1. General instructions
A. Water.org requests proposals from research and evaluation firms (consultant) to conduct a baseline study for a project aimed at improving access to water and sanitation in India and Indonesia.
B. The baseline study will require the consultant to facilitate and coordinate with Water.org staff and partner microfinance institutions and other stakeholders for data collection in the program areas in India and Indonesia. The project requires the firm to submit the following deliverables:
- A kick-off meeting with the Insights and Innovation team at Water.org to clarify roles and responsibilities (can be conducted remotely).
- An inception report, including a desk review and outline of approach, methodology, data collection instruments and field plans.
- Both raw and clean data collected by the evaluators and codebook.
- A draft baseline report submitted to Water.org for feedback.
- A list of finalized benchmarks for key performance indicators for program outcomes
- A high level presentation deck submitted and presented by the consultant.
- A final baseline report, not to exceed 20 pages (excluding annexes).
C. Invoicing will occur upon completion and approval of the deliverables outlined as above in Section 1, Part B of this document.
D. Water.org is not liable for any expenditure incurred by responding consultants prior to issuance of an executed contract with Water.org.
E. Submissions must be typed and submitted only by email and must follow the format of the requests for information in Section 4: Submissions Requirements. Unless agreed upon with Water.org, no changes or corrections to a response will be allowed after the deadline.
F. Proposed schedule:
See section 3 below
The proposals must be submitted by email to Heather Arney at [email protected] and Magdalene Goble at [email protected]. Subject line should read “Baseline Study Proposal <<name of consultant>>.” The proposal must contain a technical proposal and a financial bid using Water.org’s budgeting format.
2. Scope of work
A. Overview
For over 25 years, Water.org has been at the forefront of developing and delivering sustainable solutions to the global water crisis. Water.org pioneers innovative, community-driven and marketbased solutions to provide universal access to safe water and sanitation, giving women hope, children health and communities a future. To date, Water.org has positively transformed millions of lives around the world, ensuring a better life for generations ahead.
Through its flagship WaterCredit model, Water.org provides financial and technical assistance to local institutions (primarily microfinance institutions), building their capacity to offer affordable financing for water supply and sanitation services (WSS) to customers at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP). These financial products are designed based on an analysis of local market demand. Philanthropic resources provide the up-front technical assistance financial institutions need to develop these new loan portfolios. The end result: more people empowered with safe water and toilets and a sustainable, local market built for those at the BOP. Water.org has reached more than 26 million people across 13 countries through over 5.7 million loans. The average size of a WaterCredit loan is US$333, and the global average repayment of a WaterCredit loan since 2003 is 99 percent. Further, more than 90 percent of borrowers are women. More details can be found on the organization’s website.
Together with the RB, Water.org is implementing a two-year initiative, from September 2019 – September 2021, to expand its WaterCredit activities to reach an estimated 641,400 people with safe water and/or sanitation in India and Indonesia. This initiative will expand upon the MFI-led WaterCredit model as well as develop and test innovative approaches to sustainable water and sanitation solutions in India and Indonesia.
In India, Water.org has identified local microfinance institutions (MFIs) to further develop and scale sustainable financial products that empower those at the base of the pyramid (BOP) to invest in their own water and sanitation needs. This includes the construction of water improvements and/or toilets within their homes. Water.org is adopting a comprehensive ecosystem approach sanitation. Under the approach, Water.org is providing solutions and advocacy for system level changes to state governments to adopt water and sanitation lending as part of their credit financing program. The program is expected to be implemented in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
In Indonesia, in addition to scaling the WaterCredit model, Water.org is developing a program for sanitation providers, working with provincial and local governments to create an enabling environment for water and sanitation financing and establishing a multi-stakeholder cooperation to support national water and sanitation campaigns. In Indonesia, the program is being implemented in North Sumatra and West Java. Possible additional district in provinces: East Java and Nusa Tenggara Barat.
While many of the key performance indicators will be tracked through routine M&E activities over the course of the Initiative, Water.org seeks to conduct a program and impact evaluation to evaluate the Initiative’s impacts on the borrower households. For this, a baseline survey needs to be conducted to gather information on household level outcomes. The baseline survey will be used to inform the program plans as well as to serve as a benchmark to measure changes after program implementation is complete.
To this end, Water.org seeks proposals from research and evaluation firms to conduct a baseline household survey among the potential loan clients dispersed across the program areas in India and Indonesia.
B. Objectives of the baseline study
The overall purpose of the Initiative is to expand WaterCredit programming and test innovative approaches to improve people’s lives through the construction of household water and sanitation improvements and hygiene education. The baseline study would seek to accomplish the following objectives:
a. Collect baseline information to be used in impact evaluation at the end of the program.
b. Set benchmarks for key performance indicators for program outcomes.
C. Methodology
The baseline study would be primarily based on household surveys among the prospective borrowers of MFI clients.
