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Request for Expressions of Interest                          

Research Service Provider

Location: Multiple locations, Pakistan.

Duration: One-year Call Down agreement with tasks specified in respective Work Order prior to every assignment

1.       Summary

Market Development Facility Pakistan monitors its diverse portfolio of partnerships through its robust results measurement system. Most MDF’s monitoring assessments involve engaging with farmers in rural households and the urban labor market, where MDF aims to engage a service provider to conduct field-based research (primarily in conducting household level surveys with farmer in rural areas) through provision of enumeration and research services. Selected research and enumeration service provider(s) must be able to provide a gender balanced network of researchers and enumerators who are familiar with good research practices and are able to conduct good quality data collection across all dialects and geographic locations (including remote regions like Baluchistan and Chitral) in Pakistan.

2.       Background

The Market Development Facility (MDF) is an Australian Government funded initiative and is implemented by Palladium. The facility aims to:

  • Create additional employment and income earning opportunities for poor women and men through broad- based and sustainable pro-poor growth;
  • Improve the competitiveness and growth potential of rural and urban sectors of the economy in which the poor are involved as producers and workers;
  • Trigger lasting, 'systemic' changes in the markets systems around these sectors to reduce constraints to growth and to increase their capacity to innovate and deal with competitive, regulatory, social and environmental pressures, so that the benefits for the poor will sustain and expand in time.

MDF has been operating in Pakistan since 2013. MDF Pakistan operates across the following areas of the economy: (a) Dairy and Meat; (b) Leather, and (c) Horticulture. It currently has a diverse portfolio of partnerships with public and private sector organizations across the abovementioned areas, to enable these organizations to undertake innovative activities, develop products and services, provide information, develop guidelines, regulations, or whatever is relevant yet currently absent for increasing competitiveness and growth.

The approach with which MDF works with requires a flexible implementation process, responding to opportunities as they arise. Hence there is a continuous process of critical sector, market and business analysis to indicate potential avenues of the Facility’s engagement and justification for partnership. Results measurement is also an integral part of the implementation and management process in MDF that helps guide existing and potential partnerships that is evidence-based.

The majority of MDF’s partnerships are related to farming households in rural areas. MDF assesses the impact of its partnerships through detailed monitoring visits as well as more elaborate impact assessment initiatives. These efforts involve engaging members of rural households as well as relevant stakeholders including retailers, dealers, middlemen, and other actors in the value chain, depending on the partnership. The tools involved in these initiatives range from survey questionnaires and in-depth interviews to running focus group discussions. The purpose of these initiatives is to track progress of activities and assess their impact, and in situations where activities are not on track, learn what is going wrong with the view to improve future activities.

3.       Objective of the assignment

The selected service provider is required to have a team of gender balanced and linguistically capable researchers and enumerators for field research and data collection. The MDF team will lead in the technical direction of the appropriate research. The MDF team will take lead on designing the research, research tools, sampling plans, data collection and analysis templates. The research (and enumeration) service provider will take the lead in pre-testing questionnaires, adapting the questionnaires to the vernacular practiced in the research location, and conducting fieldwork.

4.       Scope of services

The scope of services and key deliverables, including the key roles and responsibilities are presented below. Specific requirements of each research assignment will be detailed in separate tasking notes. The selected research provider and its researchers are required to work closely with the MDF team throughout the planning and implementation of the research assignment. All changes to plans must be agreed to in advance with MDF team.

  • The selected research service provider will make themselves available for training and familiarization sessions prior to each research assignment. The MDF team will lead these sessions. The training and familiarization sessions will cover the research and sampling plans, implementation activities relevant to the research, profile of interviewees, and the tools developed for the research. The research and enumeration service provider will be responsible for all costs associated with attending these sessions.
  • MDF will provide copies of research tools to be used (including questionnaires, checklists etc.) to be used in the research assignment. Researchers/enumerators will be responsible for translating it to the vernacular appropriate for the research location (if required), and pre-testing them.
  • Number of days required for monitoring assignment will vary depending on the specific assignment. The location and duration of each research assignment will be clearly defined in the TOR for each respective research activity or study outsourced by MDF to the research service provider.
  • Researchers/enumerators will be conducting the field research, data recording, as well as data transcribing after the assignment. All fieldwork arrangements including travel, accommodation, and other allowances for researchers/enumerators will be the responsibility of the selected research provider.
  • MDF team may accompany researchers/enumerators during the field visits. Researchers/enumerators will be reporting to MDF on a daily basis.
  • Previous experience and knowledge on conducting surveys with farmers in rural households is mandatory.

 5.       Reporting obligations

Along with the invoice for the services provided, the research and enumeration service provider will provide a 2-page report on the monitoring assessment on field visit experience. The report should cover information on field visit experience, including both benefits and advantages which should be sustained in the future assessments and shortcomings which should be improved in the future assessments.

6.       Experience and qualifications

Research service provider and its teams are expected to be based in Pakistan, with following qualifications:

  • Sufficient access to a pool of gender-balanced enumerators and/or translators that speak the local languages and dialects of the major regions in Pakistan
  • Ability to conduct research in remote regions of Pakistan
  • Extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research and data entry methods
  • Experience in conducting research with male and female farmers in rural areas
  • Ability to record in detail the answers of the interviewees, without any prejudice, and keep the information confidential, i.e. not to share it with the third party without MDF’s prior approval.

 7.       Duration and contracting details

MDF and selected research service provider will enter into call down agreement for a duration of one year. MDF will share specific tasking notes with the service provider at least two weeks in advance of each assignment. Each tasking note will inform on the specific dates and locations of the visit, number of days and the indicative number of researchers required to conduct the assignments.