BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been providing relief and development assistance in West Africa for more than ten years, and continues to promote a regional approach to address humanitarian problems stemming from the ongoing conflicts. IRC’s work in the region began in 1991, when a program was established in Guinea to assist the influx of Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees fleeing civil war in their countries, and continued through the disarmament and development phase.
The Women’s Protection and Empowerment program is one of the IRC’s interventions since 2001 assisting women and girls who are survivors of gender based violence (GBV) and building the capacity of the Government especially the Ministry of Gender which is the ministry responsible for addressing GBV. After several years of programming in Liberia and following in-depth discussions with women in targeted areas of intervention, the IRC realised that men had to be directly engaged for any real change to happen. During the last 14 Months, IRC has been working with men through the “Men and Women in Partnership” programme that focuses on individual change in attitudes and behavior towards the way men treat women and girls. Specifically, the programme fosters individual change and collective action to prevent GBV by facilitating dialogue within local men’s groups that helps them to examine their attitudes and beliefs and to practice gender equitable behaviour in their homes and communities. The program covered 10 Communities (5 in Montserrado and 5 in Nimba Counties). Due to the positive results from this intervention IRC intends to scale up the programme to cover 8 more communities (5 in Lofa and 3 in Nimba Counties) during 2012. In order to look at the change in knowledge and behavior of men who participate in the men’s groups toward violence against women and girls, the IRC is undertaking a baseline and endline survey. The baseline survey is scheduled to take place in February and March 2012.
Purpose of the Consultancy
The purpose of this Consultancy is to establish a baseline for the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of men in the targeted areas towards preventing violence of any form against women and girls, specifically domestic violence. The baseline will contain a status overview of the attitude, behavior and knowledge of participants with respect to domestic violence issues and how these issues affect their communities. The consultancy will lead to the establishment of baseline indicators that the Programme can use to measure its performance.
CONSULTANT TASKS
The baseline survey consultant will familiarize him/herself with the Men and Women in Partnership strategy tree and the Irish Aid proposal. In close coordination with the WPE programme in Liberia, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:
i) Prepare the baseline tools which include:
- Survey questionnaire for participants of the Men and Women in Partnership intervention. The consultant will coordinate closely with the WPE programme during preparation of the questionnaires to ensure that all relevant areas of interest are captured. The questionnaires should include the following topics:
- i. Knowledge of men in the targeted areas in regard to domestic violence
- ii. Attitude of men regarding gender equality
- iii. Behaviors related to domestic violence in the community and in the home, specifically around gender-equitable behavior and how this is defined.
- Methods to triangulate information about potential changes in individual men’s attitudes and behaviours. This may include conducting a pre/post survey of the partners of the men participants or pre/post key informant interviews of figures in the community that interact with the men on a regular basis. consider ethical and safety implications of those participating, and be able to measure the following outputs:
- i. Gender-equitable behaviors in the home
- ii. Knowledge of GBV
- iii. Attitudes indicative of decreased acceptance of GBV behavior
- iv. Behavior related to the promotion of gender equity
ii) Design and conduct the baseline assessment among the men participating in the Men and Women in Partnership program, their partners and other key informants in the targeted areas in Nimba and Lofa Counties.
iii) Analyze the data and produce a report in which the methodology and data processing is clearly described
iv) Review and design or revise, if necessary, the monitoring tools and mechanisms based on the information gathered in order to report evidence-based change of attitude and behaviour of the men who will have undergone the MDG process
v) Provide research findings from other research projects that helps to link gender equitable behaviours in the home with less incidents of domestic violence.
DELIVERABLES
- Methodology and baseline implementation plan submitted and agreed upon
- Survey questionnaire and any other assessment tools reviewed and agreed upon with the Liberia program and Technical Unit
- Baseline survey report including clear monitoring measures, discussed and finalized with the Liberia program and Technical Unit
Annexes to be included in final baseline survey report:
- Terms of Reference;
- Data collection tools developed and used (questionnaires, focus group discussion guides, etc.);
- Baseline survey programme/schedule
- Indicators for measuring progress in two facets: a) the project b) the MDG members during the MDG process and after the 16 weeks
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
The Consultant must have at a minimum a university degree; demonstrate prior experience in conducting programme baseline surveys (be able to present copies of previous work done by the consultant); have sound knowledge on gender-based violence programming including male engagement in preventing violence against women and girls. A good understanding of the cultural diversities will be an added advantage as well. The consultant must be fluent in the English language and be able to travel to the field.