Terms of Reference for Baseline Study of Project ‘Enabling Households to Transition from Traditional Cooking Stoves and Fuels to Clean Alternatives’ (ETT) in block of District and Subir block of Dang District,

Background In rural , cooking accounts for over 80% of the total household energy consumption with biomass as predominant cooking fuel, which along with firewood chips contribute to around 75% of cooking energy needs. Indoor air pollution occurring from the combustion of such biomass fuel in traditional cook stoves causes a significant public health hazard predominantly affecting poor rural population of the country. Many people are exposed daily to harmful emissions and other health risks during biomass burning, typically in low efficient traditional stoves having inadequate ventilation. Majority of those exposed to enhanced level of pollutants are women indulged in food preparation in kitchen, and infant/young children who spend time around these women near the cooking area. Broadly, use of traditional cook stove has great impact on health and, affect the household economy, women’s time and activities, gender roles and relations, safety and hygiene, as well as overall environment. It is estimated that half of the worldwide wood harvest is used as fuel. Further, in some rural settings, poor families spend significant fraction of household income to purchase biomass-based fuels or devote large fraction of household labor to collect fuels for cooking. Under such situations, use of Improved Cook Stove (ICS) has the multiple benefit of reduced exposure to toxic smoke, lowering the associated risk factors for disease, reduce forest degradation, address climate change, and cut down on the time that families - usually women and girls - spend cooking and collecting fuels, freeing up time for income-generating activities or school work for the girls.

In the above context, CARE India is going to implement a project on clean alternative cooking solution in Umarpada, and Subir, Dang district of Gujarat. In both the locations, almost 80 percent of Households (HHs) are using traditional chulha with firewood as fuel for cooking. 10 percent population is completely using LPG and another 10 percent of population depends on LPG during specific situation like during monsoon or very hot summers. Thus, the poor and marginalized community from both Umarpada and Dang are predominantly traditional cookstove dependent for their cooking need and face various issues and challenges, which require interventions to be designed around the use of alternate clean energy options in a sustainable manner.

Project Goal With this background, CARE India Solutions for Sustainable Development (CISSD) is implementing a project with a goal to promote transition of sustainable adoption of 6000 Traditional cook stove dependent households (TCDHs) to clean energy options, through a combination of capacity building, collectivization, market development, and multi-stakeholder engagement actions.

Project Objectives The objectives of the project are as follows: 1. To increase awareness and adoption of ICS or any other clean energy options by women from TCDHs 2. To empower women from TCDHs to take an informed decision to transition to ICS and any other alternate clean cooking option 3. To improve sensitivity and responsiveness of men and key ICS supply chain stakeholders and financial products service providers to cater the needs of women for appropriate cooking solutions 4. To enhance a strong and inclusive ICS value chain (VC) 5. To promote a market led and women-centric ICS transition to clean energy advocated for large scale dissemination and replication.

Project Location

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The project will be implemented in selected villages of Umarpada block of Surat district and Subir block of Dang district in Gujarat. Names of potential villages from both the location listed below:

Location Potential Villages Umarpada Haldhari, Sevlan, Vadpada, Chimipatal, Bilvan, Kashi, Umarjhar, Taval, Panch Amba, Khodamba, Pinpur, Darda, Umargot, Chokhvada, Divtan. Subir Karanjpada, Sepuamba, Pipaldahad, Uga, Hanwatpada, Chikhali, Vadpada, Pipladevi, Chidhpada, Harpada.

Project Impact Group 6,000 TCDHs from underprivileged and marginalized communities (average 3,000 from each location), who are using traditional cook stove for meeting their cooking demands. This will result in direct well-being impact for 30,000 members (considering an average of 5 family persons per family) of their households. Indirectly, the initiative will impact another 4,000 TCDHs and their families in the larger community.

Purpose of the Baseline As part of the project design, the project plans to undertake a comprehensive baseline study for establishing current status of the key indicators where key components of the project are concerned, to enable measurement of the project’s impact and outcomes, as committed in the project’s logical framework.

Evaluation Questions The baseline and the final Evaluation will attempt to answer the following questions: 1. Whether women-centered model of ICS or any other clean cooking option for sustained adoption approach is effective in transitioning to clean energy? Is it a scalable model? How successful was the project in addressing the barriers affecting a) women-centered adoption b) willingness to adopt, c) control over decision-making on purchase? 2. Intervention Effectiveness: Is there enough evidence to suggest that SHE-school facilitated transitioning to ICS or any clean energy cooking options. 3. Sustainability: What are the evidences coming from baseline to provide insights that can contribute to improve program implementation and sustainability?

Impact level Indicators  % of TCDHs reduced traditional fuel use during the last week (preceding the survey)  % of women saved cooking time @average hour/day on the previous day of survey  % of TCDH with reduced monthly expenditure on any fuel used for cooking  % of TCDH with reduced monthly expenditure on traditional cooking fuel  % reduction in number of times TCDH women collecting firewood  % reduction in number of hours used for fuel collection by TCDH women

Outcome level indicators OBJECTIVE 1: To increase awareness and adoption of ICS or any other clean energy options by women from TCDHs  % of TCDH women who becomes aware through Sustainable House Energy (SHE) school on any clean energy options for cooking?

