Gender Analysis Terms of Reference (ToR) for “Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) - Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) Activity (ODA) - IGIRE”

1. Background

PEPFAR/USAID’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) - Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) Activity (ODA - IGIRE) is a five-year cooperative agreement with a goal of reducing vulnerability and HIV incidence among OVC and their households and adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in high HIV burden districts in Rwanda. The Activity will build upon previous USAID investments to contribute to HIV epidemic control in Rwanda with an increased emphasis on HIV and violence prevention and response among vulnerable children and AGYW. Resilience has long been a focus of USAID’s OVC and youth investments, and this work will continue alongside health behavior change interventions targeting AGYW enrolled in the DREAMS program.

Although notable improvements have been made in the health and education status of Rwandan children, school attendance, progression and completion were shown to be particularly challenging for children in adverse circumstances in a situational analysis of children in Rwanda in 2017[1]. There is still a low completion rate of basic education at 52.5%, likely related to poverty. Education of girls continues to be important for economic growth and improved health of the population. The percentage of women who have begun childbearing between the ages of 15-19 (as teenagers) is 24.9% among women with no education, 6.1% for women with primary education and 3.6% for women with secondary education. Encouraging secondary education for women is a strategy to delay childbearing. The main challenges to improving girls’ educational outcomes include high dropout and repetition rates in upper primary school; low completion and achievement rates for girls with low transition rates into secondary and tertiary education; few qualified women teachers in secondary and tertiary education especially in the areas of science and technology, which implies lack of suitable role models; lack of separate facilities (toilets) and insufficient infrastructure (dormitories); gender insensitivity of the teachers and a gender blind curriculum. Education is also important for giving children with disabilities the opportunity to integrate in society and become prepared for their future lives.

It is with that background that Young Women Christian Association (YWCA)-Rwanda in collaboration with DUHAMIC-ADRI is recruiting a consultant/firm to Conduct a gender analysis for Igire Activity.

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2. Rationale for Gender Analysis

Promoting gender equality and advancing the status of all women and girls is vital to achieving government of Rwanda and U.S. foreign policy and development objectives. The GoR has prioritized integration of gender issues across all sectors. The USG through USAID has also put emphasis on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) at all levels to ensure a focus on issues such as equitable access, empowerment and inclusion of women and girls, and engagement of men and boys. To promote gender equality and social inclusion and mitigate structural and other gender inequalities, it is critical that programs demonstrate thorough gender integration and social inclusion into all planned activities. Since men and women, boys and girls also access services differently, all activities will be undertaken using a gender lens.

The USAID IGIRE grant recipients are required to conduct a Gender Analysis as required by the WEEE Act (The Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act). Recipients will be required to conduct a Gender Analysis in the beginning of activity implementation, to integrate gender dynamics necessary for the success of the ODA implementation.

In alignment with USAID’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy (ADS 205.3.6), USAID Rwanda seeks to promote gender equality through the THRIVE ODA Activity. Specifically, the Activity will ensure that gender integration is a core element in all interventions and stages of programming - planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation - and at all points along the HIV continuum. Mitigating actions will be taken to ensure that all children (boys and girls) and members of households can benefit from the program, that interventions contribute to the reduction of gender inequalities, and gender-based violence, and promote positive parenting.

IGIRE IPs will implement interventions that include the identification and correction of gender-based inequities and social inclusiveness in OVC and DREAMS service delivery. These should address the underlying reasons for gender-based differences and gender-appropriate approaches when designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating their work. IGIRE IPs are expected to:

• Implement programs that explicitly seek to shift gender norms—called “gender transformative” programming - which are more effective in improving health outcomes than those that do not. Investing in transforming gender norms can also be cost-effective and improve program sustainability.
• Pay particular attention to any potential increases in gender-based violence; know and apply referral pathways to provide quality support to survivors.
• Ensure that male engagement efforts do not compromise women’s safety and ability to make decisions and access services. Track this carefully through monitoring and evaluation reports and participation.
• Coordinate with existing advocacy groups to conduct sustained outreach activities and facilitate dialogue on sensitive subjects like sexual and gender-based violence, disability, and LGBTI issues.
• Build evidence base on excluded populations and interventions to support them by conducting rigorous program evaluations, collecting disaggregated monitoring data, and coordinating with the Government of Rwanda to enhance and use national-level health data.

