National or International Consultancy: Operational Research on Behavioral Changes Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : DR Congo

Summary : National or International Consultancy: Operational Research on Behavioral Changes

Deadline : 27 Jul 2019

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 34577558

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN`S FUND
372, avenue Colonel Mondjiba Concession Immotex (Ex-Utexafrica) Kinshasa-Ngaliema Tel: 815557680 / 996050399 Fax: 871.761.481.320 / 243.880.3006
DR Congo
Email :kinshasa@unicef.org
URL :http://www.unicef.org/

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for National or International Consultancy: Operational Research on Behavioral Changes - Barrier Analysis, P-3 / NO-3, SSA.

1. BACKGROUND

The Villages and Clean Schools Program (VEA) is the national program of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to provide and / or expand access to water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in areas rural and peri-urban areas. The program includes a range of village and school-based WASH activities, policy development, and capacity building for local communities, implementing partners, and the private sector (manual drilling and installation and maintenance). hand pumps). The Ministry of Health is coordinating the "Sanitized Villages" (VA) component of the program, which also includes the Sanitation Health Centers (CSA) component, and the Ministry of Education is coordinating the "Sanitized Schools" (EA) program.
The program also includes behavioral change activities in hygiene and capacity development. It is based on a key concept that encourages communities to become "sanitized villages / schools" by meeting minimum standards for water, sanitation and hygiene, developed and approved by the DRC government that a village or school must reach before to be able to be declared "cleansed". By using a community-led approach, community members are motivated to achieve a healthier environment in their village.

The program consists of two phases, the first from 2008 to 2012 and the second from 2013 to 2019. Phase 1 was aimed at ensuring 3, 500, 000 people and 240, 000 schoolchildren access to improved WASH services and the 2 aims to support and increase the results of Phase 1 according to the following objectives:
• Support 3, 380, 091 Congolese in 4, 870 villages and 475, 000 students in 1, 250 newly targeted schools to achieve sustainable access and use of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and better hygiene practices;
• Ensure that 7, 500 villages and 2, 250 schools act collectively to protect and maintain a clean environment;
• Provide support and technical assistance to WASH governance structures - at the national, provincial and local levels - to enable effective management and upgrading of sustainable WASH outcomes.

2. JUSTIFICATION

PNEVA has developed a set of 7 standards that lead to village certification. The "step by step" process is the program cycle to achieve certification. With the participation of the communities and the support of the National Program, the villages that follow the 8 steps of the process and that meet the 7 standards obtain the status of Village Assaini.
The 7 standards are:
1. The village has a dynamic committee.
2. At least 80% of the population has access to drinking water.
3. At least 80% of households use hygienic latrines.
4. At least 80% of households dispose of garbage properly.
5. At least 60% of the population wash their hands with soap or ashes before eating and after using the toilet.
6. At least 70% of the population understands the pattern of disease transmission and the means of prevention.
7. At least once a month the village is cleaned.

A sustainability study (Hydro council, 2013) showed that only 2% of villages maintain their sanitation status over time (loss of at least 1 of the 7 standards).
With the launch of Phase 2 in 2014, a post-certification monitoring (PC) mechanism was introduced in the program to ensure post-intervention sustainability of water, sanitation and hygiene services. PC activities are community led so that they themselves find the solutions to catch up with the status and carried by the government. Post-certification follows the village on a 12-month cycle for at least 3 years.

The analyzes of the monitoring and evaluation unit of the WASH section of UNICEF made it possible to make the following observations:
- The results of maintaining the "sanitized" status at Post Certification in the villages stagnate at around 65% after PC4, 35% of villages not regaining status despite recurrence of PC visits (see Figure 1);
- Both standards for hygiene knowledge (Standard 6) and practices - handwashing (Standard 5) - are the most commonly maintained norms at the community level, while a reasonable proportion of villages maintain access to drinking water (Standard 2). The standards for sanitation - access to sanitation (Standard 3) and waste management (Standard 4) - are the standards lost by the highest proportion of villages. The dynamic standard of the committee is also one of the most lost standards.
- The lack of sustainability of practices related to sanitation and solid waste and in terms of community mobilization shows some important challenges in terms of behavior change at the household level. These trends are the same since the beginning of the post-certification process.
- One of the main challenges is social sustainability and the program should strengthen the support provided to communities for sustainable behavior change by acting at the household, individual and community levels.


