Needs Assessment and Gender Analysis

Terms of Reference

 Needs Assessment and Gender Analysis

Plan International Lebanon, September 2021

1. About Plan International 

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood, and enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We place a specific focus on girls and young women, who are most often left behind. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for more than 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

Plan International Lebanon (PIL) has had an operational office in Beirut since 2017, and received its registration in October 2019. Across the country, we work in partnership with local, national and international organisations to strengthen capacities and address the needs of Lebanese and refugee children in Lebanon. With a focus on adolescent girls and young women, PIL implements projects in the sectors of child protection (CP) and Gender-based violence (GBV), Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), Education, Youth economic empowerment and participation.

2. Needs Assessment and Gender Analysis Background 

Lebanon is currently going through the worst economic crisis in its history coupled with additional crises: protracted Syria Crisis, the on-going COVID-19 outbreak and the implications of Beirut Port Explosion. The World Bank[1] estimates that now more than 50 percent of the Lebanese population live under the poverty line, with 2020 seeing a sharp increase in the number of Syrian refugee households living under the extreme poverty line, reaching a staggering 89 percent, up from 55 percent only a year before. Similarly, the WFP have reported a 423% inflation in prices of food within the same timeframe. The implications of the crisis are drastic on the whole population, and especially vulnerable groups, in terms of health, livelihoods and well-being; noting that gender dynamics play an important factor in defining the impact of the crisis, whereby girls and women face different types of challenges and may be at higher risk of exploitation.

As a result, an Emergency Response Plan was launched by UNOCHA in early August 2021, calling for time-bound assistance to save lives and alleviate suffering of the target population, also aiming to avoid a worsening of inter- and intra- community tensions. Plan Lebanon is among the responding actors and has initiated its response plan to address the rising needs in the Lebanese communities. Several needs assessments have been carried out by UN agencies and NGOs over the past months quantifying the impact of the crisis and determining the main priorities. Plan Lebanon aims to conduct a qualitative assessment to complement the existing data and acquire more in-depth understanding of the issues facing adolescents and young adults across the country, including a detailed gender analysis.

The assessment will include the systemic gathering and analysis of primary data collected through qualitative methods, and relating to the needs, conditions, and the capacities of different groups of concern: male and female adolescents (14-17 years old) and young adults (18-24 years old) of different nationalities and residing in the six locations of interest within the Lebanese territories (Beirut, Mount Lebanon, North [Tripoli], Akkar, South [Saida], and Bekaa [West Bekaa] ). It will also involve the review of recently emerging data on the crisis. The assessment aims to determine the gaps between the current situation and agreed standards and must be carried out with the active involvement of the concerned groups.

2. Objectives

Plan’s Assessment is designed to determine priority needs and risks and to guide the current and future programming to serve the most vulnerable children and communities in Lebanon and mainstream key gender and protection approaches across all Plan International’s response.

 The specific objectives of the assessment are:

1. Gather in-depth information from adolescents and young adults and the issues they are facing and the concerns that they have in the current crisis, with a focus on education needs and protection risks in particular.
2. Understand participants’ views and recommendations on local level solutions and engagement in community initiatives.  
3. Complete gender analysis and present comprehensive data on: gender norms, gender roles and responsibilities, decision making and leadership, access to services and information, safety and protection, coping mechanisms, as well as needs, constraints and opportunities of girls, boys, young women and young men.
4. Set the areas of priority for the response and provide a set of recommendations for current and future programming that respond to the unique needs of adolescent girls, boys, young women and young men

3. Methodology

Study population

The study participants will be between the ages of 14 and 24, males and females, and of the following nationalities: Lebanese, and Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees (where applicable). We are restricting our study population to adolescents and young adults specifically in the aim of formulating a clearer understanding of their needs and concerns in the current crisis, as well as their opinions on how their needs can be addressed. 

Key informant interviews (KIIs) will be conducted with selected informed individuals, in specific: UN and INGOs representatives (including member in inter-agency working groups), educators, social workers, local actors such as heads of community-based organizations or active committees working with adolescents and young adults, youth-led groups, as well as municipality representatives. These key informants will provide their insight on the issue given their field experience with the population of interest.

Data collection Methods

Data will be gathered through Key Informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGD) following consent and assent and other participatory tools that can be used to guide discussions with youth like problem analysis tree, community mapping etc. Potential participants who do not mind discussing their needs in a group setting will be invited to attend an FGD and will be informed of the venue in which the meeting will take place, as well as the date and time. The goal of conducting the FGDs is to capture the general and shared needs of adolescent participants information and services available to them. The findings will be triangulated by comparing the information learned during the FGDs with the insight of field experts provided through KIIs and secondary data.

Interview guides

For this assessment, the consultant will prepare interview guides, with different questions for participants in FGDs and KIIs. The guides will be developed based on PIL’s guidelines and following Plan’s Gender, Age and Inclusion Analytical Framework and will consider the participant’s educational levels and ages. The topics in these guides will cover: access to different services (educational, protection, health, GBV, SRH, etc.), food security, income generation, relationships with caregivers and role models, decision-making on a household and community levels, role in the community and possible ways for effective engagement, recommendations to programming, and others.

