TERMS OF REFERENCE

About WaterAid

WaterAid is an international charity working in 28 countries including Pakistan. Our vision is of a world where everyone everywhere has access to safe water and sanitation, and our mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). We support local organisations and government authorities to design and demonstrate appropriate and sustainable WASH programmes. WaterAid also seeks to influence policy change through government and other key sector actors to secure and protect the rights of marginalised and vulnerable people to safe and affordable water and sanitation services.  www.wateraid.org/pk

Background

Menstruation is a normal biological process of a woman’s body, but it is surrounded by silence and secrecy. Because of prevailing myths, misconceptions, and taboos around menstruation, women and girls are excluded from many educational, social, and cultural life during their menstrual period. Pakistan is among the countries where social taboos myths and misconceptions attached to menstruation are frequently practiced among females due to low literacy levels among girls and women, limited awareness about menstrual hygiene, and limited access to accurate information, which negatively impact the health and overall well-being of adolescent girls and women and further aggravate to their extreme marginalization. The situation even worsens in the rural areas where socio-cultural norms are deeply entrenched, and menstruation is considered a very sensitive topic to discuss openly, thus requiring a systematic approach to address these associated misconceptions, myths, and taboos

The objective of the assignment

The objective of this assignment is to collect and analyze prevalent social/cultural taboos, myths, and misconceptions associated with menstruation in district Thatta and surrounding districts Badin and Sujawal.

Scope of Work

The consultant will aim to collect data regarding myths, taboos, and misconceptions associated with menstruation and ways to break those myths. Scope of work will include but is not limited to the following main elements.

1.    Desk/Literature Review: Review of the existing local (Sindh)/ national level literature/documents available on menstruation and menstrual hygiene related to existing socio-cultural taboos, myths, and religious misconceptions.

2.    Design data collection tools and field data collection: The consultant is expedited to design the most suitable data collection tools in consultation with WaterAid. This information will be collected by WaterAid from project team support based in Sindh (WaterAid will support this data collection)

3.    Documentation of the findings: The consultant will document all Myths associated with Menstrual Hygiene (religious taboos, myths, and misconceptions) along with specific recommendations to address the issues in consultation with WaterAid

4.    Submission of a well-drafted and well-formatted booklet: The consultant will provide the final content, recommendations, and key messages in the form of a well-drafted booklet

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

• Inception report will consist of a process for the documentation and final product design along with, tools, and methodology.  

• First Draft of the study report should include:

  • Desk review of the prevalent taboos, myths/ misconceptions at the national provincial level (Sindh only)
  • Analysis of the primary data findings
  • The identified list of socio-cultural taboos, myths, and misconceptions associated with menstruation
  • List of recommendations to address the above
  • The final draft of the report and booklet after incorporating key suggestions from WA

Reporting Lines

In all matters related to this assignment, the consultant will report to the Gender Advisor based at WA Pakistan Office, Islamabad.

Intellectual Property Rights

All documents, raw data, and knowledge generated as part of this consultancy shall remain the sole and exclusive property of WaterAid Pakistan.

Duration of assignment

WaterAid intends to receive the services of a selected consultant for a period of 20 days commencing from the agreement signing date.

Payment Schedule

Payments will be made in installments based upon key outputs, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. ·

1.         20% At the time of agreement on the inception report

2.         20% At the time of submitting the first draft of the guidebook and Animation

3.         60% At the time of acceptance of final product/ guidebook and Animation

Pre-Requisites for Consultants

The consultant/ team proposed to be leading the assignment is required to have the following qualifications:

• The lead consultant should have a minimum master’s degree or equivalent in the Social Sciences, Public Health, or Development Studies

• The lead consultant should have proven experience in designing and using data collection tools and research methods for both qualitative and quantitative research.

• Familiarity with WASH and in-depth knowledge of menstrual hygiene and the social-cultural context of Sindh province to conduct this specific assignment.

• The lead consultant should have at least 5 years of proven experience conducting relevant assignments and developing content on public health, social issues, and/or MHM Evaluation Criteria

Each candidate shall submit technical and financial proposals in two separate sealed envelopes. Technical offers will first be evaluated according to the “Evaluation Criteria” below and the technical qualification threshold point is “70”.

Technical Evaluation criteria