Household surveys
The firm would be required to survey households dispersed across the program areas of the MFIs. The firm would need to coordinate with partner MFIs to survey households in the MFIs respective program areas. Water.org would facilitate to make the list of respondents to survey available in advance. These potential respondents could be prospective loan borrowers of water and sanitation loans or households which have applied for loans. The firm would need to have a very efficient enumerator network so that they can be deployed on the field as soon as the list is available. It may be possible that the list of respondents would be made available in intervals as and when there is a list of applicants available. Hence, it is pertinent that the firm is agile and can operate efficiently in a fast-paced environment.
Survey questionnaire
The survey questionnaire covers a range of topics consistent with the evaluation objectives and are primarily closed ended for quantitative analysis. The survey instrument will be made available to the firm at the start of the contract. The instrument can be modified based on field tests. The instrument would also be required to be translated from English to local languages and would then be back translated into English to ensure accuracy of the translation.
Sample size
The surveys would be conducted among potential loan clients of the MFIs dispersed across the program areas. The firm would need to confirm power calculations to calculate the required sample size to detect changes in key outcomes and propose a sampling methodology in consultation with Water.org. We estimate that the sample size, including attrition rate is expected to be 3,287, with 2,840 in India and 446 in Indonesia.
Digital data collection
Water.org uses mWater, a real time mobile data collection tool for surveys. The firm would be required to use mWater for survey development and data collection. If needed, the evaluating firm would be provided training on using mWater to manage surveys and collect data.
The firm will be responsible for acquiring mobile devices compatible with the mWater application. The most recent list of compatible devices can be found on the mWater website here. Please note that this list is not exhaustive.
Data management
Using a statistical package, preferably Stata, the firm will be required to clean and label the raw dataset exported from the mobile platform mWater. The final data set would be submitted in both csv and Stata formats. The firm would also submit the Stata codes (Stata do file) and codebook of variables.
Data analysis
The firm would be required to develop summary statistics on key outcomes. The list of variables for which the statistics would need to be developed would be discussed during the inception phase. Data analysis would be carried out using the same statistical package used for data cleaning. The firm would submit the Stata codes (Stata do file) written for analysis.
Baseline report
A baseline report, including summary statistics – not to exceed 20 pages (excluding annexes) – would be submitted to Water.org.
3. Proposed schedule and key dates
A tentative schedule of key activities is presented in the table below:
Activity | Date |
Proposal submission deadline | March 2, 2020 |
Announce results of the selection process | March 16, 2020 |
Finalize and start contract | March 23, 2020 |
Inception report | April 17, 2020 |
Data collection completed | June 19, 2020 |
Data analyzed and findings synthesized | July 6, 2020 |
Submit draft baseline report and benchmarks for key performance indicators for program outcomes | July 27, 2020 |
Review draft report | August 10, 2020 |
Submit final baseline report and all deliverables | August 24, 2020 |
4. Submission requirements
To be considered under this RFP, please submit the following:
A.Technical Proposal
A narrative proposal (no more than 10 pages excluding annexes) should include the following sections:
a. Methodology: Describe your overall approach including, and not limited to, data collection approach, data quality assurance measures, field planning and enumerator staffing plans.
b. Relevant Experience: Provide details of projects of similar scope, complexity and nature you have worked on previously.
c. Specific Expertise: Describe your expertise specific to conducting large scale household surveys using digital data collection and statistical analysis using survey data.
d. Key Personnel and Staffing: Describe the key personnel and a staffing plan for the project. Include CVs (no more than 2 pages each and attached as annex) of key personnel who would be part of the proposed plan.
e. Timeline: Include a detailed timeline of key activities.
B.Financial proposal
The financial proposal should include a detailed budget and a budget narrative. Please use the attached excel budget workbook to prepare and submit the budget. The cost estimates used to prepare the budget should be presented in local currencies as explained in the budget workbook. The total proposed budget should not exceed USD 100,000.
5. Criteria for submission
Applicants may be individuals, groups of individuals with a designated team lead, or firms. Applicants must have at a minimum the following qualifications:
- Proposed staffing plan includes at least one native or fluent English speaker as lead writer.
- Proposed staffing plan includes enough qualified enumerators to collect the household surveys in the MFI partner geographies.
- Demonstrated experience in conducting large scale household surveys.
- Demonstrated experience in conducting elementary statistical analysis using survey data.
6. Selection process
All proposals submitted by the deadline will be carefully reviewed by the Selection Committee based on established selection criteria. The selection process may involve phone interviews with applicants. The final decision will be based on the overall quality of the technical proposal and value for money. The Selection Committee reserves the right to reject any or may cancel any submission at any time prior to agreement if it is in the best interests of Water.org.
7. Contact
Proposals and queries related to the RFP should be sent through email to:
Heather Arney
Senior Manager, Insights and Innovation [email protected]
and,
Magdalene Goble
Senior Analyst, Insights and Innovation
| ob Email id: | harney(at)water.org |
| Download Attachment: | 40264209_Water.org Project Budget (1).xls |
