TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT
| Title of Assignment | Qualitative research consultancy on children’s COVID-19 experience and views | |
| Section | Research & Evaluation, Social Policy | |
| Location | Maseru, with travel to several districts | |
| Estimated duration | 60 days | |
| Start date | From: 21 June 2021 | To: 10 September 2021 |
- BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic has had huge implications for children’s physical, psychological and social wellbeing. Although they are the age group least likely to suffer the direct health effects of the virus, it is well established that children are often the worst affected by economic and social crisis as silent victims. There are three main areas of potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s wellbeing:
(a) (Mental) Health effects. Although they are a low-risk group, some children’s health will be negatively affected either directly through exposure to the virus or indirectly through a reduced access to regular health services. A much larger group of children will be indirectly affected in terms of care and/or psychosocial wellbeing by health problems, mental health burden of worry about the situation (e.g. not being in school amongst peers), and mortality of family members close to them.
(b) Effects of immediate COVID-19 mitigation responses (e.g. ‘lockdown’). Children’s lives have been affected in major ways by ‘lockdown’ restrictions, and school closures in particular, introduced to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Given their economic dependence on adults, some children can also suffer the effects of income insecurity and financial stresses as their parents lose jobs during the pandemic, with negative implications for children’s basic needs for food, schooling etc.
(c) Longer-term repercussions. There will be many medium to longer-term repercussions of the immediate COVID-19 response measures, including a likelihood of the economic downturn and a likelihood of many children unlikely to return to school when they re-open, but also changes to various aspects of life, such as the way education is delivered.
These impacts will not be experienced in the same way by all children. There will be differential impacts according to children’s age, gender, poverty status and social identity. The impacts are also likely to differ, and be stronger, for groups of children who already face potentially overlapping disadvantages – such as children living in poverty; children belonging to minorities; migrant children; children in institutions ; children with disabilities and/or with chronic health conditions; and homeless children. A key risk of the crisis is that it will widen existing inequalities in society, and it is important that we understand and respond to this risk.
In comparison with adults, children have relatively little direct voice in policy and media environments. Most information about COVID-19 impacts come from external sources and very little attention has been given to allowing children to speak for themselves and provide a more direct narrative on their experiences. But it is vital that children’s perspectives and voices on this key global issue are heard, documented and taken into account in formulating child-focused responses that reflect their needs for support. This includes children having the opportunity to be involved in designing policy responses. There is therefore a strong potential to gain some new insights through this study as to what children are going through as well as what they need.
SCOPE OF WORK
- Goal and Objective:
The proposed research “Children’s experiences and views of COVID-19, and response to it in Lesotho” will provide a more detailed insight into the experiences and views of a sample of children and adolescents. The research will take a qualitative and participative approach. It will aim to understand each child’s experience within the broader context of their lives. It will seek to involve children throughout the research process, including in the design of the study (where possible), and in the interpretation and dissemination of the findings. The main aim is to inform policy and practice responses to the current crisis and future similar events.
The objective of this consultancy is to support the Lesotho UNICEF Office based in Maseru to carry out this qualitative research with children and adolescents 19 years old and younger (referred to as ‘children’) in Lesotho.
- Activities and Tasks:
The research will include children with different backgrounds in Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), in-depth interviews and using photovoice. These activities will be performed in-person as a preferred approach, but remote methods (e.g. phone calls, digital platforms etc.) can be explored depending on restrictions related to COVID-19 and how they evolve.
The consultants are expected to carry out the following:
- Inception activities
- Review the qualitative data collection tools and materials, as needed
- Translate the data collection tools into Sesotho
- Finalize and validate data collection tools based on one or two initial consultations and pre-testing with children/adolescents (tools piloting activity)
- Develop sampling method of children (including children with disabilities and children from ultra-poor households)
- Identify groups of children to be part of the study using the sampling methodology and contact their parents/guardians (UNICEF will support if needed), including obtaining informed consent
- Support the ethics review process to seek ethical clearance in Lesotho
- Conduct data collection
- Prepare and provide all necessary tools for data collection, including papers and colouring pencils for children’s drawing (especially with younger children), print interview guides, consent forms, voice recording device as needed, etc.
- Lead and implement activities of data collection with children in communities as needed (depending on sampling methodology)
- Carry out between 6 to 8 FGDs with different categories of children[1]. FGDs should comprise of 6-8 participants (children) each.
- Carry out 20 in-depth interviews with children (sub-sample from the FGDs) using photovoice[2]
- Transcribe data collected verbatim as needed
- Translate the interviews and discussions into English
- Coordination and technical support
- Support with data analysis and reports writing, as needed
- Lead on the full coordination, planning and execution of data collection activities in-country
- Liaise regularly with UNICEF Lesotho (and Innocenti as needed)
- Attend calls, meetings and webinars as needed, and assist in preparing background materials and taking minutes.
Call for proposals
Interested institutions may access the detailed REQUEST FOR PRPOSAL No.9167243 from the following links (United Nations – Lesotho platforms) 1). https://lesotho.un.org/en/128564-qualitative-research-consultancy-childrens-covid-19-experiences-and-views and 2). https://www.facebook.com/www.uniceflesotho
[1] To be discussed and finalized during the inception stage. The current thinking will include children of different age groups / education level, children with disabilities and children living in ultra-poverty.
[2] Photovoice is the use of photo images (e.g. disposable cameras) to capture aspects of their environment and experiences and share them with others.