Schedule 1: Terms of Reference

Transcription

1 Schedule 1: Terms of Reference Terms of Reference Women s Empowerment and Care Consultancy to improve Participatory Research Methodology June July 2016 Please contact Thalia Kidder, Senior Adviser Women s Economic Rights tkidder@oxfam.org.uk This Terms of Reference is for a consultancy to revise and update a methodology developed by Oxfam, the Rapid Care Analysis or RCA, incorporating experiences and recommended improvements from Oxfam staff and partners who have used the RCA exercises over the past three years. A. BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT Context: The Oxfam International Strategic Plan ( ) includes commitments to promote positive changes in beliefs and policies about the distribution of care responsibilities and to raise awareness that women s unpaid role in the care economy is a key driver of inequality. History of the methodology (i) Oxfam developed the Rapid Care Analysis (RCA) in The RCA exercises were designed to be simple, easy to use, participatory research methodology to understand patterns of unpaid care work at community level, and identify problems and potential solutions. The methodology has been tested and carried out in over twenty countries and in numerous communities over the last 3 years to inform programme design on economic justice, gender justice and in humanitarian settings, with the overarching objective of reducing heavy and unequal unpaid care work for women s empowerment. (ii) Women s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-Care): In August 2014, Oxfam launched a WE-Care research project with a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to gather evidence on unpaid care work for influencing. Qualitative and quantitative research has been undertaken in 6 countries. The RCA was a crucial part of this research and generated significant interest among programme staff, the communities Oxfam works with, private sector and local and national governments. The evidence gathered was instrumental in enabling discussions with stakeholders in project areas to recognise unpaid care work done by women and to look for ways to address heavy and unequal care. During the project period, the programme teams involved in WE-Care gathered significant learning about the methodology, and each RCA conducted provided the organisation with new insight on the tool itself. Discussions at the end of the March 2016 learning event confirmed the importance of reviewing and updating the RCA Toolkit and Guidance. WE-Care teams have recommended:

2 a) a synthesis of learning and methodological recommendations made by various staff and partners from their experiences of conducting RCAs across Oxfam-supported programmes, including through interviews with key staff; b) adjusting and improving the methodology and guidance based on experiences and learning while ensuring it continues to gather similar evidence to the current exercises (time use, division of labour by gender and age, changes in care work, social norms, problematic aspects of care provision, resources and services, and proposals for activities and interventions); c) guidelines which propose different modalities in which an RCA can be conducted (e.g. length of time required, use with particular groups such as domestic workers, for different programmatic settings such as urban, humanitarian or development contexts); d) improving on existing reporting formats and proposing ways of presenting findings from the RCA that are effective for advocacy and influencing proposals, as well as ways to share findings with women s groups, communities, and civil society. B. CONCEPTUAL FRAMING TO THE PROJECT Recognising care work in women s lives is a step towards making this work visible and valued. However, too often, recognition alone results in activities that accommodate the status quo on care responsibilities: for example, offering women childcare during training sessions. Oxfam aims to go beyond recognising the current situation of care, to analyse and influence the power relations, structures and beliefs about how societies provide care for people. The approach is to reduce the drudgery of care work and to redistribute responsibility and cost of care from women to men, and from families to the state and private sector. In each society, care is provided through a combination of unpaid work in families, voluntary sector provision of care, care that is compensated for or provided by the private sector, and state provision of paid care work as well as government investments in essential services and infrastructure. This has been named the care diamond (UNRISD) and the way that the provision of care is organized and divided across household, market, state and non-profit institutions has important implications for those who access adequate care and who bears the burden (UNRISD, 2009). Power relations, beliefs, practices and policies maintain current care arrangements as normal, and underpin significant gender, class and race inequalities in every society. Analysis of care is context-specific and organisations may emphasise different aspects: a) The balance of paid work, unpaid (e.g. subsistence agriculture) and care work in individuals lives, as well as the (in)equality of distribution of labour and costs for care in households, by gender and age; b) The presence or lack of infrastructure and services that facilitate providing care (water, fuel, health care, education etc); c) The social and economic costs of inadequate care, or how heavy care work affects carers wellbeing; d) Norms, perceptions or other mechanisms that reinforce the current patterns of care. Aggregated data from time-use studies may increase recognition of care work, however disaggregated evidence is more useful to identify the specific opportunities to transform care work in a certain context 2 - the labour- or time-saving technology, the power relations, beliefs and approaches to redistribute cost and responsibility. Care is not only for dependents, but all persons have the right to give and receive care. Care means meeting the material and/or developmental, emotional and spiritual needs of 2 Valeria Esquivel (2011): Sixteen Years after Beijing: What Are the New Policy Agendas for Time Use-Data Collection. Feminist Econs 17:4. 2

