Learning Labs: Implementation Partner

Top Line Objective

Girl Effect is looking for a Local Implementing Partner to help us establish and manage two community-based ‘learning labs’ (placeholder name) in Mumbai and Delhi each, that will allow us to gather regular, informal insights from our target audiences (girls 9-24 years) and parents of girls (9-14 years) on our content, products and programmes.

Who We Are

Girl Effect is an international non-profit that builds media that girls want, trust and need.From chatbots to chat shows and TV dramas to tech, our content helps adolescent girls in Africa and Asia make choices and changes in their lives. We create safe spaces for girls, sharing facts and answering questions about health, nutrition, education, and relationships, empowering girls with the skills to negotiate and redefine what they are told is possible “for a girl”.

Our reach is 50 million and counting, and we use technology to reach girls at scale so every girl can choose to be in control of her body, health, learning and livelihood.

Because when a girl unlocks her power to make different choices that change her life, it inspires others to do so too. She starts a ripple effect that impacts her family, community, and country.

That’s the Girl Effect.

Our Approach

Girl Effect uses a branded media approach towards delivering behavioral change programmes.

We reach girls across the world, where they are -online and offline, to support them at the critical moments in life when choices around their health, education and economic future need to be made.

We use our expertise in behavior change science to motivate and equip girls with information and support to help them see a different future for themselves, act on those choices, and drive greater demand for the opportunities and services available to them.

Chhaa Jaa in India, Tujibebe in Tanzania, Yegna in Ethiopia – are some of our youth brands. They exist across multiple channels – digital ( Meta, Google and other SM platforms), TV, radio, print and on-ground.

Girl Effect in India

In 2019, Girl Effect launched Chhaa Jaa, a programme that helps girls in India build the confidence to make choices and changes in their lives – from accessing information about her body and services around her to negotiating about education choices or whether to use contraception. Chhaa Jaa was designed keeping in mind adolescent girls between 17-19 years, currently in higher education, and accessible online via mobile – whether girls own or borrow a mobile phone.

Over the last five years, we have invested in setting up key online assets and infrastructure that can be leveraged to deliver programmes under a range of thematic areas for older adolescent girls. We have built a multi-product digital ecosystem of products – across ‘broadcast’ and ‘interactive’ features – that are social media-based and available to girls whenever they need it.

This includes:

• Inspiring and enabling social and behavior change content on Chhaa Jaa’s Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.
• Bol Behen chatbot on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp that allows girls to explore taboo topics in a safe 1:1 space and nudges them to connect her with health services.
• Chhaa Jaa website which aggregates youth-friendly services and is updated regularly with blog content.
• Bak Bak Gang, a girls-only Facebook group to experience social support and a sense of community.

Project Context

India has 254 Million adolescents (120 mn adolescent girls) who require nutrition, education and guidance to develop into healthy adults. Ensuring adolescents are healthy, safe, educated, and empowered fuels multi-generational impact and can propel poverty alleviation and growth for the nation. This, in turn, will directly impact SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8, and 17. Investments in adolescent health will help India realize its demographic dividends, as healthy adolescents are an important resource for the economy. Although adolescents have the potential to transform India, they lack the basic resources and agency to do so. They are restricted by poor access to facilities such as sanitation, education and healthcare, as well as deep-rooted socio-cultural norms. They are susceptible to several preventable and treatable health problems -early & unintended pregnancy, unsafe sex leading to STI/HIV/AIDS, nutritional disorders (malnutrition, anaemia & overweight), substance abuse, mental health concerns, injuries & violence. Multiple indicators repeatedly show that adolescents (particularly girls) in India remain vulnerable and marginalized.

