Expression of Interest are invited for ELP Systems Research - Jamaica Parent Place Impact Evaluation Consultancy.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR SELECTION # 1272989

This Request for Expression of Interest is for a Firm Selection. Please log in as a valid Firm User if you wish to express interest in this selection.

Selection Information

Assignment Title

ELP Systems Research - Jamaica Parent Place Impact Evaluation Consultancy

Publication Date

15-Feb-2021

Expression of Interest Deadline

01-Mar-2021 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time - Washington D.C.)

Language of Notice

English

Selection Notice

Assignment Country

· JM - Jamaica

Funding Sources

The World Bank Group intends to finance the assignment/services under:

· BB - BANK BUDGET

· TF0A3344 - ELP Systems Research

Individual/Firm

The consultant will be a firm.

Assignment Description

SELECTION FOR CONSULTANTS BY THE WORLD BANK GROUP

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Electronic Submissions through World Bank Group eConsultant2
https://wbgeconsult2.worldbank.org/wbgec/index.html

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

Selection #: 1272989 / ELP Systems Research - Jamaica Parent Place Impact Evaluation

Assignment Countries:
- Jamaica

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

1. Background and context

Stress and financial uncertainty can have an important effect on parental investments and the quality of parent-child interactions at home. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have enacted preventive quarantine measures to flatten the transmission curve. The pandemic has generated an increase in stress and financial uncertainty for people. Quarantine measures make household members to stay together for longer periods of time at home, which puts pressure on the demand of work related to domestic chores and exacerbate the likelihood of children exhibiting behaviors that trigger violent reactions in adults at home. In this sense, providing caregivers access to psychological support and guidance to cope with the burden of rearing can not only reduce their levels of stress but can mitigate the risks of violence against children.

In July 2020, a rapid response survey data in Jamaica was completed. Results from this survey indicate that one of the most important demands from caregivers in the sample is a greater availability of services for socioemotional support/stress reduction. Additionally, the data show that 90% of caregivers have access to internet by phone and 44% internet by tablet. Moreover, while the majority of parents/caregivers reported increasing positive interactions with their children, they also reported increasing negative interactions.

Considering the economic and social costs of caregivers and childrens stress and the results from the rapid response survey in Jamaica, this research project aims to measure the impact of an intervention that provides caregivers access to support and guidance to cope with stress and positive parental skills. By conducting a randomized control trial with approximately 4, 200 caregivers in Jamaica, we will measure causal impacts of this intervention on parenting skills, child maltreatment or abuse, and caregivers mental health.

Experimental Design
(Please note that the experimental design is NOT to be shared or communicated by the survey firm to the study participants).

The project will make use of an individualized randomized control trial to analyze the effect of a stress coping intervention on our outcomes of interest: parenting practices, violence against children, and caregivers` mental health. Since we also want to study how the implementation structure can change the impact of the intervention, we propose the following design, where the intervention will be targeted by gender of the caregiver (treatments T2 and T3):

T1: 1/4 of caregivers will be randomly assigned to an information-only intervention where they will receive three messages per week with stress coping and mental health techniques (text and video).
T2: 1/4 of female caregivers will be randomly assigned to the virtual parent places, in addition to receiving the information intervention.
T3: 1/4 of male caregivers will be randomly assigned to the virtual parent places, in addition to receiving the information intervention.
C: 1/4 of caregivers will be randomly assigned to a pure comparison group that will receive no intervention at all.

2. Objectives of this assignment

The objective of this data collection process is to obtain information to measure the short-term impacts of the (virtual) parenting program on parenting practices, violence against children, and caregivers` mental health.

3. Scope of work and Activities

1) Pilot data collection instruments in the field to check for length, participant understanding, and a short-term test-retest.
2) Conduct a phone-based baseline survey for caregivers and implement all the related activities, as detailed in section 4.
3) Administer a phone-based follow up survey to caregivers and implement all activities required for this process, as listed in section 4.

Since phone-based surveys have low response rates and considering the evidence that small incentives can help to increase this rate, the survey firm should propose recommendations to increase this rate. The questionnaires in English and the list of caregivers to be tracked and surveyed will be prepared and delivered by the research team. The baseline survey will take place preferably during March-April 2021 and the follow up survey between July-August 2021.

4. Activities

The following activities will be included in the work plan for the surveys. Since the teachers survey will be online and the caregivers one will be over the phone, fieldwork activities refer to virtual events.

(a) Coordination with the principal investigators;
(b) Implementation of the training for interviewers and supervisors for the surveys;
(c) Prepare and revise the field manuals and supervision instruments;
(d) Work in the pilot of instruments and suggest revisions to the instruments as made necessary in the field test. Coordinate with principal investigators on how to incorporate necessary changes;
(e) Take responsibility for the production of materials for the pilot test and the actual survey, such as making sure that there is an adequate number of tablets for data entry;
(f) Obtain inform consent from study participants using the form that will be delivered by the research team;
(g) Plan the field work schedule for enumerators and supervisors;
(h) Perform the field work for the study with adequate supervision;
(i) Track caregivers included in the list and administer the caregiver questionnaire;
(j) Ensure that all the necessary equipment and materials are available to field team;
(k) Supervise all field activities to ensure the highest standard of data quality, flag any potential problems and recommend corrective measures to the technical coordinator;
(l) Be in constant contact with the principal investigators to report and flag any potential issues, and seek corrective measures;
(m) Provide, maintain and program the tablets needed for data entry for the surveys;
(n) Edit data into ready-to use STATA or Excel databases;
(o) Produce a data manual (listing of variables and coding) for the surveys;
(p) Provide a final short report which documents in detail all the steps of the field work, the problems encountered and how they were solved and recommendations for future work.

The following items will be provided to the consultant:
List including all caregivers assigned to each treatment and control groups. This list will contain the contact information (phone number).
Caregiver questionnaire
Consent form

5. Deliverables

The consultant will provide as final deliverables for the baseline and follow-up surveys:
*After the baseline data collection is completed, an intermediate report in electronic format documenting in detail all steps of fieldwork, highlighting problems encountered, their management, and recommend potential solutions for follow up survey.
*A final report in electronic format once the follow-up data collection is completed. It should document in detail all steps of fieldwork, highlighting problems encountered, their management, and recommend potential solutions for follow up survey.
*Raw baseline and follow up data either in Excel or STATA format.
*Codebook of the datasets from baseline and follow up datasets.

FUNDING SOURCE

The World Bank Group intends to finance the assignment through the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) contribution to the Early Learning Partnership.

INDIVIDUAL / FIRM PROFILE

The consultant will be a firm, which may be a university. Applicants may associate with other firms and/or individual researchers to enhance their qualifications. Applicants that are shortlisted to submit a full proposal will be able to view other shortlisted applicants through eConsultant2.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The World Bank Group now invites eligible firms to indicate their interest in the assignment. The expression of interest document should be a maximum of 5 pages with double-spaced, 11-point Arial font. It should include a capacity statement of the prime organization and partners, if applicable. Brief illustrative biographies of 2-3 lead staff may be included. Please note that the total size of all attachments should be less than 5MB.

Firms that do not already have an eConsultant2 account must create one in order to submit an expression of interest. The firm must maintain one account for any single legal entity that will participate in selections. Do not create multiple accounts for the same legal entity; instead, add additional contacts as necessary.

NOTES

Following this invitation for Expression of Interest, a shortlist of qualified firms wil

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