3. Domains to Include in Gender Analyses
4. Laws, Policies, Regulations, and Institutional Practices that influence the context in which men and women act and make decisions: The gender analysis should identify the extent to which laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices contain explicit gender biases (e.g., explicit provisions that treat males and females differently; laws and regulations that criminalize and/or restrict individuals on the basis of their gender identity or expression) or implicit gender biases (e.g., the different impacts of laws, policies, regulations, a\nd practices on men and women because of different social arrangements and economic behavior).
5. Cultural Norms and Beliefs: Every society has cultural norms and beliefs (often expressed as gender stereotypes) about what are appropriate qualities, life goals, and aspirations for males and females. Gender norms and beliefs are influenced by perceptions of gender identity and expression and are often supported by and embedded in laws, policies, and institutional practices.

• Gender Roles, Responsibilities, and Time Use: The most fundamental division of labor within all societies is between productive (market) economic activity and reproductive (non-market) activity. This is the central social structure that characterizes male and female activity. Gender analysis should examine what males and females do in these spheres, including roles, responsibilities, and time use during paid work, unpaid work (including care and other work in the home), and community service to get an accurate portrait of how people lead their lives and to anticipate potential constraints to participation in development projects.

1. Access to and Control over Assets and Resources: A key component of gender analysis is an examination of whether females and males own and/or have access to and the capacity to use productive resources – assets (land, housing), income, social benefits (social insurance, pensions), public services (health, water), technology – and information necessary to be a fully active and productive participant in society.
2. Patterns of Power and Decision-making: This domain of gender analysis examines the ability of women and men to decide, influence, and exercise control over material, human, intellectual, and financial resources, in the family, community, and country.

Geographic Focus of the study

Considering the HIV epidemic and remaining gaps towards achieving HIV epidemic control, the USAID ODA projects led by the local partners will be implemented within PEPFAR priority districts including Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge of Kigali City, which are the geographic Focus of this study.

Objectives

The main objective of Gender Analysis is to develop an integrated action plan to promote gender and social inclusion and to encourage their participation throughout the project phase.  Furthermore, the Gender Analysis is designed to gather data in relation to the following five areas of enquiry determined based on IGIRE objectives and priorities.

1. Explore the current gender gaps in IGIRE activity throughout the program design and its implementation, as well as identify the community drivers (entrenched norms or perceptions) that cause or perpetuate violence including gender-based violence (GBV) against orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC), Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW), people living with HIV (PLHIV), women and people with disabilities.
2. Examine how existing gender inequalities/differences affect differently beneficiaries with disabilities and non-disabled beneficiaries, orphaned and non-orphaned beneficiaries.
3. Identify opportunities for shifting norms and addressing drivers to improve equal access to health care, education, and economic empowerment for at-risk adolescents, and curb violence – particularly against OVC, PLHIV, women and people with disability.
4. Formulate recommendations to orient the implementation of a gender-responsive and social inclusive activity. It is expected that findings will reinforce knowledge and capacity in the implementation of an Activity that is sensitive and responsive to gender and social issues.

 Scope of Work

The scope of the work has been outlined below but is not limited to following: 

• Preparation for data collection

• Literature review and desk study of existing GESI related reports, policies, data and information, and preparation of data collection tools
• Partner identification and meetings
• Stakeholders Analysis

 Data collection

Data collection will be done in districts where IGIRE is implemented as shown in the table 1 above. The following methods can be used for data collection. 

