CONSULTING SERVICES TO DRAFT A RESEARCH ETHICS PROTOCOL, LEARNING AGENDA AND DATA STRATEGY – TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background 

Shujaaz Inc is an Emmy Award-winning multi-media platform that uses storytelling, mass media, and community engagement to inspire, entertain, and mobilize young people so that they can overcome barriers, take control of their futures, and transform key outcomes in their lives including sexual and reproductive health, agency, livelihoods, and gender equality. Shujaaz has established a trusted brand with a significant following and built a body of evidence on its theory of change that points to the promising potential of leveraging digital social and behavioral media interventions to catalyze and drive large scale social impact. Shujaaz aims to capitalize on this potential and track record to improve its reach and more effectively meet the needs of all its fans including vulnerable underserved populations by: 

1. optimizing its ability to segment, test, and tailor content to its digital audiences and; 

1. enhancing synergies and feedback loops with its audiences across its diversified digital and community engagement channels and platforms.   

To achieve the above, Shujaaz is developing an ambitious learning agenda and data strategy that aims to address the following key objectives:  

1.  Better leverage and integrate ‘Big Data’ and other analytic approaches to continuously adapt and inform routine decisions that improve young people’s engagement and positive experiences with its media programs and community engagement channels and platforms. 

1. Optimize the segmentation of digital audiences and tailor content and solutions for deeper and faster impact. This will entail designing and testing synergistic innovations/approaches that help to meet the needs of vulnerable, digitally underserved populations (e.g. younger, rural girls, or those with limited digital literacy)   

1. Improve the identification, tracking, and disruption of myths, mis/disinformation, and harmful norms online, and provide young people with relevant, accurate information on sexual health, livelihoods, gender equality, and agency in order to promote positive sentiment, norms, and behavior change.   

1. Identify effective ways to link and promote young people’s access to reproductive health services and other solutions that they require to overcome barriers and achieve positive social outcomes.  

1. Develop a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Framework that optimizes feedback loops between Shujaaz and its audiences across its diverse multimedia and community engagement platforms,  ensuring that contextually accurate and relevant data and insights from diverse audiences are used to inform the design and implementation of media and program activities.  

1. Support the consolidation, packaging and sharing of learning, tools, and evidence to inform replication and scale of what works, in order to advance broader social   and behavior /media for social change practice and policy. 

Shujaaz Inc is seeking the services of a consultant firm/organisation to collaborate with the Head of Knowledge and Learning and the knowledge and learning team to draft a research protocol, learning agenda, and data strategy, in line with the above.  

Timelines 

The consultant(s) will collaborate with the Head of Knowledge and Learning and the Shujaaz knowledge and learning team to complete the activities between September and November 2024. 

Deliverables 

1. Development and submission of a comprehensive research protocol and corresponding documentation (such as revised data collection tools and consent forms etc)   so that the required ethical and scientific approvals are obtained by October 31st, 2024.   This will entail meeting with Shujaaz teams and reviewing relevant program documents and other relevant information including grant agreements, survey /data collection tools, meeting notes/transcripts, program reports, organisational strategy documents, etc. 

1. Drafting a learning agenda and data strategy according to templates that will be co-created and agreed upon between the consultant and Shujaaz by November 30th, 2024. This will entail cross-referencing to ensure coherence and synergy with the research protocol described in 1 above.  

Consultant qualifications  

The consultant/team should possess the following competencies and qualifications: 

1. Solid demonstrable experience  and proven track record in completing assignments and producing high-quality deliverables aligned with the scope of the assigned task 

1. The lead consultant should hold a Master’s degree or higher qualification in social science research in fields such as global health, economics, etc. Short CVs of the lead consultant and any other proposed members of the team should be submitted.  

1. Extensive and dependable experience with  quantitative and mixed methods  research and  big data analytic methods and aproaches.  

1. Demonstrated ability to produce high-quality reports, protocols,  and similar outputs (testimonials, references, and links /copies of examples of previous work should be submitted).  

1. Solid demonstrable experience and understanding of the Kenyan research and data privacy regulatory requirements,  context, and landscape.   

1. Demonstrable ability to deliver high-quality outputs within the proposed time frame. 

1. Strong engagement , communication and problem solving skills, and an ability to integrate feedback from different sources  to meet the expectations of various stakeholders.  

Application Process and Additional Information 

• Individuals or consultant teams interested in this assignment should submit a technical proposal not exceeding 5 pages and include a detailed workplan and budget, Short CVs of the lead consultant and any proposed core members of the team, samples/references/testimonials from similar assignments, documentation of the consultant’s organisation tax information. 

• The deadline for submission is 13th September 2024 

• All  inquiries on this TOR should be submitted to jobs@shujaazinc.com 

• The successful consultant organization will work closely with the Head of Knowledge and Learning at Shujaaz and the Shujaaz Knowledge and Learning team to align on the workplan and complete the tasks outlined in this assignment within the requirement timelines.