TERMS OF REFERENCE: TECHNICAL DATA SPECIALIST / DATA ENGINEER CONSULTANT (INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)

TERMS OF REFERENCE: TECHNICAL DATA SPECIALIST / DATA ENGINEER CONSULTANT (INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)

January 2023

Global

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’re using 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.

Background

For over a decade, we have been building technology that aims to create a safer and more accessible world for women and girls, using the insights and experiences girls share with us. Innovation for us is not necessarily about using the latest tech; it’s about using the right tech in the best way to reach girls and meet their challenges.

For example, most recently, and in recognition of the number of girls now using messaging apps, we developed two chatbots: Big Sis and Bol Behen, live on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Big Sis is our AI-powered chatbot providing girls in South Africa with safe, private, and non-judgemental information on topics they do not feel comfortable discussing elsewhere, like sex and STIs. And Bol Behen (meaning “Speak! Sister”) answers girls’ questions on sensitive topics like relationships and reproductive health who are living in India’s Hindi belt.

As technology evolves and girls’ habits change, we continuously strive to adapt and improve the platforms, processes, and infrastructure that underpin everything we do.

Context of Assignment

We have recently moved into a new, exciting period of our tech development – growing our internal tech team, establishing relationships with new tech vendors, and migrating our tech to new homes.

Our data infrastructure plays an essential role in this new tech ecosystem, providing us with evidence, directions for our decision-making, and insight into our impact. Our current infrastructure does not accurately or cohesively pull in all the types of data collected by our organisation, or transform it into useable insights and, as such, needs to be rebuilt.

To support Girl Effect’s work in tracking impact, Girl Effect is embarking on a large-scale data infrastructure transformation with the help of external consultants. As part of this effort, we are looking for a technical data specialist/data engineer consultant to support this transition internally for 5 months on a part-time basis.

The consultant will work closely with Girl Effect’s Tech Team, Impact Team, and external vendors. Their work will involve:

• Evaluating the current data infrastructure
• Determining and documenting the limitations and gaps in our infrastructure,
• Using these insights to inform the design of a new data infrastructure,
• Debugging current Python scripts that are importing data incorrectly,
• Supporting the implementation of a new data infrastructure,
• Supporting the development of ingestion processes,
• Supporting the development of data dashboards after the transformation.

Expected Commitment

• The assignment will take approximately five months to complete*.* This might be subject to renewal based on future needs.
• The consultant will be expected to spend 3 days a week working on this or up to 24 hours each week on the project.
• The consultant’s assignment period is from March 2023 to July 2023.

Location

The consultant will be remote and must be conducive to working with teams in the UK, USA, Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa & India.

Reporting

The consultant will report to Girl Effect’s Director of Technology and will work closely with Girl Effect’s Impact’s Data Analyst.

Tentative Timelines:

● Terms of reference published: 27th January 2023

● Deadline for responses: 17th February 2023

● Project commencement: March 2023

Who You Are

Skills and expertise:

• B.Tech/B.E./M.Tech Degree
• Understanding of and practical knowledge and experience in data warehousing, databases, and ETL pipelines
• Proficient in Python
• Proficient in SQL
• Experience in Tableau or PowerBI development or equally relevant experience with similar dashboard tooling
• 2 or more years of experience in AWS (lambda, redshift, ECR, API Gateway)
• Working knowledge of Github, Docker, and APIs
• Understanding of how a chatbot works

Proposal Submission

Your proposal should be 5 pages max and cover the following:

• Your understanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
• Credentials/Profile/CV – Please showcase any previous work that you consider relevant to what we are trying to achieve, how we approach our work, and the audience we cater to. Describe the qualifications, experience, and capabilities of the firm or consultant in providing the requested services.
• **Reference-**Provide at least three references for similar contracts with a description of the service provided, the value of the contract, and the contract periods of performance.
• Breakdown of Costs with applicable taxes and other charges clearly identified in USD. Consultants should provide their daily or hourly billing rate or their proposed fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
  • All applicable taxes should be quoted separately;

In the 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.

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-10%
• Experience and Qualification- 20 %
• Showcases relevant experience in having done previous similar work with relevant agencies or organizations – 10 %
• Demonstrated technical knowledge in the field of Software Development/Data Engineering- 20%
• Evidence of a minimum of three contactable references – 10%

Financial Evaluation

• Value for money/proposed budget breakdown – 30%

How to Apply

To apply for this opportunity, please submit a proposal by email with the subject line Technical Data Specialist / Data Engineer to [email protected] by Feb 17, 2023

Equal Opportunities

Girl Effect 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 truly representative of the communities that we serve. To this end, due regard will be paid to procuring consultancy services of organizations and individuals with a deep understanding and experience of our programming markets and diverse professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.

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.

Tax

Applicants are advised to ensure that they clearly understand their tax position with regard to provisions of their domicile jurisdiction tax legislation when developing their proposals.

Disclaimer

GE reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, 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.