TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT

Title of the assignment

Research to assess the local market for hand hygiene products and services in terms of pricing and availability to match with the affordability, accessibility, suitability and desirability among consumers including a focus on specific settings (LNOB, water scarce areas, urban slums, crowded places i.e. bus station, etc.)

Purpose

UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office (BCO) is seeking a qualified institutional contractor to design and carry out a market assessment on hand hygiene products and services available at national and sub-national/local level including specific settings (i.e. water scarce, urban low income communities/slums , hard to reach, crowded places, etc.)

Location

The assessment should be carried out in rural general, rural hard to reach and urban general and urban Low-Income Communities (LIC) settings.  

The settings prioritized for this market assessment are:

• homes
• schools (Primary and secondary schools)
• health care facilities,
• markets and restaurants
• places of worship (mosques, churches)
• Sports’ venues (stadia, Parks, etc.)
• transportation hubs
• highways

Estimated Duration

Six months after signing the contract starting from June 2021. The time frame of each task in indicative- If required, the bidders may approach an alternative justified timeline for the activities maintaining the total duration mentioned.

Reporting to Technical Supervisor of this assignment

WASH Specialist, UNICEF Bangladesh

1. Background

In Bangladesh, poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices contribute to the death of 20,000 under-five children per year from diarrheal disease and arsenic in drinking water. This is estimated to cause 68,000 deaths per year (icddr,b, Health Impact Study, 2011) . Studies show handwashing with water and soap is the most cost-effective health intervention to reduce both the incidence of diarrhea and pneumonia in children under five. Handwashing with soap at critical times - including before eating or preparing food and after using the toilet – can reduce diarrhea rates by more than 40 per cent and incidence of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) by around 23 per cent. Therefore, good hygiene practice is very critical for health, nutrition and early childhood care and development outcomes.

However, gaps in capacities and access of hand hygiene facilities persist. 18 million people (11.33 per cent[1] of the Bangladeshi population) do not have a place in their homes to wash their hands with water and soap. Half of these belong to the poorest quintile and are amongst the most vulnerable: children and families living in informal settlements, hard to reach areas, or in water scarce areas. By 2030, Bangladesh has to reach an additional 64 per cent with handwashing station with availability of water and soap on their premises) to achieve the SDG 6.2 hygiene target.

The National Hygiene Survey, conducted by UNICEF-WaterAid-BBS 2018 highlighted that only 40 per cent respondents were aware that handwashing using water and soap is necessary before eating and the overall ability to demonstrate proper handwashing is lowest in the poorer quintiles[2]. Gender-Responsive Hygiene activities targeting and engaging both males and females are needed.  Mothers and female caretakers are critical in fostering healthy behaviors in families, with the potential to benefit children across their lifecycle and multiple generations. They are early adopters in hygiene behavior change interventions. However, engagement of men is also critical as they often take household purchasing decisions. Engagement and sensitization strategies for females, males, adolescents and children need to be tailored.[3]

The concentrated effort across the sector to promote handwashing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented awareness of necessary handwashing and hygiene practices. Rapid assessments in 2020[4] find increased handwashing behavior, especially before eating and after using the toilet and after returning home from outside. The vast majority of rural respondents (84%) wash hands using tube well or stored water without a tap. A substantial number of respondents from rural (28%) and slum areas (22%) faced barriers to changing their handwashing behaviors at home and outside. Unavailability of soap and handwashing basin/fixtures, and unaffordability of handwashing materials was on the top of the list of obstacles, especially for rural and urban low income communities.[5]

In coming years, the challenge will be to sustain the acquired knowledge and behavior change with regards to hand hygiene, as well as reaching last mile communities such as hard to reach areas or LIC communities. In addition, access barriers need to be addressed by enhancing the supply chain of affordable hygiene products and services.

While there has been substantial progress, the country has to go a long way to achieve WASH targets for schools. As per national standard for school, there should be one toilet for 50 students with separate toilets for girls and boys while the toilet ratio in schools is currently at 115:1[6]. Only 47.6 per cent schools have basic hand washing facilities and 13 per cent of schools have no handwashing facilities at all.[7] Toilets should have hand washing facilities and access to safe water. Girls’ and teachers’ toilets should also include MHM facilities. The adoption of healthy hygiene behaviors at school level helps foster these behaviors with benefits beyond the school environment to the home environment where children can be agents of change. Benefits of proper hygiene behaviours extent also beyond school age, and even across generations and women play a critical role in realizing these benefits.

