Social and Behavior Change Consultant

Period of Engagement

We anticipate the consultancy will take approximately 40 days over the period of 9 months starting at the end of September/early October 2022.

Project Description/Background

This consultancy will support Save the Children in delivering Social and Behavior Change (SBC) technical assistance to the USAID Bangladesh Mission as part of Save the Children’s role in the Agency for All consortium. Agency for All is a five year, USAID funded SBC research project. The project’s overall goal is to improve and sustain health and agency for individuals and communities, advancing health and cross-sector development outcomes including family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH); maternal, newborn and child health; nutrition, infectious disease, and HIV/AIDS. Through locally led, equitable partnerships and innovative research, Agency for All generates new evidence on understanding agency, empowerment, and individuals’ ability to convert intentions into action within health and social and behavior change (SBC) programs. Agency for All’s response to this scope of work will be guided by the Agency for All project approach which infuses Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) approaches across results and integrates empowerment processes within knowledge generation and utilization to respond to local environments, priorities, and preferences such that local partners and populations serve as the agents of change driving their own health promotion and SBC research agendas.

Description of Services

Agency for All has been asked to support the USAID Bangladesh Mission in reviewing current and past SBC programs addressing early childbearing in Bangladesh. The consultant will be responsible for conducting a landscape review that will consist of a review and curation of recent evidence and program experience addressing early childbearing, with a particular focus on programs that engage very young adolescents (VYAs) and address social norms and other determinants of early childbearing in Bangladesh. The review will include scan of relevant published and grey literature and program documentation; key informant interviews; inputting into the planning of focus group discussions (FGDs) and stakeholder workshops to share finings and generate recommendations; and the preparation of a final report and set of recommendations. The international consultant will work in collaboration with a national consultant to accomplish related deliverables, as described below.

1. Development of a research protocol for the knowledge curation/landscape review

The consultant will develop a research protocol for the review and analysis of relevant sources for the landscaping. The protocol will include at minimum:

• Search and analytical approach and analytical questions to guide the review
• Terms to use in key word searches to identify literature
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the review
• A suggested list of initial sources
• Initial suggested profile of respondents and questions for key informant interviews (KIIs)
• KII guide

The draft protocol will have up to two rounds of review by Save the Children and will then require approval by USAID and the National Reference Group.

The consultant will also prepare content for IRB/ethical review board submission that will be submitted by Save the Children together with UCSD.

2. Conduct knowledge curation/landscape

The consultant will use approved research protocol to search for and identify relevant literature. The consultant will conduct analysis of the literature according to the approved research protocol and identify a set of preliminary findings and insights to inform the participant selection and questions for the KIIs. Following completion of the KIIs, the consultant will prepare a synthesis of findings that will be used to inform the final report for this set of activities.

3. Guide and input into Key Informant Interviews

Based on the preliminary findings of the document review and with input from Save the Children and USAID, the international consultant will, in conjunction with the national consultant and Save the Children Bangaldesh, develop a list of Key Informant Interview (KII) respondents. The international consultant will also develop a set of interview questions for review by the NRG. Once finalized with NRG inputs, the consultant will provide inputs and guidance to the national consultant to prepare them to conduct the KIIs. The consultant will observe and assist with (remotely via zoom etc) the first 5 KIIs conducted by the national consultant and then provide feedback and guidance to the national consultant who will complete the remaining KIIs independently. The national consultant will provide documentation of the KIIs to the international consultant.

4. Technical inputs into an organizational mapping study

The national consultant, with support of the SC Bangladesh Country Office, will conduct a mapping of organizations active in SBC programming related to delaying early childbearing and child marriage. The international consultant will provide technical input into the protocol for the mapping and ensure that preliminary findings from the landscape review inform the mapping. The international consultant will coordinate closely with the national consultant to also ensure that initial findings from the mapping can be used to identify additional areas of inquiry to be included in the finalization of the landscaping.

5. Co-develop content for FGDs and Stakeholder Workshops and co-facilitate workshops

The international consultant and the national consultant will work together with support of the SC Bangladesh Country Office to plan and deliver a set of focus groups and stakeholder workshops based on the findings from both the landscaping and the mapping. FGDs with adolescents and parents and other relevant community members will be used to validate and expand on the findings. A set of “solutions workshops” with stakeholders including government ministries, NGOs, academia and young people will allow for stakeholder input into generation of program recommendations based on the findings. The international consultant will input into the protocol and design of the FGDs, and then prepare content for and co-facilitate up to four stakeholder workshops to be held in Dhaka. The international consultant will be expected to travel to Dhaka for one week for these workshops.

6. Collate results of all review activities into a final report and recommendations

The international consultant will prepare a final report and accompanying slide deck, inclusive of recommendations, that will synthesize content from different activities under this larger review project including:

• Evidence curation and KIIs
• Mapping
• Documentation of outcomes from FGDs
• Feedback and input from the “Solutions workshops” with stakeholders

This final report and slide deck will have two rounds of review by Agency for All/Save the Children as well as one round of review by USAID and the NRG. The slide deck should include speaking notes and be of sufficient quality to use for presentations to high-level stakeholders by Save the Children and other Agency for All consortium members.

Deliverables and Timeline (estimated number of days – to be refined with consultant)

• Research protocol for the knowledge curation – Month 1-2 (4 days)
• Provide input for KII protocol and join international consultant in conducing first 5 KIIs – Month 4 (5 days)
• Conduct knowledge curation including analysis of sources and KIIS – Month 2-4 (10 days)
• Inputs into organizational mapping – Month 2-4 (2 days)
• Input into FGDs – (2 days)
• Preparation, travel and co-facilitation for solutions workshops – Month 5-7 (9 days)
• Collate results of all activities into a final report and recommendations – Month 7-9 (8 days)

Management of Consultancy

The consultant’s main point of contact will be Charlotte Lapsansky, Lead Advisor, Social and Behavior Change SBC will be supported by Angelica Abrazado, Senior Associate, who will be the point of contact on the contract and billing issues.

Consultant Qualifications

• Familiarity with international social and behavior change and/or adolescent sexual and reproductive health activities within the development and humanitarian landscapes, including relevant tools and experiences.
• Experience conducting qualitative data collection, research and/or landscape analyses around SBC and/or adolescents
• Experience conducting systematic reviews of evidence and experiences to produce synthesized and thoughtful reports.
• Familiarity with global (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, USAID and others) SBC and /or adolescent priorities and strategies.

· Strong familiarity with very young adolescent health and gender programming and evidence

· Familiarity with Bangladesh