Organization: APHRC – African Population and Health Research Center
Location: Nairobi | Dakar
Grade: Consultancy – Consultant – Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
Public Health and Health Service
Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals
Women’s Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
Population matters (trends and census)
Scientist and Researcher
Closing Date: 2024-10-31
The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a premier research-to-policy institution, generating evidence, strengthening research and related capacity in the African research and development ecosystem, and engaging policy to inform action on health and development. The Center is Africa-based and African-led, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a West Africa Regional Office (WARO), in Dakar, Senegal. APHRC seeks to drive change by developing strong African research leadership and promoting evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) across sub-Saharan Africa.
Rationale and Purpose of the Situational Analysis and Scoping Review
Over the years, APHRC has increased its portfolio of work on gender. As such, APHRC wants to conduct an internal situational analysis to enable it understand the extent of its gender presence across the various thematic areas: Human Development, Health and Wellbeing, Population Dynamics and Urbanization; Data Science and Research and Related Capacities Strengthening and externally with its partners so that it can strengthen its systems, processes, and programs and strengthen its gender engagement capacity as well as informing the Center’s 2022-2026 Strategic goals. The main aim of the situational analysis is to:
Identify the gender gaps, constraints and possible opportunities across all the units and themes within APHRC. The evidence from the analysis will inform and shape the current gender policy as well as APHRC’s 2022-2026 strategic goals. In particular, the situational analysis will examine the following key areas: vision and strategic planning, service delivery, organization structure, and transversal/cross-cutting areas.
Provide recommendations for strengthening the institution’s gender engagement capacity.
Develop a monitoring, evaluation and learning plan of key gender indicators across each of APHRC’s theme, unit and program.
The aim of the scoping review is to conduct a review of scholarly work (empirical and secondary literature) on the gender landscape in terms of emerging trends, shifts and gaps in research, interventions and practices globally. The scoping review will be: i) related to APHRC’s main thematic areas: Human Development, Health and Wellbeing, Population Dynamics and Urbanization; Data Science and Research and Related Capacities Strengthening, and ii) other externally-extrapolated thematic areas that are closely align to and/or connected with the work that APHRC does.
The ultimate goal of the scoping review is to:
Gather evidence on gender-related research, interventions and practices around the globe that align with APHRC’s work and use this evidence to shape APHRC’s 2022-2026 strategic goals and future gender engagements, and
Provide comprehensive evidence that APHRC can use to situate its current work around gender and develop forward-looking strategies and programs that will position APHRC at the forefront of gender-related research, interventions and practice.
Scope of Assignment
1.Situational Analysis
The consultant will use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess APHRC’s gender equality and gender mainstreaming efforts, analyzing institutional documents, staff perceptions, partnership agreements, and external collaborations. The analysis will include:
Document Review: Conduct a comprehensive review of APHRC’s internal documents (e.g., HR policies, strategic plan) and external agreements with partners(e.g., Memorandums of Understanding)) to evaluate how gender equality is embedded.
Interviews, Surveys and Focus Groups: Conduct engagements with APHRC staff and management, as well as external partners, to gather insights on the current gender policy and practice landscape with regards to trends, gaps, and opportunities.
Stakeholder Mapping: Identify and analyze key external stakeholders and thought leaders involved in gender equality efforts that APHRC engages with or could potentially collaborate with.
Data Analysis: Evaluate the data from document reviews and staff engagements (surveys, interviews and focus groups) to identify gaps and challenges in gender mainstreaming, and provide context-based evidence to inform actionable recommendations.
2. Scoping Review
The consultant will use qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies to review existing evidence in the gender landscape with regards to emerging trends, shifts and gaps in research, interventions and practices globally. The consultant will indicate the eligibility criteria for documents to be reviewed as aligned with the goals of the scoping review. The consultant will indicate the data extraction tool(s), the analysis method(s) and the analysis framework that will anchor the scoping review.
Key tasks and outputs
Situational Analysis
Conduct an extensive desk review of APHRC’s key institutional documents, including gender specific policies, to determine the extent of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in its policies, programs and activities, including gaps, constraints, and opportunities.
Conduct individual and/or group interviews, staff surveys and focus group discussions to seek staff views on APHRC’s gender equality and gender mainstreaming efforts in relation to its 2022-2026 strategic goals.
Assess the capacity and practices of APHRC’s collaborating partners to deliver gender-transformative outputs that complement APHRC’s gender equality and gender mainstreaming efforts and outputs.
Propose a gender mainstreaming monitoring, evaluation and learning plan, co-created with APHRC staff and collaborating partners, indicating roles and responsibilities of each entity, including indicators for measuring success of actions outlined.
A 3-page situational analysis inception report describing the approach including interpretation of the Terms of Reference (ToR), methodology, and work plan.
A comprehensive report of the findings, analysis, and recommendations. The final report should incorporate feedback and recommendations from APHRC’s staff.
A PowerPoint presentation of findings and recommendations to APHRC staff.
Soft copies of ALL reference materials used in the review, analysis, and report.
Scoping Review
A 3-page scoping review inception report describing the approach including interpretation of the ToR, methodology, and work plan.
A comprehensive publishable scoping review report of the findings, analysis, and recommendations. The final report should incorporate feedback and recommendations from APHRC’s staff.
A PowerPoint presentation of findings and recommendations to APHRC staff.
Soft copies of ALL reference materials used in the review, analysis, and report.
Qualifications and Experience
A Masters’ degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Social Work, Anthropology, Economics, Social Sciences or a related field.
A strong background in gender work with more than three (3) years in gender analysis, monitoring, mainstreaming and implementation techniques within an African context.
Proven experience working on similar tasks within academic or research organizations, non-profits, or institutions with a similar mission to that of APHRC.
Knowledge of key/emerging gender priorities and issues in the African research, funding, and policy landscape, systems, and approaches focusing on the African context.
Minimum 3 years of experience collecting primary data and field work.
Demonstrated ability to write high quality, methodologically sound, analytical documents.
Excellent analytical and communication skills and sensitivity to gender and diverse groups within the institution and its collaborating partners.
Have a good working knowledge of the quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods commonly used in research projects.
Reporting
The consultant will report to the Coordinator of the APHRC’s Gender Working Group.
Confidentiality
All information obtained during the consultancy shall be treated as confidential and may not be disclosed to any third party without the written consent of APHRC.
Duration
This work will be carried out within 30 days from the start date in the signed contract.
Submission of Bids
Interested bidders should send proposals (3 pages of proposal/approach, CVs and/or firm profile, relevant past work, references, work plan, and detailed budget outlining all costs associated with the consultancy) by email to consultancies@aphrc.org and copy to procurement@aphrc.org by October 31, 2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Special Notice
APHRC is an equal-opportunity employer that is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. All employment decisions are made based on qualifications and organizational needs. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process.