RFQ – FY23 – 148 Research assistants for ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ research

1. Background Information on Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years, and are now active in more than 75 countries.

Read more about Plan International’s Global Strategy: Girls Standing Strong at https://plan-international.org/strategy

2. Requirements

Plan International are recruiting four research assistants to support their ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ research on climate change, livelihoods, and girls’ education for a period of six weeks (see timeline for details). This is a very exciting opportunity for those with specialised gender and research skills to take part in an international project and contribute towards key research and advocacy outputs. This consultancy will support coding of qualitative data collected as part of the annual ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ research. The ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ study is following the lives of 118 girls living in nine countries, across three continents, from their birth in 2006, until they turn 18 in 2024. Unlike other cohort studies, the Real Choices, Real Lives study’s longitudinal and qualitative data makes it uniquely placed to explore in detail the experiences of these girls and their families as they transition from childhood to adolescence in a gendered world.

The countries participating in the research are Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Benin, Uganda, Togo, Brazil, Dominican Republic, and El Salvador.

This year, primary data collection is to be undertaken across all nine countries and across all households to, as this will present a fuller picture of the multifaceted ways in which climate change impacts on girls’ education and how girls are adapting to this. However, based on initial review of the existing data on these girls, in which the climate change, livelihoods, and education nexus is shown to be more prominent in some girls lives over others, we are taking a hybrid approach of ‘in-depth case studies’ alongside ‘lighter-touch’ approaches is taken. 22 girls have been purposefully selected as case studies and the remaining girls in the cohort will be researched in a lighter-touch approach.

Regarding girls selected as ‘case studies’, the evidence needs justify extending the interviews beyond the girls/their families to gather broader contextual insights into how climate change is impacting communities/households and affecting girls’ education in the localities.

These ‘case study’ girls’ lives and experiences will be researched through the following methods:

• In-depth girl interviews (across wider range of themes and issues related to climate change and education). This includes observation notes. These will be between 1–2-hour interviews conducted over two days.
• Caregiver interviews. This includes observation notes. These will be between 1–2-hour interview conducted over two days.
• Household inventory

Contextual data collection activities beyond the ‘case study’ girls/their households will involve:

• Key informant interview with Plan International Country Office focal point. There will be one key informant interview per country. These will last for about an hour.
• Focus group discussion with community members for the district/regional locations where the ‘case study girls’ are located. It is likely there will be between 1 per country (though there could be two if ‘case study’ girls are located in different regions), so there will be fewer focus group transcripts than the 22 ‘case study’ girls and their caregiver interviews.

For the remaining girls not identified as ‘case study’ girls:

• Light-touch interviews across all remaining girls. We will undertake shorter interviews with just the girl around specific dimensions of climate change impacts and education

For both approaches, all interviews and focus group discussions will be recorded, transcribed and then translated into English (where applicable).

Consultant coders will be hired to code the data on NVivo. All recruited coders will have a training prior to coding commencing and there will be weekly check-ins and spot checks done for coding comparison queries. The research team will undertake the analysis and write up once coding is completed.

For full RFQ – FY23 – 148 Research assistants for ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ research document please email [email protected].

How to apply

The offer must be sent via email to [email protected].

Offers must be received before the deadline specified in the ‘RFQ – FY23 – 148 Research assistants for ‘Real Choices, Real Lives’ research’.

Pricing for services should be fixed.