An integrated health approach for adolescent girls and young women is essential to address their comprehensive well-being. This approach encompasses sexual and reproductive health, ensuring access to education and services that empower them to make informed decisions. Proper nutrition is critical to support their growth and development, while effective menstrual hygiene management is vital for maintaining dignity and preventing infections. Preventive healthcare measures, such as HPV vaccination, are crucial to protect against cervical cancer and other related diseases. Addressing anaemia and other health factors is necessary to reduce the risk of long-term health complications, promoting a healthier transition into adulthood. This holistic strategy is key to fostering overall health, education, and future opportunities for young women.

Integrated Health Programme- MHM X Nutrition x HPV vaccine

Girl Effect is embarking on an integrated adolescent health programme to build awareness amongst girls aged 9-14 years old towards menstrual health and hygiene management, nutrition and HPV Vaccine for cervical cancer prevention. The program will be delivered both online and onground and will target both girls and their parents to generate awareness, social support and positive attitudes towards above health issues.

Audiences

Audience

Girls between 9-14 years (SEC C&D)

Audience

Caregivers/parents (both mothers & fathers) of girls between 9-14 years (SEC C&D)

Channels/ Products

On-ground (potentially a school intervention)

Digital: Awareness campaign Ads + social media content and a chatbot for parents

On ground Intervention: Potentially parent forums for education on Integrated Adolescent health

Geographies

Selected hotspot districts in select States

Digital: All States with large Hindi and English-speaking populations

Onground intervention: will be selected hotspot districts in select States

Bol Behen 2.0

Girl Effect is continuing its flagship initiative targeting young women 18-24 years with a new campaign to expand and scale its chatbot Bol Behen and refresh its website (www.chhaajaa.com), to reach even more girls by building a new language feature, and mental wellbeing AI content features (in partnership with Wysa) with critical knowledge to address their sexual and reproductive, and mental wellbeing needs.

Audiences

Primary Audience

AGYW 18-24 years

(Boys 18-24 years are a potential secondary audience if Bol Behen is expanded to boys as a part of upcoming grants)

Channels/ Products

Bobe Hindi, Devanagari, English

Bobe SRH + mental wellbeing

Website refresh ( Chhaa Jaa)

Geographies

All States with large-Hindi and English speaking populations

Scope of Work

Objective: Girl Effect is looking to find a Local Partner with a presence in India, with close community connections and experience working with and supporting adolescent girls and young women (9-24 years), to help us establish and manage two ‘learning labs’ (placeholder name) in Mumbai and Delhi that will allow us to gather regular,informal insights from our target primary and secondary audiences for the aforementioned programmes. The local partner is expected to establish spaces that can act as vibrant programme hotspots for co-creation and building interventions in close collaboration with communities.

Local Partner: The Local Partner will work closely with the Girl Effect Programme team based in Mumbai and Delhi.TheLocal Partner will lead the actual implementation of learning labs at the grassroots level.

Scope of Work for a Local Partner

The role of the Local Partner for Learning Labs is crucial; a trusted, committed, and flexible partner who is passionate about empowering girls will be the ideal partner for the intended project. Accordingly, the selected Local Partner will be on the ground throughout the set-up and research process and will be accountable for the major areas including:

1. Learning Lab Design and Set Up

• Identify two communities each in Mumbai and Delhi with the potential for diverse representation (Hindi and regional language speakers) of digitally active parents and youth 9-24 years from SEC C &D
• Establish community offices in the community: Establish physical spaces for the learning labs within the community and develop these as spaces for learning for both Girl Effect and the communities within which they are established
• Hire Coordinators: Identify 1 or 2 youth coordinators as required to run and manage the learning labs, ideally from within the same communities and with prior experience of working with communities.
• Community engagement: Conduct community engagement and establish close working relationships with key community leaders, stakeholders and other non-profits so they understand the purpose of the learning labs and support in developing these in a way that is mutually beneficial for Girl Effect and the wider community. Organise regular events within the community to develop and test programme components and gather feedback from communities on improving Girl Effect’s approach to digital and physical programming. Incorporate opportunities to screen Girl Effect’s content and utilize chatbots and other digital products. Establish systems to provide regular monthly feedback and reporting to Girl Effect. Work closely with Girl Effect to identify linkages of the onground and online programmes.

