Sesame Workshop Bangladesh

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)

Title of the Consultancy Hiring an agency for conducting a formative research on Sisimpur new storybook

Project USAID’s Early Childhood Development Mass Media Activity, Sisimpur

Release Date: December 17, 2019 Agency briefing session: December 23, 2019 at 3:30 PM Submission Deadline: January 5, 2020 by 11:59 PM

1 1 ABOUT SESAME WORKSHOP BANGLADESH Sesame Workshop Bangladesh (SWB), the country office of Sesame Workshop, produces Sisimpur, the local version of world-famous kids’ television program Sesame Street in Bangladesh. Sisimpur has been made possible in Bangladesh with the generous support from USAID. The TV show has been airing since 2005 with a view to making early childhood education delightful and enjoyable for Bangladeshi kids. This program has been developed to address educational needs of kids between the ages of 3 and 8. Along with the kids, parents, care givers and teachers are involved in Sisimpur through different school and community- based intervention. SWB undertakes different school and community-based intervention to reinforce the messages aired through TV program. It develops and distributes school based educational materials, train teachers, monitors classroom activities and provides technical assistance for using them in the classroom along with community engagement and outreach programs. Since its inception, Sisimpur has been a tremendous success in Bangladesh and within a very short time, it became the most famous television program for kids as well as their caregivers. Further information can be found at www.Sisimpur.org.bd and www.sesameworkshop.org/

2 ABOUT THE RFP Sesame Workshop Bangladesh started the production brand new 20 storybooks for pre- primary to grade three children in Bangladesh. Formative research is a critical for Sesame Workshop Bangladesh during the production of Sisimpur storybooks. For doing so, Sesame Workshop Bangladesh is inviting a technical and financial proposal from experienced individual consultants/agencies/research organizations/ universities for the data collection, data entry and tabulation and preliminary analysis (details are in the scope of work).

3 SCOPE OF WORK 3.1 CONTENT TO BE TESTED Five books will be tested; they are of two categories: Read to Children and Read by Children. First, ‘Read to Children’ books are developed for pre-primary and grade 1 students; the idea behind is that these children are yet to be independent reader. So, teachers or caregivers will read this kind of storybook to the children and children will listen to the words/sentences and read the images. Second, ‘Read by Children’ books are developed for grade two and three. The underlying assumption is that these students are age-specific independent reader. They can read based on their capacity achieved so far. So, they will read this book to themselves with or without help from teachers/caregivers. The details are in the following table-

Table 1: Distribution of selected storybooks to be tested by book category and grade

Books Category and Number of Books Grade Read to Children Read by Children Pre-primary 2 0 Grade 1 1 0 Grade 2 0 1 Grade 3 0 1

3.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The broad objective of this formative research is to assess two things: appeal and comprehension among kids about Sisimpur storybooks. More precisely, the specific objectives of this research are: - to assess appeal of the characters, illustration and construct of the Sisimpur storybooks - to assess comprehension of key messages, vocabulary and sentence structure used in the storybooks

3.3 METHODOLOGY Study location: Data will be collected from four schools of Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka district: two urban and two rural schools. Data will be collected in a separate room of the school (in school off time) or in a quiet place.

Sampling and sample size: 64 kids aged between 4-8 years (32 girls and 32 boys; 16 children from each of four grades) will participate in the research. They will be selected purposively considering age and gender, place of residence. The details are in the following table-

Table 2: Distribution of child participants by place and storybooks

Type of book # of Location and type of school Read to Children Read by Children children School 1: Cox's Bazar (Urban) 4 4 4 4 16 School 2: Cox's Bazar (Rural) 4 4 4 4 16 School 3: Dhaka (Urban) 4 4 4 4 16 School 4: Dhaka (Rural) 4 4 4 4 16 # of children 16 16 16 16 64

3 In addition to that 32 parents and teachers will participate in four FGDs. The details are in the following table-

Table 3: Distribution of parent participants by place and storybooks

Parents & teachers of students # of Location and type of school PP and G1 G2 and G3 Parents School 1: Cox's Bazar (Urban) 2 2 2 2 8 School 2: Cox's Bazar (Rural) 2 2 2 2 8 School 3: Dhaka (Urban) 2 2 2 2 8 School 4: Dhaka (Rural) 2 2 2 2 8 # of Parents 8 8 8 8 32

Design and research methods: SWB is requesting to include the design & research methodology part into the technical proposal. The strategy/approach will be prepared by following categories separately: • For children • For parents & teachers In addition, at the start of data collection, a successful ice breaking or rapport building with children and adult is extremely necessary, and thus a complete ice breaking session plan for children and adults are requested.

3.4 RESEARCH ETHICS A. No harm to kid: At the very outset of the interview, the purpose of the research will be clarified to the enumerators. They will be well trained on how to treat a child during the interview. They will be instructed not to behave in any unseemly manner that violates the ethical codes. B. Informed consent and child assent: The teachers as the guardian of kids at school will be informed about the purpose of the research. The purpose of the research will also be clarified to kids in a way they understand, and researchers will obtain child verbal assent. Any child who did not want to participate in the research will be excluded. C. Privacy and confidentiality: The interviews will be conducted on school premises. Each child will be interviewed in separate places so that conversation between a child and the enumerator cannot be heard by the other kids. None other than the research team will have access to the data. D. Compensation: Kids will be given small tokens of Sisimpur stickers and bookmarks as gift.