WASH in healthcare facilities is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving national health goals and SDGs 3 and 6 and these issues have only become more pressing in light of COVID-19. According to the JMP Global Baseline Report 2019, 70 percent of healthcare facilities in Bangladesh have basic water services, 71 percent facilities have improved and usable latrines, and 54% have hand hygiene materials at the point of care. Systematic monitoring, sensitization and nudging, more nuanced and localized planning to address bottlenecks, including geographic, climate-related, and gender-related ones (e.g. lack of gender-segregated facilities including MHM facilities and budget for this).

The response to Covid-19 launched an unprecedented effort to promote Hand Hygiene as a first line of defense against the spread of infections, creating a once in a generation opportunity to harness the highest level of commitment and political will from world leaders - governments, business and civil society - to make rapid progress.

To scale-up and sustain the momentum, UNICEF and WHO launched in June 2020 the global initiative Hand Hygiene for All  (HH4A).  This effort has mobilized an impressive group of global partners that includes the World Bank, UNHCR, ILO, the World Economic Forum, UK Government, WaterAid, IFRC, civil society and others to join forces to accelerate hand hygiene for all at home, school, heath centers, workplaces, transportation hubs, and public spaces. 

Three inter-related “game-changers” are proposed to rapidly upscale hand hygiene using a market-based approach:

• Product Innovations & Business Solutions: Encourage Research and Development (R&D) for promising global innovative solutions through country-level collaboration on product field testing. Use the private sector platforms and shared value partnerships (e.g. LIXIL) to mobilize business to develop and rapidly upscale market ready hand hygiene innovations and unlocking distribution of  supply chains.
• Scale up Financing for Hygiene: Support the development of costed roadmaps that bridge COVID-19 response with longer term national development plans to unlock funding and financing through government fiscal allocations (national and local), household (consumer) expenditures, and private sector investments, as well as position WASH interventions as a central component of economic recovery stimulus.

A detailed analysis of the market for hand hygiene products and services is essential to assess and quantify demand and product preferences and affordability, to map and segment available products and services, identify gaps and needs, and identify existing and potential suppliers and assess competitive dynamics. It is important to assess not only the current market for hand hygiene-related products and services but also the size of the untapped potential market. Market segmentation is required to consider different levels of hand hygiene service and corresponding technologies/fixtures. Companies and competitors should be assessed to identify/evaluate market share, pricing strategies, and overarching business strategies in order to identify the dominant forces and potential trendsetters. For the highest cost hand hygiene products, an analysis of other barriers such as intellectual property, manufacturing inputs, processes and a rudimentary cost of goods analysis should be performed to identify drivers of cost and pricing. These analyses can also illustrate the extent to which influence on suppliers themselves versus further upstream stakeholder may be warranted to overcome constraints and to identify potential supplier financing needs.

UNICEF is commissioning this Request for Proposal (RfP) for competent Research Agencies to conduct a local market assessment for hand hygiene products and services. The result of the study will help to understand the existing situation of both demand and supply side and will help the practitioners and policy makers to design and implement Hand Hygiene for All (HH4A) road map with an evidence-based result. The Government of Bangladesh has targeted to make hand hygiene a habit for all by 2030 and to achieve this target access to a suitable handwashing station is essential at home and outside home.

2. Objectives, Scope and Expected Results

The overall objective of the study is to identify and analyse issues, constraints and potential risks within the current hand hygiene product value chain, as well as its potential opportunities and capabilities. The analysis should focus particularly on the reach among low-income consumers, as well as the involvement of women, men, adolescents, and people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups in the value chain. The end usage of this study’s results is help ensure these disadvantaged groups benefit from the positive health impacts of handwashing and benefit from income generating activities throughout the value chain.

