Terms of Reference: Data Collection for Ubongo’s Caregiver Formative Research and User Testing in Nigeria (Lagos and/or Kano)

Background:

UBONGO is Africa's leading producer of kids' edutainment. As a non-profit social enterprise, we create fun, localised, and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Ubongo reaches over 27 million kids across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio, and mobile phones. Our show’s Ubongo Kids and Akili and Me currently air in 23 countries across Africa in multiple languages.

Study background

In line with Ubongo’s vision for 2028 and funding from the LEGO Foundation, Ubongo hopes to build an ecosystem of partners to provide 92M+ families in 49 countries with play-based early learning resources in 20+ local languages. Akili Family will improve kids’ cognitive, social and emotional skills; empower caregivers to support learning through play; and build an understanding and demand for learning through play.

Caregivers lack the knowledge and resources for kids’ early development. Caregivers perceive play as disruptive to learning and believe that learning starts at school - missing the child’s critical developmental window. Through this project we hope to conduct thorough human-centred design and research with caregivers and teachers to develop a program model that motivates them and inspires positive behaviour change and prioritises caregiver engagement to ensure communities are partners in kids’ learning.

Qualitative research around the impact of our early caregiver content was done several years ago, focusing on parenting approaches, behavioural management and corporal punishment. The results from this programme were very promising and we are eager to explore ways in which our content can encourage other positive behaviours in caregivers, especially around learning through play.

Research objectives and research questions

Before we begin the production of more caregiver engagement content we would like to conduct formative research and user testing of existing content to understand:

1. How do we get caregivers to start and keep watching Ubongo’s content with their children? (including what approach to reaching them, including those without access to TV and internet)
2. What positive behaviours can we encourage caregivers to adopt? How receptive are they to receiving parenting support through edutainment? What needs of theirs can be met through edutainment?
3. How can we engage parents to play with their child? What about non-parent caregivers?
4. How engaging and impactful is our existing caregiver content? How could it be improved?
5. How best can we reach parents and caregivers with our content, including those without access to broadcast platforms?

Research approach

The research will be qualitative in nature, consisting of a mix of ethnography, focus group discussions (FGDs) and in depth interviews (IDIs) with families, parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders. We are looking for a small team of data collectors (a locally registered research agency or group of consultants) to conduct the data collection. Note: We are open to hiring two separate agencies or groups of consultants, one for Lagos and one for Kano.

Ubongo will

• Design the studies and data collection tools
• Support with the recruitment of research participants
• Provide a one day training to the agency/group of consultants in each location
• Finalise the data analysis and reporting after the debrief with the agency.

You, the data collectors (an agency or group of individual consultants) will be responsible for

• Obtaining all research permits where applicable.
• Recruiting research participants with support and guidance from Ubongo.
• Attending 1 day training organised by Ubongo at the beginning of the data collection process in each location.
• Providing Ubongo with a short inception report outlining the approach to data collection, including any risks and mitigations and safeguarding and child protection policies, before data collection begins
• Conducting the ethnographies, IDIs and FGDs as outlined below
• Taking notes from the ethnographies and audio recordings of the FGDs and IDIs and providing these to Ubongo
• Filling out debrief templates provided by Ubongo with summary findings
• Attending regular debrief discussions after fieldwork (daily wherever possible)
• Following relevant ethical, safeguarding, child protection, and data protection policies and processes, including processes to prevent the transmission of diseases – you should demonstrate in your proposal how you will adhere to these - and ensure any Research Assistants you work with (if applicable) are following these as well.
• Ensuring that the recruitment and data collection process is inclusive of people with disabilities – you should outline in your proposal how you will go about this.
• Transcribing the audio recordings into English

You will conduct data collection in Lagos (urban) and Kano (rural and refugee settings). We are open to hiring two separate agencies or groups of consultants, one for Lagos and one for Kano.