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 % of TCDH women switch to clean energy option or adopting ICS  % of TCDH, who have used ICS for cooking at least two meals per day during the last seven days

OBJECTIVE 2: To empower women from TCDHs to take an informed decision to transition to ICS and any other alternate clean cooking option  % of TCDH women who choose ICS or any other clean energy option to suit their cooking needs.  % of women who have increased confidence level to influence on HH cooking energy decision making  % of TCDH women who have mobilized or saved resources to procure ICS

OBJECTIVE 3: To improve sensitivity and responsiveness of men and key ICS supply chain stakeholders and financial products service providers to cater the needs of women for appropriate cooking solutions  % of TCDHs where men are aware of importance of clean energy cooking options  % of men who are supportive (purchase of ICS) for clean energy cooking options  No of TCDHs availed financial products for availing clean energy cooking options  % of TCDH women receiving services from various supply chain actors related to ICS or any other clean energy cooking options

OBJECTIVE 4: To enhance a strong and inclusive ICS value chain (VC)  % TCDHs, who have connected with one of the ICS suppliers, available by the end of the project, to support and service ICS users in project villages  No of TCDHs accessed services of ICS or any other alternate energy source manufacturer, dealers or suppliers.  % of women from SHE school initiated their business plan with value chain actors  % of individuals and groups, who started clean energy-related business/trade as ICS Entrepreneurs, with special focus on women

OBJECTIVE 5: To promote a market led and women-centric ICS transition to clean energy advocated for large scale dissemination and replication  Total number value chain actors present in project locations

Study Design and Methodology The study will adopt quasi-experimental research design with a mixed-methodology approach for data collection. The quantitative study will be anchored by a household survey, covering a total sample size of 286 households in villages of Umarpada block of Surat district and Subir block of Dang district (143 in each block). This sample size is estimated at 95% confidence level and 5% margin of error. The study will also include a comparison area, which will be non-project villages of Umarpada block. The sample size for comparison area will be 143 households. Roughly 12 households should be selected from 12 intervention village to cover the proposed sample size. The data would be collected at the level of household, with women and men respondents from the same household as per the relevant sections in the tool.

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A quick house-listing of all households in all intervention villages (in Umarpada and Subir) and comparison villages need to be conducted to get the universe for sampling in intervention locations. The selection of sample for the baseline survey should be made based on households which are using traditional cooking options. From the listed households, sample for the survey will be drawn using Population Proportionate to Size (PPS) sampling method to ensure equal representation of sample across the villages.

The qualitative component of the study will entail Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with the women and men from TCDH, SHG members and other key stakeholders such as cook stove suppliers, dealers, retailers, financial service providers, forest department representative and any NGO working in the area about cook stove.

Proposed distribution of quantitative and qualitative sample is illustrated as below: Method Respondent Sample Umarpada Subir Umarpada Total intervention intervention comparison Sample villages villages villages House-listing 12 villages 12 villages 12 villages 26 villages Semi-Structured Women and men from 143 143 143 429 Interview TCDHs Focussed Group Women groups / SHGs 3 3 3 9 Discussion Men groups 2 2 1 5 Key Informant Cook stove/clean cooking 1 1 0 2 Interview option suppliers Cook stove/clean cooking 1 1 0 2 option dealers Cook stove/clean cooking 2 2 0 4 option retailers Cook stove/clean cooking 1 1 0 2 option manufacturers Financial service providers 2 2 0 4 (bank, local money lender, MFI etc) Forest department 1 0 0 1 representative NGO working in the area 1 1 1 3

Scope of Work for the Agency  Finalizing study design for baseline in Umarpada and Subir blocks in close association with CARE India, considering project commitments and expected project outcomes and impact  House-listing of all intervention and comparison villages  Develop, pre-test, translate and finalize the study tools for the baseline study in line with CARE India’s requirements and quality expectations  Identify, recruit and train enumerators - for data collection, shared understanding of the study objectives, understanding of the research instruments, sampling protocols and the quality control mechanism.

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 Design and put in place quality control protocols for ensuring quality data collection, analysis, and evaluation report preparation and share with CARE  Ensure quality data collection with a clear supervision plan and adequate human resources, data entry and data cleaning protocols.  Present both qualitative and quantitative data and information in appropriate and computerized formats to facilitate ease of transfer to and use by CARE India  Develop data analysis framework and share with CARE India  Agree with CARE India on structure of baseline final report. The analysis should be bifurcated for two locations (Umarpada and Subir) along with the comparison analysis.  Submission of draft report and presentation of baseline study findings to CARE India before finalizing the report  Prepare and submit baseline study report in a format agreed upon with CARE India and incorporating CARE India’s inputs and comments.