1. Co-creation, testing and research management

While feedback is being shared regularly, on an ad-hoc basis, identify target audiences directly or via recruiting agencies based on Girl Effect’s research team’s inputs/ screeners for co-creation and testing of in-development content and products. The learning labs must be accessible physically and digitally for programme design, testing and co-creation. The local partner is responsible for complete support in setting up the venue and preparing participants as per Girl Effect’s research and testing needs including logistics, food and transport as required.

1. Showcases

Ensure learning labs can host showcase meetings and events for donors, potential partners and media to create awareness and tangibly demonstrate Girl Effect’s programme methodology and impact. This may be discussions with target audiences with whom research, and testing exercises have been conducted or those who have been part of training and community events on an ongoing basis. These requests may be ad-hoc and the local partner should be able to respond and support such requests from time to time.

1. Participant Safeguarding, Communication and Administrative matters

The local partner is responsible for supporting and managing all administrative and safeguarding matters within the community and with participants of Girl Effect’s co-creation, testing and research projects.

Deliverables

1. Set up 2 physical learning labs each in Mumbai and Delhi which are accessible to Girl Effect’s target audiences.
2. Conduct regular community engagement to inform and engage the community to develop the learning labs as vibrant spaces of co-creation and collaboration within the community (including with potential partners) and provide reports and feedback to Girl Effect on an ongoing basis.
3. Design and deliver training as a part of the programme developed, with target audiences and communities, screen Girl Effect content and introduce Girl Effect technology products.
4. Conduct evaluations and compile regular reports for Girl Effect on a monthly basis.
5. Arrange logistics, e.g. transportation, SIM cards, internet and credit for participants of research exercises and ensure all participants are paid on time.
6. Conduct training to use apps/Google Meet/Zoom for digital focus group discussions with Girl Effect team whenever there is an online testing and co-creation planned. Ensure participants have digital connectivity via their own phones or through a device/ devices at the learning lab office.
7. Organise at least 10 regular and ad-hoc co-creation and testing exercises
8. Organise at least 2 showcases ad-hoc for potential donors, partners and media

Who You Are

Applicant organizations are expected to fulfil the following competencies – the first 3 competencies being vital:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of Child Protection, Safeguarding and ethical issues in research.
2. Have existing community relationships in the regions outlined above, and the ability to engage with the community or leverage other networks.
3. Experience in working with and supporting young people, and particularly adolescent girls and their parents and specific knowledge of gender dynamics at individual, household, and community levels – and – how these dynamics are contextualized in their class, caste, and religious identities.
4. Experience in conducting research and expertise working with young people/adolescent girls, preferably in the target districts.
5. Experience in, and a good understanding of, recruiting respondents for research either directly or via recruiting agencies; we aim for recruitment to be inclusive of all identities, including but not limited to religion, caste, and disability.
6. Experience in fieldwork supervision.
7. Ability to report and respond to comments and questions in a timely, appropriate manner.
8. Good technology infrastructure (use of email, fast internet connection/wi-fi that ideally allows video conference for meetings and training and laptops that can be updated to the latest version of Chrome).
9. Good digital skills (be familiar with web browsers and have some experience with using Android apps).

Safeguarding, Child Protection and Ethical Consideration

Attention should be taken by the Local Partner to maintain the confidentiality of the information provided by the participants during interviews. Therefore, before starting the interview, informed voluntary consent should be taken from participants, documented properly, and sent to the GE evidence team. All ethical research considerations and GE’s child safeguarding procedures shall be followed accordingly. The Local Partner and staff will also sign the GE safeguarding code of conduct.

Safety is at the heart of all Girl Effect interventions whether digital or on the ground. The project will take maximum care to safeguard the safety of target audiences particularly adolescent girls and young women. Different consent forms will be prepared for adults and minors. Parents/guardians of recruited girls/minors will be asked for their permission before every first interview. In addition to parental permission, minors will also fill out an assent form that describes they are willing to participate in the research and testing.