• Organize information sharing meetings with stakeholders of the project (local government, local authorities, community leaders, etc.) to inform them of survey objectives, methodologies used (mix of quantitative and qualitative methods), timeline for data collection and potential timeframe to share the results of the survey.
• Hold individual interviews or conduct focus group discussions with various groups to gather further qualitative data about relevant gaps in the status and anticipated levels of participation of girls, boys, women and men (in their diversities including gender, age, disability, orphan hood) that may hinder Activity outcomes (including gender, age and disability) in the project area.
• Conduct household interviews in the various villages/cells/sectors.
• Set up a meeting with IPs to synthesize the data collection process and set a timeframe to disseminate survey results to the community and share recommendations.

 Data analyses

• Data cleaning and coding; questions may be asked to interviewers at this point to fix discrepancies in the data
• Qualitative data should be summarized into thematic area
• Results compiled into graphs, figures, tables, etc. and data interpretation follows.
• The analysis would provide details on key variables which will be advised during the review inception report

Production of the survey report

• Using the above mentioned 5 domains of gender analysis as recommended by USAID, the Gender Analysis report will be produced by consultant and IGIRE IPs will contribute by providing technical inputs.
• The draft survey report will be produced and shared with all relevant staff/stakeholders for comments, where a workshop on results sharing may be appropriate to collect comments before the final report is produced and distributed.

7. Expected outputs - Deliverables

• A detailed Inception report showing the methodology with research tools (questionnaires; interview guide) and approach to conduct the assignment. The inception report should also include ethical considerations, literature review showing existing findings on gender dynamics and the status of women and people with disability in the context of the Activity, which will constitute the Activity’s base for a monitoring and evaluation plan for gender and social integration. The inception report will also include a detailed action plan with timeline to accomplish all assigned tasks. The approved inception report will be submitted in 6 days after signing
• Data collection, analysis and Draft Gender Analysis report include the research findings. The client will review the report and provide comments and inputs to be addressed by the consultant. The draft report will be submitted 25 days after inception report.
• Final Gender Analysis report should be submitted in English and should cover:
• Research findings from qualitative and quantitative data collected during the survey
• A set of actionable recommendations that can be incorporated into activity design and implementation to ensure improvement of women and people with disability’s conditions in general and more specifically as it relates to HIV prevention, care and treatment as well as equitable access to health care in the district covered by the activity.
• The approved final report with raw data will be submitted in 9 days after the draft report.

7.  Timeframe

This assignment is to be implemented in 40 days (Working days).

Qualification and Consultant Skills and Experience

The lead consultant would have at least an Advance degree in International Development, Gender and Social Inclusion Studies, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Public Administration, Public health or any other related discipline with a strong understanding of gender OVC and Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) issues.

The consultant should possess the following skills and experiences:

• At least 3 years of experience in conducting GESI analysis and/or evaluation, and socio-economic surveys with expertise in gender/social inclusion related work;
• Previous experience and good comprehension of the local context.
• Past GESI related work experience in OVC and/or HIV programing will be given priority

9. How to apply

Eligible individuals/firms are invited to submit a detailed technical proposal which should include the detailed methodology and evidence of carrying out previous similar activity (add website references or contact references as maybe necessary), an outline of proposed approach for delivering on the objectives, proposed detailed work plan and a financial proposal as separate documents which should be emailed to  procurement@ywca.rw  by 9:00 a.m Kigali Time, by 3^rd December 2022. Please mention ‘Application for Gender Analysis Consultant for IGIRE Activity’ in the email subject. 

Other submission documents required:

(1) Latest curriculum vitae/s of expert(s)

(2) Certificate of accomplishment for a similar assignment conducted previously

(3) RSSB clearance certificate for Firms

(4) Proof of EBM invoice

(5) Tax clearance certificate

N.B: The consultant will cover all field related costs for him/her and data collection team including transport and perdiem.

Done at Kigali On the 25^th /November, 2022