Recruitment and Sampling Methods

Purposive sampling strategy will be adopted to recruit participants through Plan’s partners in the six study locations, as their centers host adolescents and young adults through community activities or educational or health services. Selection criteria will be set and Plan Lebanon will facilitate the contact between selected consultant and partners to proceed with selection and scheduling data collection.

Partners will support in setting the logistics and informing eligible individuals of the details of the assessment. Interested individuals will then be recruited by the assessment team and allocated to their respective group.

Interviewing diverse groups of participants will help to collect a wide range of information from different points of views and build themes. Therefore, a minimum of 60 FGDs will be conducted with adolescents and young adults (groups divided according to age, nationality, and location), noting that the principle of theoretical saturation will driving further data collection if needed.

As for KIIs, we will conduct 1 interview per location with each of the following informants: high school educator or school principal, head of CBO working with adolescents and young adults, medical professional working with adolescents and young adults. Key informants will be identified with the help of our community partners as well, and will be recruited directly by the study team.

Data Analysis

KIIs and FGDs will be audio recorded and transcribed verbatim in the original language (Arabic). Data collection, transcription, and preliminary qualitative analysis will be carried out concurrently. The process will continue until saturation is reached and a complete picture is obtained.

Dissemination of findings

Findings of this assessment will be disseminated in community meetings, conferences, and in the form of reports shared through PIL’s global network. The results of this assessment are important to informing the design of PIL’s long term interventions in Lebanon.

4. Ethical Considerations

Plan International is committed to ensuring that the rights of those participating in data collection or analysis are respected and protected, in accordance with Plan International Framework for Ethical MER and our Global Policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People. All applicants should include details in their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child safeguarding in the data collection process. Specifically, the consultant or film shall explain how appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation of all stakeholders will be ensured and how special attention will be paid to the needs of children and other vulnerable groups. The consultant or firm shall also explain how confidentiality and anonymity of participants will be guaranteed.

Additionally, all parties involved in the data collection will receive an induction on Plan International’s Child Safeguarding policy, Gender and Inclusion policy, CP/GBV safe identification and referral pathways and Non-Staff Code of Conduct.

5. Roles and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for leading the exercise in terms of development of methodology and tools, organizing data collection, analysis and report writing.  Throughout the process Plan Lebanon team will provide technical guidelines and review deliverables in addition to facilitating contact between the consultant and Plan partners in the different targeted locations for data collection purposes. A more detailed division of roles will be communicated upon the initiation of the assessment.   

1. Time-line:

• Interviews, Background Checks and Contracting: 20-30 September
• Inception call: October 4
• Submission of Inception Report (including tools): October 11
• Revision of inception report and feedback: October 12-13
• Preparations for Data Collection: October 14-15
• Data Collection: October 16-26
• Data Analysis: October 27 -   November 4
• Submission of Draft Report: November 8
• Validation of findings with key stakeholders: November 9
• Submission of Final Report: November 15

7. Key Deliverables 

1. Within Ten days from signing the contract, the consultant should submit an Inception Report, which clearly defines the methodology, such as clear outlines for the focus group discussions, KII questions, and research timeline with specific deadlines for each deliverable. The inception report should also clearly explain the sampling methodology and a clear and logical number for the FGDs and KIIs. The inception report including the data collection tools need formal approval from Plan before initiating the data collection phase.
2. Handwritten and electronic transcripts of FGDs and KIIs, photographs taken during the assessment should be submitted to Plan. Furthermore, all information generated during the assessment will be the sole property of Plan and is subject to submission to Plan, along with the final report, prior to the end of the contract.
3. Executive summary of key findings (1 pager)
4. A Needs Assessment and Gender Analysis draft and final report, written in English, 25 pages excluding annexes.

• Cover page (PIL will provide sample cover sheet for reference).
• Table of contents, list of acronyms, abbreviations and list of tables and charts.
• Background information and context analysis presented per key criteria with a brief description.
• Methodology with clear explanation of sampling and limitations, participants’ selection and data analysis approach.
• Research findings, analysis, with associated data presented in the form of quotes from participants. The findings can include subsections for each emerging theme.
• Conclusion and Recommendations.

The final report should be submitted electronically in a MS – Word document. The consultant is responsible for English editing and proofreading of the final report which should be well formatted. The report will be credited to the consultant and potentially placed in the public domain at the decision of Plan International.

8. Budget

 The consultant should submit the total budget in the proposal with detail breakdown including applicable government taxes.

 9. Qualifications

The Consultant/Consulting firm should have the following competencies and qualifications:

• Minimum 7 years’ experiences in undertaking assessments, gender analysis, baseline studies and evaluation studies in Lebanon and similar contexts.
• Minimum Master’s Degree in social studies, Public Health International Development or any other related field
• Background and experience in gender and inclusion, protection or education, and youth programming.
• Demonstrated experience of facilitating research with participatory methods and tools, particularly with adolescents and young people
• 5 years’ experience in field level data collection and qualitative research in similar type of studies.
• Competency in managing, organizing and interpreting qualitative data and information
• Capabilities to work in Arabic and English languages
• Experience working with vulnerable groups, including refugees and children
• Relevant experiences in the response to humanitarian crisis, preferably in the areas of education, protection, gender and inclusion.
• Good data analysis and analytical report writing skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Arabic and English.
• Ability to communicate effectively to a range of different stakeholders
• Availability to travel inside Lebanon and work in the project areas for the duration of the data collection.