Survey Firm to Support the International Food Policy Research Instituteโs Impact Evaluation of the Labor Intensive Works Project
Request for Proposal (RFP) and Terms of References (TOR) for Survey Companies
1. Summary
In this Call for Tenders, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) invites survey firms to submit their offers to support IFPRIโs impact evaluation study for Labor Intensive Works project funded by KfW and implemented by the Social Fund for Development (SFD).
The general objective would be to collaborate on all aspects of data collection including preparation for the survey, survey data collection, and data cleaning. The call for proposals required survey firms to submit a full proposal offer to fulfil the required tasks.
The services required by IFPRI are described in this Terms of Reference.
2. Project Background
The objectives of LIWP are to create temporary job opportunities to reduce the negative impacts of crises on food security and to use the job opportunities to invest in beneficial projects, through the construction of new infrastructure or improvements of existing infrastructure. The targeted outcomes are increased income and consumption smoothing, reduction in poverty, and infrastructure development. Due to the crisis situation and urgency of achieving high levels of coverage, LIWP focuses currently on short-term interventions of 4โ6 months. This means that the infrastructure development is limited to projects that can be achieved within this time frame, such as Protection and rehabilitation of Agricultural lands and terraces, construction and rehabilitation of irrigation canals, improvement, and protection of rural roads, etc.
Targeting of communities occurs at different geographical levels sequentially. Governorate and district-level targeting is based on a distress index and the history of prior SFD involvement at the district level is taken into account. At the village level, there is a combination of desk targeting and field targeting. Desk targeting of villages based on basic service deprivation according to the census, prioritization of villages with at least 300 people in a single village or cluster, and priority to villages hosting IDPS. Field verification is also used in particular to ensure poverty village conditions seen in the area and ensure compliance with a policy that there must be fewer than 30% of farms growing qat.
Beneficiaries self-select, depend on reducing wages from 10-20% lower than the prevailing local wages. Participation is based on their well-being and capabilities. Households who wish to work are registered and receive an allocation of 40-50 workdays, depending on the number of participating households relative to project needs.
Women and people with special needs are specifically encouraged to participate by designing appropriate work tasks and schedules to accommodate their needs. Households are grouped into specific work types, with up to three workers from the same household, all involved in the same activity. During infrastructure construction, some participants receive on-the-job training for skills such as building, plumbing, plastering, blacksmithing, etc.
3. Objectives
3.1 Objective of the study
The proposed panel survey seeks to answer the following questions, among others:
- What are the impacts of LIWP on household and community welfare?
- Does the new livelihoods approach increase sustainability of impacts?
3.2 Sample Size and Location
The planned panel sample size is 2800 households in 56 communities in selected governorates in all regions of Yemen (including areas under control of the de facto authorities in the North and areas under control of the internationally recognized government).
If the sample size changes substantially from the projected sample here, the budget may be amended with the agreement of the IFPRI and the survey firm.
3.3 Questionnaires
The selected survey firm will work with IFPRI to finalize the design of the questionnaire in English and Arabic[1].The survey length will approximately be 1.5 hours long, with enumerators completing 3-4 questionnaires per day.
The main outcomes of the survey are presented below.
Outcomes:
ยท Employment, wages, and labor income
ยท Reduced coping strategies index and food consumption score
ยท Time use
ยท Revenues and costs from livestock if any
ยท Debts, loans, and savings
ยท Perception of employability and skills gained
ยท Subjective perception of wellbeing
ยท Social cohesion
ยท Vignettes designed to measure intrahousehold and community decision-making norms
ยท Benefits from community assets.
4. Specific Tasks
The baseline and the end line data collection are expected to occur in Q1-2024 and Q2-2025, respectively. For the baseline data collection, the selected survey firm will be tasked with the following activities:
i. Approvals
The selected survey firm will be responsible for obtaining all necessary fieldwork approvals and permissions for conducting in-person surveys.
ii. Training Manuals & Other Documents
In addition to the questionnaires, the selected survey firm will be expected to deliver copies of all training materials used, including:
ยท Interviewer manual
ยท Supervisor manual
Other documents as developed to manage the samples may include interviewer assignment sheets and fieldwork achievement sheets.
Obtaining respondentsโ consent is also required. The selected survey firm should work to ensure that this achieved in a reliable and ethical manner.
iii. Data Entry System
The survey firm is expected to use a computerized system for data entry that will enable remote real-time monitoring by IFPRI.
iv. Pilot Test
After developing the questionnaires and receiving approvals, the selected survey firm would be expected to implement a pilot test, designed in consultation with IFPRI. The pilot will be conducted to provide a final check on the questionnairesโ design and data entry system, as well as length of the interview.
The selected survey firm will recruit teams, from amongst their best personnel, to participate in an associated pilot test data collection training, utilizing both print and tablet questionnaires. Recruits must have previously worked with the tenderer. The training should also be delivered to Supervisors, Interviewers, and Quality Controllers.
The pilot will take place in a few areas not covered in the sample of the main data collection. Locations will be divided amongst the teams recruited for the pilot.
The pilot test should cover 60 households and data from the pilot be shared with IFPRI at least one week before data collection. The survey firm should be ready to modify some parts of the questionnaire after the data from the pilot are analyzed by the PIs.
v.
- Does the new livelihoods approach increase sustainability of impacts?