Location.                           Ethnographies                                  FGDs                           IDIs

Urban (Lagos)                             2                                                  5                                  3

Rural (Kano state)                       2                                                 5                                  3

Refugee setting (Kano town)     2                                                 5                                  3

TOTAL                                          6                                                    15                                   9

In each of the three locations you will conduct:

• 2 ethnographies (each ethnography involves spending 2 days in the home of a family with a child aged 3-8 observing parents, caregivers and children and their interactions) - 1 with a family with access to TV broadcast or internet, 1 with a family without access to TV or internet. One of the 2 families should have a child with a disability - 6 ethnographies in total
• 2 FGDs with mothers of a child aged 3-8 - 1 group with access to TV or internet, 1 group without access to TV or internet, at least one mother in each group should have a child with a disability - 6 FGDs in total
• 2 FGDs with fathers of a child aged 3-8 - 1 group with access to TV or internet, 1 group without access to TV or internet, at least one father in each group should have a child with a disability - 6 FGDs in total
• 1 FGDs with other caregivers of a child aged 3-8 (adolescent siblings 15+, dadas, nannies)  - at least one caregiver should have a child aged 3-6 with a disability living in their home - 3 FGDs in total
• 3 IDIs with stakeholders (including a mix of teachers, community health workers (child care, ECD), local community leaders, religious leaders and NGO workers across the different study locations) - 9 IDIs in total

Note: The approach outlined above is indicative only and will be finalised in discussion with the data collectors.

Budget and payment

The total budget for this activity is $21,000 (inclusive any applicable taxes) to be paid

• 50% upon submission of the inception report
• 50% after completion of activities, once all notes, filled out debrief templates, audio recordings and transcriptions in English have been delivered to Ubongo, and approved as satisfactory by Ubongo
• Tax and insurance: The Agency/consultant/s shall be responsible for their income tax, any other taxes related to the activity and/or insurance during the assignment.

For those applying for Lagos data collection only, the total budget will be $7,000 (inclusive any applicable taxes) to be paid on the same terms as above.

For those applying for Kano data collection only, the total budget will be $14,000 (inclusive any applicable taxes) to be paid on the same terms as above.

Requirements for the data collectors

• Experience conducting qualitative and ethnographic research and evaluation for development and/or education projects
• Experience conducting data collection with children and with families
• An understanding of the ethical and safeguarding requirements for data collection, including working with children and vulnerable adults
• Adherence the applicable data protection laws of Nigeria and to Tanzania’s The Personal Data Protection Act of 2022.
• Relevant qualifications (e.g. degree in social work, social sciences or education, training in research methodology)
• If an agency, they must be registered with all relevant authorities in Nigeria for conducting this work and have a track record of working in Nigeria. If a group of individual consultants, they must have the right to work in Nigeria. Please note: Nigerian nationals / research agencies owned and run by Nigerian nationals will be strongly preferred.
• Fluent in local languages relevant for the study locations as well as strong English spoken and written skills

Requirements for your proposal

Please submit a short proposal of maximum five pages for how you will go about conducting the activities as outlined above. Your proposal should include the relevant qualifications and backgrounds of all the data collectors working on this study showing how you meet the requirements above, your work plan including how many days of work each individual will be contributing at each stage (please allow a half day in each location for introductions to local government and partner organisations), a short summary of your approach to ethics, safeguarding, child protection, and data protection, details of similar work conducted in the past especially ethnographic studies and work with children and families, and a budget breakdown totalling maximum $21,000 ($7,000 for Lagos only, $14,000 for Kano only) to include:

• Consultant fees / agency fee (please include a breakdown of how much each individual is being paid)
• Travel costs (ensuring any vehicles you are using have sufficient space to carry 2 Ubongo team members in addition to your team)
• Travel reimbursements and refreshments for research participants (assuming 6 participants for each FGD)
• Any other administrative costs

Please note: Ubongo will cover the costs of venue hire for the one day training session and Ubongo staff flights and subsistence costs.

Alongside your proposal, you should also submit the following accompanying documents:

• 1 page CVs for each of the key personnel working on this study. These key personnel must be directly participating in the data collection.
• A list of three references from similar past work
• Confirmation of sufficient funds to cover at least 50% of the budget upfront