4 4 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS • Two days training for enumerators, managers and agency to be conducted jointly by SWB and the agency. The agency shall organize the training in a suitable venue either in Dhaka or Cox’s Bazar; • Data collection from 4 schools (16 kids from each school and 8 parents & teachers from each location; • 64 kids (distribution: 32 males and 32 female kids; 32 urban and 32 rural; 16 kids from Pre-primary, 16 kids from grade 1, 16 kids from grade 2, 16 kids from grade 3) • Same ratio of respondents during research like 50% male & 50% female; and • Camera(s) with good resolution for documenting children’s expression during entire data collection period and 8 audio recording devices; • Research team from hired individual/agency/organization will consist of the following: o 1 lead researcher o 8 enumerators o 3 field managers o 1 team leader • All data enumerators for research will be recruited considering their previous working experience with children. All enumerators must have the skills to know the local dialect of Cox’s Bazar.

5 DELIVERABLES The deliverables of the project are below-

Major tasks Deliverables Reporting MOV Data Both appeal & comprehensive Softcopy (Both Quality collection questionnaire for kids; Semi- Bangla & English Assurance & instruments structured questionnaire for version) Approved parents & teachers questionnaire form SWB Pre-test of Tracked changed instruments Softcopy (Both Photos from instruments with observations Bangla & English field test & version) Approved questionnaire form SWB Training Training of 8 enumerators, 3 Training report (one Training photo field managers, one team lead pager) and participant and incorporate changes in the list training

5 Major tasks Deliverables Reporting MOV Data 1. Filled-in questionnaire of 64 Filled in hardcopy Filled-in collection respondents questionnaires Questionnaires 2. Filled in SES questionnaire of and the 32 parents & teachers Photo of data collection Data entry 1. Database in SPSS and/or Database in SPSS Data Quality and Goggle data sheets for Socio and/or Google Assurance tabulation Economic Status (SES) and Sheets Interview questionnaires 2. Verbatim transcripts for FGD Database and and other qualitative data transcripts from interview 3. Recorded videos and audios

Analysis Qualitative data analysis, Analysis with scripts Approved descriptive and inferential (SPSS or stata) and Report by SWB analysis of quantitative data coded transcripts Research Research findings sharing Softcopy Quality report through PPT (PowerPoint) Assurance & Presentation Approved presentation by SWB Report Final report Final Report in MS Approved writing word Report by SWB

6 PROJECT TIMELINE As mentioned, a two-day training for enumerators will be held followed a mock in actual setting and with final instruments. Specific dates are given below:

Instrument development : January 27, 2020 Training of enumerators : January 29-30, 2020 Field testing of the instrument : February 3, 2020 Instruments revision (if needed) : February 5, 2020 Data collection : February 9-13, 2020 Data entry : February 16-23, 2020 Data analysis and Reporting : February 27, 2020 (1st Draft) Report presentation : March 4, 2020 Final report submission : COB March 7, 2020

6 7 PROPOSAL COMPONENTS The Financial proposal should be submitted both in an excel file. The file should have six separate sheets for the following six sections. 7.1 Understanding of the project (inside a text box) 7.2 Individual/agency/organization profile (inside a text box) 7.3 Links of previous works (inside a text box) 7.4 Detailed research design & methodology (inside a text box) 7.5 Budget summary (four budget heads- training, data collection, data entry, analysis and report writing) 7.6 Detail budget with unit and unit rate (detailing out four above major heads) 7.7 Legal documents (including agency or organization’s registration paper/NID, Tax/TIN certificate, VAT certificate and bank detail).

8 EVALUATION CRITERIA Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria: Section Weightage Understanding of the project 10% Previous relevant experience 10% Research design & methodology 40% Budget 40% Total Weightage 100%

9 DEADLINE The proposal should be submitted by January 5, 2020 (On or before 11:59 PM) An ‘Agency Briefing’ session will be held at Sesame Workshop Bangladesh (SWB) office on December 23, 2019 at 03:30 PM.

10 POINT OF CONTACT Name: Apurba Shikder Designation: Deputy Manager- Program Development & Research Phone: +8801919466828 Email: [email protected]

11 HOW TO SUBMIT THE PROPOSAL Submit proposal via email to Mr. Mozammel Khokon at [email protected]

Email subject line should be the following- For clarification of question - Question on RFP FOR SISIMPUR STORYBOOK FORMATIVE RESEARCH (S-11&12)

For proposal Submission - PROPOSAL FOR SISIMPUR STORYBOOK FORMATIVE RESEARCH (S- 11&12)

SWB Office Address Police Plaza Concord (8th Floor) Tower-1, Unit-G, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh Telephone: +880-2-55045158-59

Table 4: List of primarily selected storybooks

S. L *Storybook Name Goal Garde Category Ant Ant Coping with natural Pre-primary Read to 1 calamities (Flood) children Let’s Count Visual art appreciation Pre-primary Read to 2 children Fruit Festival in Nutrition and nutritious Grade 1 Read by 3 Sisimpur food children Wind Environment (Pollution) Grade 2 Read by 4 children Alien Comes to Global climate change Grade 3 Read to 5 Sisimpur children

*Title of the storybooks for research may change further as per SWB’s requirement.