About us:

At Marie Stopes International Australia, we believe that every woman should be able to determine her future. By providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services where they are needed most, we support women and their families to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, including if and when they have children.

Working across 37 countries, Marie Stopes International (MSI) reaches millions of women, girls and families each year. Contraception can be transformational, contributing to the achievement of sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s rights and gender equality and delivering significant heath, psychosocial, economic and environmental benefits for all. If a woman can access contraception she can make decisions about her future, help support her family and contribute to her community.

Marie Stopes International Australia serves as the regional office for Pacific Asia and supports our country programs in Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. MSIA also manages specific projects in partnership with Marie Stopes Myanmar, Marie Stopes Viet Nam and Marie Stopes Nepal.

Background:

The Mekong Women's Empowerment Project (Empower) aims to advance women's economic empowerment (WEE) by increasing the clinical capacity, business skills and financial independence of entrepreneurial health providers, or Marie Stopes Ladies (MSL), and increasing awareness of and access to reproductive health services for women in Cambodia, Myanmar and Viet Nam. Empower is a four-year program funded by the Australian Government through the Gender Equality Fund and is being implemented by MSI Australia in collaboration with members of the MSI global partnership in Cambodia, Myanmar and Viet Nam from June 2018 until June 2022.

The Empower theory of change asserts that economically empowered women are a catalyst for social progress and sustainable change. When women have improved financial independence and greater control over their economic activities (End of Program Outcome 1), combined with increased utilisation of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and family planning (FP) services at a population level (End of Program Outcome 2), this will facilitate WEE and improved health outcomes for women and girls including reduction in maternal mortality (Program Goal), and contribute towards high level social and development impacts, including gender equality and enhanced human capital (Long Term Vision).

MSIA is seeking a qualified consultant to conduct a mid-term review of the Empower project. The purpose of the Empower mid-term review is to assess and evaluate the progress of Empower in achieving project objectives from June 2018 – December 2020.

The Mid-term Review will be overseen by the Regional Program Manager based in Melbourne.

Your task:

The consultant will lead the mid-term review process for the Empower project, with technical support provided by MSIA.

The consultant will conduct an in-depth analysis of project data already collected during baseline and midline research activities (including program reports and a gender analysis) and lead on the design of qualitative in-depth interviews to be completed as part of the midline data collection.

The mid-term review will address the following key evaluation questions:

1. In what ways has the Empower project been able to support gender equality and the economic empowerment of the MS Ladies?
2. In what ways have the MS Ladies been able to expand access to quality SRH services in their communities, especially to more vulnerable target groups such as young people and people with disability?
3. What is the value to the MS Ladies of being part of the network and of the support provided by MSI?
4. How can the Empower project further promote gender equality and economic empowerment?
5. What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the Empower program, including country-specific and global supply chain impacts, as well as any changes in domestic SRH & FP policy stances?

Sub-research questions will be developed in consultation with the Empower project leads and Research, Monitoring and Evaluation (RME) teams in each country. This will focus on providing data to inform and deepen understanding of the findings on the project indicators within the Empower monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework, including: the ability of MSL to control their income; community support for MS Ladies; involvement of MSLs in the community; impact of work as an MSL on income; and the impact of access to SRH/FP on economic empowerment for MSL clients. This will also include whether there have been any unintended outcomes and if so, how the program can mitigate these.

The consultant will use the findings from the analysis to draft three mid-term thematic reports, which will document insights into the program outcomes and learnings so far at the mid-term project point. The thematic reports will provide an overview of the program context related to the research questions, strategies used by the different programs and interim results and insights related to program outcomes. They will highlight considerations for the remainder of the project as well as broader insights for SRH and women’s empowerment programming.

The thematic reports will be shared with local stakeholders including representatives from key target groups, the Policy and Gender departments at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Australian Embassies in Cambodia, Viet Nam and Myanmar and with MSI stakeholders including gender and disability working groups.

The consultant will report to the Empower Regional Program Manager.

Key objectives:

The main objective of the mid-term review is to evaluate the results and impact of the Empower project from June 2018 to date and to provide insights for program improvement. Additionally, the evaluation should provide information on the specific benefits and recommendations for WEE and gender equality outcomes.

Methodology:

As well as existing reports, the mid-term review should draw on the following data sources, full details of which will be made available to the consultant to facilitate analysis to inform the mid-term review:

Quantitative survey of MS Ladies (completed at baseline and midline): Questionnaire exploring attitudes towards being an MS Lady, the role MSLs play in household decision-making, and control over income and community participation. Cleaned datasets available in excel.

Client Exit Interviews (completed at baseline and midline): MSI’s annual CEIs provide an in-depth look at the demographic profile and experience of clients served by the MS Ladies. Cleaned datasets available in SPSS or STATA.

Routine service data (continuous monitoring data): Details of the client profile and services received of every client served by the MS Ladies are captured in a standardised management information system (MIS).

Data available in excel format (along with guidance on cleaning/ data management).

In addition to the above, the consultant will lead on the design and analysis of a round of qualitative indepth interviews with MS Ladies and key project stakeholders. A similar activity was completed at baseline, findings from which will be made available via project reports.

Deliverables:

1. Quantitative analysis plan
2. Qualitative MSL/ KI interview protocol
3. Final datasets (quant/ qual) and analysis files.
4. 2-3 thematic reports addressing the mid-term evaluation questions

Information Required in Proposal:

With reference to the Terms of Reference outlined above, please provide a short proposal that addresses the following areas:

Consultant's details:

• Business name
• ABN
• Address
• Phone
• Email

Proposal information:

• Ability to meet the Terms of Reference
• Proposed methodology
• Ability to meet the timeline nominated
• Consultant’s resume covering relevant experience

Expertise and Experience:

• Relevant expertise and experience in delivering similar programmes
• Demonstrated skills and experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods and analysis, specifically gender analysis within development contexts - Knowledge of rights-based approaches to family planning and sexual and reproductive health programming within the Asia-Pacific region
• Excellent oral and written communication in English
• Organisational skills to prioritise and manage workload
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and meet deadlines

Fee schedule:

Daily rates of up to $900 will be considered

• An estimate of the project fees including the capped fee for the project, the daily rates that form the basis of the capped fee and anticipated out of pocket expenses, including a proposed cap
• Please show all fees and expenses inclusive of GST
  References:
• Details of 2 referees relevant to the type of services being sought