Terms of Reference- UX Designer

Terms of Reference

UX Designer

December 2022

Kenya

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, her health, her learning, and her 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

With the support of MSD for Mothers, Girl Effect will design, launch, and implement an 18-month project to develop a new digital product or products that will help connect young women in Kenya to sexual and reproductive health services and products (oral contraception, IUDs, implants, consultations with gynaecologist and more). Digital technologies have opened up new ways for women to access these products and services online. However, too many barriers still prevent young women from taking advantage of these options.

Girl Effect aims to bring together young women, service providers, and other key stakeholders to co-create and test prototypes for a new digital product that will work with existing platforms to expand access to healthcare across Kenya.

The Scope

Girl Effect has embarked on an 18-month co-creation project to create a minimum viable product (MVP) that is genuinely responsive to adolescent girls’ SRH needs. This co-design process will draw on girls’ lived experience, particularly that of accessing SRH services and products, and their creativity and determination. The process will also equip the girls with the skills and tools needed to take a seat at the table with donors, providers, and tech experts to build the tools and services they want.

The UX designer would need to design and facilitate 2 design sprint workshops with the Girl Effect team in Kenya. The two 5-day design sprint workshops outcomes are:

• A shared understanding of the user’s needs, challenges & motivations
• A (clearer) mutual agreement of the problem at hand (evidenced by a concise and clear focal problem statement for the project)
• Solution ideas/concepts generated and analysed/prioritised according to a logical & relevant set of criteria
• Prototype recommendations (including plans and/or considerations for testing) from prioritized ideas/concepts

Deliverables:

• Proposal of Design Sprint Approach (including the types of participants to be involved)
• Working in collaboration with the Girl Effect Team, plan and facilitate 2 Design Sprints workshops spanning no longer than 5 days to present research findings, define the problem, brainstorm prototype concepts, prioritize ideas and approaches
• Presentation of final workshop results and prototype recommendations
• High-level implementation or testing plan for recommended or prioritized prototypes

Estimated Deliverable Timeline

Preparation-Week 1

Design Sprint Approach Presentation-Week 2

Five day sprint-Week 3

Post Sprint planning-Week 4

Final Report/Presentation-Week 5

Expected Commitment

This will be a 10-week part-time consultancy contract beginning February 2023, subject to renewal based on future needs. The consultant is expected to commit 10-12 hours a week and two full-time 5-day weeks, which can vary depending on our budget and your fee requirement.

Location

The consultant will be based in Kenya and must be conducive to working with teams in Tanzania, Ethiopia, the UK, the USA, and India.

Intended Timeframe

• Terms of reference published: 5 December 2022
• Deadline for responses: 6 January 2023
• Supplier selection, contracting, and briefing: February 2023
• Project commencement: TBC February 2023

Reporting

This position will be managed by Girl Effect’s Director of Experience Design, who will work with the successful consultant to ensure its timely and thorough execution.

Who You Are

Skills and expertise:

• Must have excellent verbal and written skills in English and Kiswahili
• At least 5 years of work experience executing and/or leading user experience deliverables (with a portfolio showing outputs, techniques, processes, tools and breadth of knowledge)
• A Bachelors/Masters level degree in Design, Design Thinking, Human-Centred Design, Human-Computer Interaction or other relevant and equivalent qualification
• Experience working with distributed teams (and technological tools that allow for such work)
• Excellent facilitation, presentation, communication & interpersonal skills
• Expertise in running workshops with participants who are in-person, remote or a mix of both (including the requisite facilitation techniques and tools)
• Strong awareness of service, product & interaction design
• Willingness to adapt, be flexible, and improvise as the situation requires it
• Ability to keep the group’s energy levels high and their focus on the tasks at hand

Proposal Submission

Interested consultants are asked to submit the following to support their candidature (Max 5-10 pages):

• Your understanding of the brief and why you feel you are well-placed to advise us on this
• Credentials – 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.
• Breakdown of Costs with applicable taxes and other charges identified. Consultants should provide their daily or hourly billing rate or proposed fixed fee for the requested deliverables.
• **Reference-**Provide at least three references for similar contracts with a description of the service provided, the value of the agreement, and the contract periods of performance.

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

Evaluation Criteria

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

Technical Evaluation

• Interpretation and understanding of this TOR-10%
• Relevant experience as demonstrated by CV/Profile – 20%
• Technical UX deliverable execution experience – 10%
• Demonstrated technical knowledge in the field of Human-Centred Design and/or Design Thinking (including HCD tools & techniques)- 20%
• Evidence of a minimum of three contactable references – 10%

Financial Evaluation

• Value for money/proposed budget breakdown – 30%

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.

Please note that Girl Effect 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 Girl Effect.

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

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 local jurisdiction tax legislation when developing their proposals.

Disclaimer

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