Support to be Provided by CARE The following support will be provided by CARE to the selected agency:  List of Intervention villages  Project’s logical framework/any other project related information  Inputs for finalization of study design (including sampling), methodology and tools  Support in training of enumerators  On-field support and supervision during data collection  Inputs and comments for finalization of the baseline study reports

Deliverables The agency selected for undertaking baseline study will be responsible for providing the following deliverables to CARE India: • Detailed study design, detailed plans for execution of the study and quality assurance protocols • Final study tools (both quantitative and qualitative) in Gujarati and English language (along with the font files) • List of enumerators, for both the locations, with their key background details and experiences prior to the training • Field movement plan and quality assurance protocol for house-listing and main survey in both the locations that will be followed in the field • Regular (weekly) update on completion rate of data collection • House-listing data • Final cleaned quantitative data set for both the blocks in MS Excel and SPSS along with the syntax • Translation and transcripts of qualitative data • Detailed plan for tabulation and analysis (of qualitative and quantitative data) • Draft report with bifurcated analysis of quantitative and qualitative data 1) by blocks and 2) by intervention-comparison areas • Revised Final baseline study report based on feedback received by CARE India • A set of presentation slides on the findings and compare with district and state statistic.

Quality Control Mechanism Quality of data gathered is of utmost importance and so the hired agency for data collection is expected to design quality control protocols for ensuring quality data collection. The agency is also expected to deploy personnel to

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implement data quality protocols. The time and duration of every tool usage/interview must be recorded and included in the final data set. A full description of quality control measures must be included in the agency’s proposal. The agency will be responsible for providing computers and other hardware to its team for data entry and backup while in the field.

Data Rights A contract for this project will only be awarded on the condition that all information, reports and plans, both print and electronic that may have been designed specifically for this project, in whatever format, will belong to CARE India. The Agency may not use the data for their own research purposes, nor license the data to be used by others, without the written consent of CARE India.

Final Report Requirements The agency is accountable to maintain the requirements for the content, format, or length of the final reports, overall quality and approved timelines for both and Umarpada baseline. Each final report should include (at a minimum) the following elements: - Executive Summary (that outlines findings of key indicators of the project) - Acknowledgements - List of Acronyms and abbreviations - Table of Contents - Background/Brief program description and context - Purpose and expected use of the survey - Objectives of the study - Study design and methodology (including limitations of the study, if any) - Socio-demographic profile of study participants - Key findings (include values of all outcome and impact level indicators, include illustrations in the form of tables and charts) - Conclusion and Recommendations - Annexures – study tools, a matrix of key indicators with percentage

Timeline The assignment should be completed within 60 days of signing of the contract. The agency will propose a detailed timeline in its proposal and strictly adhere to the agreed schedule.

Agency Requirements The agency that intends to participate in the bidding should have extensive experience conducting quantitative and qualitative surveys. The agency should be able to demonstrate the ability to identify qualified interviewers who are fluent in Gujarati, are able to read and comprehend English, and are also able code answers to the questions in English. At least 50% of the interviewers should be women.

The agency should have proven experience and expertise in conducting qualitative studies and using participatory methodologies and tools as required for this assignment. Sound understanding and experience of conducting energy related studies, gender focused studies, livelihood situational assessments, and collective capacity assessments will be a definite plus and should be clearly mentioned and qualified in the proposal. An understanding of cook stove technologies that support reduced water and energy footprints will be a value add. The agency should understand the local area in the context of livelihood and use cooking solutions. The agency

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should be able to deploy qualified facilitators who are fluent in Gujarati and are also able to understand and write notes in English fluently. Each qualitative team will have a mix of male and female members.

Format for Proposal 1. Technical Proposal

Section 1: Appreciation of the ToR and Qualifications, if any

Section 2: Credentials of the Firm (Organization, organization registration certificate, core-competency, experience and human resources; annual turnover for last three years & annual turnover on similar assignments for last three years not more than 2 pages)

Section 3: Previous Experience (details of assignments of similar nature successfully completed by the firms in the last five years, maximum 5; for each assignment, please mention the title, duration, client, total cost, role of the firm, brief description of services rendered by the firm and attach copies of agreement of 5 similar assignments)

Section 4: Approach and methodology of data collection, data analysis and report writing (including how to manage the assignment, quality control mechanism for data collection, kind of software to use for data analysis, the work-plan in the form of a Gantt Chart; team composition and personnel inputs; without any mention of the professional fees)

Section 5: Signed CVs of the proposed personnel and commitment of their availability for the (duration of the) assignment

Section 6: Any other information (e.g., conflict of interest, Joint venture or disclosure, etc.)

2. Financial Proposal

Financial proposal for quantitative and qualitative survey will be submitted separately. Also, financial proposals for two scenarios are to be submitted:

Scenario 1: With control Scenario 2: Without control

2 .1 Summary of the total costs Professional costs Other direct costs Government taxes, if any Total Costs

2 .2 Details of the costs proposed (indicative)

Professional Cost Professional Number Days Rate Total

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Quantitative Qualitative Total

Field Cost Household/Individual Quantitative Survey Number Days Rate Total

Total Qualitative Study

Total

Total Field Cost

Travel Cost Household/Individual Quantitative Survey Number Days Rate Total

Total Qualitative Study

Total

Total Travel Cost

Professional per diem Number Days Rate Total Household Quantitative Survey Qualitative Study Total

Other Cost Unit Rate Total

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