3 other persons. Housework procuring food, cooking, cleaning, washing, nursing is the work required in order for care to happen. Infrastructure, governmental essential services and other payments (illness and parental leave, pensions by companies or the state) are preconditions for adequate provision of care. C. PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY The purpose of this consultancy is to collect learning on the RCA, refine and then update the methodology, to help Oxfam and partners to be able to effectively use the tool to compile evidence on unpaid care work for advocacy and potential actions for changing how care is provided. The success of the consultancy will be evaluated by the following expected outcomes: a) At a local level: practitioners and researchers are provided with an improved, practical RCA Toolkit. The RCA tool has been described as compelling, easy to use and empowering to date and these characteristics are expected to be strengthened. The review will clarify what has worked well and provide adjustments to the aspects of the RCA that did not work as well. b) A synthesis of the learning about RCA implementation is available. Oxfam aims to document learning processes, and make the findings accessible to the development sector. c) High quality guidance for managers, women s groups and development practitioners is available for users to understand, adapt and implement the RCA exercises, to complement on-line recorded webinars and reduce dependence on direct, in-person training. d) The range of programmes in which the RCA exercises are used increases. Oxfam and allied organisations are interested in expanding knowledge about care work in all our programmes and contexts, including long-term development programmes, humanitarian contexts, and new thematic interventions such as support to domestic workers. e) The RCA reporting formats are more relevant and effective for findings to be used in advocacy and influencing. The RCA assists communities in generating their own problem statements, identifying difficult care tasks and solutions to reduce or redistribute care work. The findings and proposals from RCAs can be translated into effective advocacy and influencing proposals. D. SCOPE OF SERVICES TO BE PERFORMED BY THE CONSULTANCY The WE-Care programme team will agree and set the parameters for review of the RCA. The Consultancy is divided into three parts: 1) Review and synthesise learning on the RCA tool from Oxfam staff and partner organisations that used the tool, reading existing feedback and gathering perspectives from interviews with key staff, and producing a short learning report. 2) Propose an adjusted and updated RCA Toolkit of Exercises, Guidance and Reporting Formats based on the learning. 3) Compile and respond to feedback from a consultation and produce a final version. 3

4 1. Review and synthesise learning about the Rapid Care Analysis a) Desk research with documents provided by the WE-Care coordination team, and outreach to programme and partner staff that have used the RCA, synthesise learning and experiences from the RCA. b) Review and evaluate the usefulness of selected qualitative approaches on assessing care. c) Interview selected staff, researchers and/or development practitioners on their requirements and preferences on the characteristics of the rapid care analysis action research methodology. d) Write a report or presentation on learning (5-6 pages and annexes- or powerpoint slides) including the findings of new/existing tools, the RCA and proposed adjustments/changes. e) Meet with Committee to agree/confirm principles and parameters for the updated methodology. 2. Adjust and update the research methodology based on the learning a) First draft revised methodology. b) Consult with 5-6 key stakeholders to get comments on draft c) Produce revised methodology design and guidance document. 3. Final version of methodology and guidance (written or video), based on feedback. E. DELIVERABLES/TIMETABLE The Consultant will provide deliverables to Jane Remme, Programme Coordinator for Women s Economic Empowerment and Care in the Programme Strategy and Impact Team, and Thalia Kidder, Senior Adviser. The following list to be confirmed through discussion: 1. Workplan inception report agreed between consultant and Senior Adviser/Programme Coordinator. 2. Assessment of existing RCA and recommendations from programme and partner staff. Approximately 2500 words, excluding annexes. 3. Updated RCA Methodology and Guidance draft for consultation (see current RCA Toolbox and Guidance for an indication of length and content) 4. Final revised RCA Methodology F. PERSON SPECIFICATION The Consultant for this work should have i. Extensive experience of participatory action research methodologies, feminist research methods, and rapid asessments in developing country contexts ii. Broad knowledge of care work issues, rural development issues, gendered power relations, and household economics. iii. iv. Excellent writing and editing skills for a variety of audiences Experience of the INGO development sector prior knowledge and experience of Oxfam highly desirable v. Experience of working effectively with others who are non native English speakers vi. vii. Strong organisational and planning skills Can work quickly and effectively with minimal supervision G. TERMS AND PAYMENT Timeline: 4

5 The process to develop and complete this consultancy is envisaged for a period of from early June (tbd) to August 5, This contract will be offered at a fixed rate of 4800 and it is envisaged that the contractor will need around days to deliver the work over the period up to August 5. The indicative work plan, timeline and payments are proposed as follows: Indicative Dates Activities Deliverables Payment Early/mid-June Review documents and contacts provided by Inception Report 25% (tbc) programme coordinator, write Inception Report June 20 th Compiling learning / desk review of RCA reports Learning Report -- / interviews with staff June 23 rd (tbc) Discussion of learning with staff/advisers -- by June 30 th Develop first draft of revised methodology review Methodology and 50% Develop draft updated guidance Meet with WE-Care team/committee to discuss draft guidance draft July 4-22 Consultation period with some support from consultant July 25- Aug 5 Revise Methodology and Guidance, considering Final Methodology and 25% advice of committee, reviewers and field staff Guidance Payment 1.1 The assignment is expected to commence in June, 2016 and end by August 5, 2016 unless terminated early in accordance with the terms of this agreement. 1.2 Payment for the assignment will be made on staged payment on delivery of services and deliverables in accordance with the agreed inception report and the timeline above. In the event of early termination of this agreement, payment will be made in proportion to the amount of work satisfactorily completed. 1.3 An invoice must be submitted for all payments. Schedule 2 : Ethical declaration You undertake that you, your parent, subsidiaries and any other organisations with an interest of more than 10%, are not involved in any of the following activities: arms manufacture; the sale or export of arms or strategic services to governments which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens, or where there is internal armed conflict or major tensions, or where the sale of arms may jeopardise regional peace and security. tobacco production and sale; the sale of babymilks outside the WHO Code of Conduct; pesticide sales outside the FAO guidelines for pesticide retailing; extractive industries; are seen to be party political; 5

6 any other activities which violate the basic rights of Oxfam GB s intended beneficiaries. 6