Project Description:

The Malawi Ministry of Health is strongly committed to expanding equitable access to voluntary family planning (FP) across the country. Having achieved the FP2020 goal of a 63% modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) for married women, it is crucial to monitor which populations are currently reached by family planning programs and, most importantly, to identify how to better serve the FP needs of the populations that are underserved. In partnership with the Reproductive Health Directorate (RHD), the Research for Scalable Solutions (R4S) Project implemented by FHI 360 and PSI, seeks to generate evidence to support more equitable, efficient, and effective FP programs in Malawi and globally. In line with the same, the project plans to conduct a descriptive study on provision of emergency contraceptive pills in Malawi. It is in line with this background that the project would like to hire a Research Consultant to conduct the primary data collection for the study in Mchinji and Phalombe districts.

Description of Tasks: The Consultant will be primarily responsible for:

1. Recruit and conduct approximately 6 (total) key informant interviews (KIIs) with national policy leaders, non-profit, multilateral, and private sector actors working in the FP space in Malawi.
2. Recruit and conduct up to 60 semi-structured interviews with FP service providers and program managers involved in provision of ECPs (up to 30 in Mchinji and 30 in Phalombe).
3. Recruit and conduct up to 60 in-depth interviews with ECP clients (up to 30 in Mchinji and 30 in Phalombe).
4. Extract 12 months of ECP consumption data from up to 10 programs that provide ECP services (up to 5 programs in Mchinji and 5 in Phalombe) and enter data into spreadsheet. Data will be retrospective (past) service delivery data.
5. Recruit and conduct approximately 2 costing interviews at different times with approximately 2 FP program staff members from up to 10 programs that provide ECP services (up to 5 programs in Mchinji and 5 in Phalombe). This would be up to a total of 40 interactions. Detailed training/instruction on the precise information required will be provided from the study team’s economist.
6. Train ECPs providers from up to 10 programs (up to 5 programs in Mchinji and 5 in Phalombe) to complete a paper tally sheet to record brief information about each ECP client for a 3-month period. Collect paper tally sheet data from providers approximately every 2 weeks and enter data into a spreadsheet.
7. Provide notes and verbatim transcribed recordings of all interviews (in English), except costing interviews
8. Complete costing template based on costing interview data. Submit completed costing template to PSI and FHI 360 and respond to queries
9. Submit consumption data and tally sheet data to PSI and FHI 360 monthly and respond to queries.
10. Review results and participate in dissemination of results to stakeholders.

The Consultant should propose a team of researchers that can collect the above-mentioned data simultaneous over a 3-month period with the following:

• Advanced degree from a recognized academic institution in public health, or related field.
• More than 5 years hands on experience in conducting qualitative interviews and/or KIIs in the sexual and reproductive health space in Malawi.
• Experience with verbatim transcription of qualitative interviews.
• High level of written and oral communications skills in English.

The study will be implemented in July 2022.

Submission of Proposals:

The proposals from interested Research Consultants should be submitted in two separate envelopes, one labeled “Technical” and the other “Financial”.  Each envelope should also be marked The R4S EC Study. The envelopes must be deposited in the tender box at PSI Malawi Offices in Lilongwe by 13:30 hours on 03/06/2022 to below address.  Feel free to request the study summary to appreciate the study design by sending an email to jsimfukwe@psimalawi.org

The Chairperson
Internal Procurement Committee
PSI/Malawi
Head Office & Main Warehouse, Kanengo Industrial Area,
P.O. Box 30132
Lilongwe 3.