Tentative Project Timeline

1. Onboarding of Local Partner and familiarizing with Girl Effect programme (if required) – August 2024
2. Set up and ongoing management of a learning lab in Delhi and Mumbai- November 2024
3. Design and implement on-ground light-touch programme- November 2024
4. Co-creation and testing and showcase events- December 2024- July 2025 onwards

Procurement Timelines

• Terms of reference published: 19 July 2024
• Questions/Clarification Deadline: 30 July 2024
• Deadline for proposal submission: 10 August 2024

Location

The agency must be based in India and must be conducive to working with teams in the UK, Sub-Saharan Africa & India. The Assignment is to be carried out in Mumbai and Delhi.

Management

The agency will have a primary point of contact with our India Programme Team. The contract supervisor shall approve all deliverables submitted by the agency before any payment is made.

Proposal submissions

Your proposal (max 10 pages), should you be interested, should cover the following:

• Your understanding of the brief and why you are well placed to deliver on the requirements.
• Credentials/Profile – Please showcase any previous work that you consider to be relevant to what we are trying to achieve and how we approach our work, and the audience that we cater to
• Proposed Approach, work plan, and timeline describing how you will implement the design and development process for this project.
• Information on Additional Services – please provide any information on additional services that you believe would be pertinent and align with GE’s mission, vision, and values.

Financial Proposal

• A breakdown of the financial proposal in INR indicating the daily or hourly billing rate, time input, and all applicable reimbursable expenses. Alternatively, you can provide a fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
• All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;

In their technical proposal, the bidder must demonstrate an understanding of the requirements described in the RFP and demonstrate how the bidder will meet the requirements of the evaluation criteria.

Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents. Financial bids will not be opened until the technical evaluation and then only for those proposals deemed qualified and responsive.

GE is not liable for any cost incurred during the award/contract preparation, submission, or negotiation of the award/contract. All submitted documentation and/or materials shall become and remain the property of GE.

VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for 90 days from the date of bid closure.

Evaluation Criteria

The criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are listed below.

Technical Evaluation

• Interpretation and understanding of this TOR – [20%]
• Company Profile and Organizational Capacity [10%]
• Experience in carrying out similar assignments [10%]
• Geographical Presence in India [5%]
• Proposed methodology and approach criteria [20%]
• Evidence of a minimum of three contactable references – [5%]

Financial Evaluation

• Value for money/proposed budget breakdown – 30%

Tax

Girl Effect is obliged by the relevant tax authorities to ensure all taxes are charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position regarding provisions to local tax legislation when developing their proposals.

Copyright

All materials/documents arising from this consultancy work shall remain the property of Girl Effect.

Disclaimer

GE reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice, and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party. GE shall inform the ONLY successful applicant(s). The process of negotiation and signing of the contract with the successful applicant(s) will follow.

Please note: We will evaluate only proposals submitted following the application process outlined in the TOR and using our specified email address (suppliers@girleffect.org).

Safeguarding

You may be required to undertake safeguarding checks. Shortlisted consultants will be assessed on our organizational values at the interview stage. The successful consultant will be expected to adhere to our safeguarding policy. We encourage you to read and understand our safeguarding policy, the executive summary of which can be found here. We have zero tolerance for all forms of violence against children, beneficiaries and staff.

Equal Opportunities

Girl Effect Services is committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.

We are committed to building an organization that is increasingly representative of and works extensively with the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy service organizations and individuals with diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.

How to apply

Questions/Clarifications

If you have any questions about this RFP, please email suppliers@girleffect.org by 30th July 2024. All questions will be answered and shared through an FAQ.

To apply for this opportunity, please submit a proposal by email with the subject line “Learning Labs Implementing Partner- India” to suppliers@girleffect.org by 10 August 2024.