PC1 PC2 PC3 PC4 PC5
N Village 8064 4485 1834 585 207
N Schools 2132 1532 873 220 128

Figure 1: Maintenance rate of sanitized status according to PC visit


Figure 2: Percentage of schools maintaining each standard (N = 4, 150)

The results of the intervention are therefore mixed, largely due to the behaviors, perceptions and motivations of the population.

It is within this framework that this operational research is located which should allow us to better understand and adapt the program by apprehending the knowledge and the perceptions of the populations vis-à-vis the community approach related in particular to sanitation practices. and through the management committee. It will also be a question of knowing:
- If socio-cultural obstacles could explain why the norms 1, 3 and 4 are those which are the least maintained. And if so, identify them and propose guidelines / recommendations.
- If leadership and community dynamics are important factors in the success of the program. Based on the findings, propose recommendations
- If messages sent to communities during follow-up activities are well suited to engage more people. Based on the findings, propose recommendations

Barrier analysis identifies the determinants associated with a particular behavior in order to develop more effective behavior change strategies. To perform a barrier analysis we develop a questionnaire and do interviews with people who do the behavior (the Doers) and the people who do not do the behavior (Non-practitioners).

3. OBJECTIVE OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH

Main objective

The objective of operational research is to capture knowledge and understand people`s perceptions of the program`s approach and to identify the determinants that favor and impede the maintenance of dynamic committee standards. use of latrines and solid waste management. It will also define the appropriate messages in order to obtain a change in actual and sustainable behavior.

Specific objectives

The purpose of this research is to gain a thorough understanding of PNEVA 1, 3 and 4 behaviors, to identify barriers, and the recipients` responses to the issues of individual sanitation, waste management, and environmental health. water, their acceptance, their importance and their use by households supported by the PNEVA in the 6 cultural groups of the DRC to better understand the maintenance or loss of these three standards under the program.
It will be a question of seeing the peculiarities of the approach in the 4 specific contexts and of identifying key lessons to initiate the community dialogue, to determine the impact of the social norms and the differences / similarities between the different population groups. The cultural areas are language-based and are as follows:
- Swahili (North Kivu, South Kivu, Tshopo),
- Kikongo (Kwango, Kwilu, Central Kongo),
- Tshiluba (Central Kasai, Eastern Kasai, Sankuru)
- Lingala ( Kinshasa, Ecuador and South Ubangi))

Appropriate messages to address the loss of standards will be developed in collaboration with the Communication for Development (C4D) section of UNICEF DRC and monitoring of their implementation will be conducted to determine their relevance and effectiveness in the field.

This operational research will make it possible to better tailor the intervention, guide or correct the approaches and methods currently used to specifically address the needs of beneficiaries.
4. FRAMEWORK OF RESEARCH

This operational research is part of the research on the behavior of latrine use, committee functioning and waste management and in particular with regard to their acceptance. Villages that have been supported since the beginning of the program in the 4 defined cultural groups will be the subject of the research.
As the methodology provides, 50 "doers" and 50 "non-doers" will be interviewed about their practices.

The results of the research will make it possible to better adapt the program and the approaches according to the findings and recommendations for a large scale application on the country.

5. SCOPE OF WORK / ESSENTIAL TASKS.

- Develop the survey and train the members of the research team;
- Compile the data obtained in the field and analyze them;
- Propose recommendations for adapting the messages and / or the community approach of the program in the contexts studied;
- Test, pilot and monitor the implementation of recommendations proposed at the field level and refine the recommendations if necessary;
- Propose conclusions for a better implementation of the approach, for its scaling at the best cost for maximum efficiency.

6. DURATION OF THE CONSULTATION

The duration of this consultation is 6 months including all stages: desk review, data collection phase, report production, reporting of results and finalization of reports based on the integrated comments.

The deadlines below are for i

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