The specific objectives are:

1. To gather qualitative and quantitative data on hand hygiene practices/behaviour in correlation with faeces disposal practices, hygiene products and services  availability and affordability.
2. To increase understanding of existing hand hygiene practices and the motivations.
3. To assess the availability of hygiene products and the major barriers and constraints in the market development.
4. To gain insights into the constraints faced by household members, mainly women and girls, in carrying out safer hand hygiene practices and the advantages they perceived in these practices.
5. To gain insights into important channels of communication, particularly mass media to scale up and sustain hand hygiene practices

The study will:

• Define the size and potential (in value and employment opportunities) of the target market segment(s) as identified below 
• Document household motivations, facility design preferences and barriers to behaviours and investment (consumer profiles)
• Detail available businesses, existing business models, handwashing facility designs, products, and drivers of total and component customer costs to acquire hand hygiene equipment and services 
• Provide the detailed data, findings and insights needed to identify opportunities and develop better product system offerings, business models, and marketing strategies for the selected target market
• Assess the willingness to pay by a family for handwashing station (in demand side) also in supply side need to check the willingness of after sales services and /or replacement modality of procured handwashing settings.

Expected results:

Complete report using qualitative methods on Hand Hygiene products market assessment (availability and pricing) by Nov 2021 is provided;

The results will identify specific recommendations and assist in the creation of advocacy tools for better programming approaches for relevant Government agencies/ministries, private sector, NGO/CBO to address the challenges in hand hygiene and mitigation strategies for scaling up the appropriate hand hygiene products, with a particular focus on targeting disadvantaged groups. 

3. Description of the Assignment

Scope

The scope is focusing on the national and local hand hygiene market in Bangladesh, with a focus on household hand hygiene products and facilities (hand washing fixtures, cleaning agents etc.) and related services for hand hygiene, i.e. the full value chain. A combination of urban and rural markets should be analysed. In the context of rural and urban the most unprivileged and people in hand to reach areas and LIC/slum condition should be considered with the focus on reducing inequity. Suppliers traditionally gravitate to higher profit margins, which often may be contrary to reducing inequity.

The selected contractor will be responsible for the following:

• Designing, implementing, and managing the study
• Obtaining ethical clearances from the appropriate agencies to conduct the study
• Developing and pre-testing data collection tools before the fieldwork
• Logistics arrangements and expenses, i.e., transportation, accommodation, allowances, communications, tablets, and stationery
• Recruiting, training and supervising a suitable team of field workers, including interviewers and field supervisors
• Ensuring COVID-19 adaptation of all data collection with the safety of the team in mind (this includes, but is not limited to PPE provision, allowing socially distant data collection, etc)
• Developing an appropriate database for data entry
• Ensuring quality of field work/data collection and data entry
• Analysing the data

The products and services to be assessed include handwashing facilities, related to supply and market assessment, such as those included in the following documents:

• UNICEF document Handwashing Stations and Supplies for the COVID-19 Response: https://www.unicef.org/documents/handwashing-stations-and-supplies-covid-19-response
• The IDS publication Handwashing Compendium for Low Resource Settings: A Living Document as references: https://www.ids.ac.uk/publications/handwashing-compendium-for-low-resource-settings-a-living-document/
• National Hygiene Survey 2018: https://www.wateraid.org/bd/publications/national-hygiene-survey-2018
• Sanitation Market Analysis Summary Reports – Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan: https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/sanitation-market-analysis

• Gates, iDE, PSI, and Water For People Blog series on “developing a markets for sanitation”: https://sanitationupdates.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/developing-markets-for-sanitation-a-blog-series/
• Oxfam’s market assessment tools (primarily used for emergency response/cash transfers, but still relevant): http://www.cashlearning.org/downloads/market-analysis-applicatio-in-wash-response-booklet.pdf
• IRC provides a good overview of tools and resources for market assessment. This is mostly associated with Sanitation Marketing programs, but still relevant: https://www.ircwash.org/news/market-assessment
• WSP Rural Sanitation Supply Chain Analysis: https://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/userfiles/WSP-TOR-Supply-Chain-Analysis.pdf
• Water.org Water Credit market assessment: https://pdfsecret.com/download/tor-waterorg-watercredit-market-assessment-wma_5a3d550fd64ab2a61356e98f_pdf
• Market Assessment and Customer Preference for Clean Cookstoves: https://cleancookstoves.org/binary-data/DOCUMENT/file/000/000/499-1.pdf
• Examples of roadmaps from other sectors, such as the GAVI vaccine roadmap: http://www.gavi.org/about/market-shaping/supply-and-procurement-roadmaps/

Methodology

The agency will outline the appropriate methodology to undertake this study. The agency will likely employ mostly qualitative data collection methodologies, including focus group discussions (FGDs), in-depth interviews and observations to adequately meet the objectives of the study. The modalities must be adapted to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh and responding contractors are expected to propose feasible modalities, taking into considering the need for remote or mobile-based technologies to collect information. The chosen methodologies should be appropriate for supply/value chain analysis of hand hygiene products and services in the identified geographical area(s). Results from the methodology employed should exhibit differences in the perspective of market actors, and include quotes taken verbatim from participants. The agency should propose a robust qualitative assessment including the public, private sector, NGOs, and hand hygiene service providers from local level to national level, being cognizant of gender representation . To decrease the time required for the data collection, interested contractors should consider using sampling methods such as snowballing / chain-referral, to map value chains for products and services based on customer preferences in a particular area.

Specifically, the study tasks include:

1. Profiling the current situation of the market for hand hygiene goods and services by reporting on:
   • Availability of hand hygiene products and services in the selected geographic areas as above;
   • The cost breakdown of hand hygiene products (to identify key hygiene products and it depends on the weight and the packaging Having the price list and the MRP) and services along the value chain (i.e. component costs, taxes and duties, labour costs, costs to consumers – as well as any subsidized costs)
   • Gaps and opportunities in price/feature/benefits ranges to develop new to meet the needs of specific segments or specific settings.
2. Mapping existing actors and stakeholders involved (local manufacturers and international manufacturers within imported goods) in the hand hygiene market, including but not limited to the international and local private sector, public sector, community-based organizations and development partners (e.g. consumers, government agencies, and bulk material suppliers) describing:
   • Relationship between actors
   • Market role played by actors (e.g. research and development, material supply, finance (formal or informal), producer, marketer/promoter, regulator, etc.) and their capacity to fulfil that role
   • Actors’ level of involvement or investment in the market
3. Identifying and investigating policies (government and non-government) that support or restrict the development and growth of a hand hygiene market
4. Identifying consumer preferences, perceived benefits and drawbacks of currently available options, a price range of new products to be developed and possible service/business models and support services, which have potential to scale up the availability of aspirational and affordable hand hygiene products and services in the selected geographical local.

These new products and business models recommendationswillbethe basis for innovation processeswith support from UNICEF and other partners such as the government and businesses and/or NGO partners. Therefore, this market assessment should focus on producing actionable recommendations.

Specific study questions

The following questions outline the types of specific information to be gathered through this study and the exact areas of focus. The agency can propose additions or other considerations but will ultimately finalize the assessment tools in close coordination with UNICEF WASH technical team. 

Consumer Insights

• For consumers (individuals and institutions) in the target market, what is a ‘good’ handwashing facility, what features, and functions should it have (and not have) and why, and how much should it cost?
• What would consumers and their families gain personally from having and using a good handwashing facility, compared to what they have and do now?
• How can the process of learning about, purchasing and installing a handwashing facility be made easier, quicker, and more reliable?

In the assessment, the following aspects should also be considered:

1. Demand and customer preferences/needs

• Buyer vs Consumer, assessment of potential market demand including definition of what constitutes affordable pricing with respect to reported willingness to pay (UNICEF context: promote equity and ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable use basic sanitation services), consumer product preferences including special needs (i.e. preferences for specific products, services and delivery, willingness and ability to pay and household budgetary allocations.
• Landlord vs Tenants: understand landlord expectations versus the expectation from Tenants (mainly in urban context).

1. Supply landscape and product and services assessment

• Classification of product groups and availability – Conduct a supply chain mapping. Also, classify service groups and availability. Look at role of local government and line agencies in supply chain. Explore linkages/relationships between/among supply chain actors. For e.g. relationship between government, supplier, households, community groups etc.
• Suppliers/manufacturers/developers and service providers, geographical distribution, market shares, patterns, trends and trend setters – Classify formal vs informal groups and at which level they operate (national/regional/district/local)
• Other entities involved (directly or indirectly) in the supply chain – other sectors and non-sanitation actors
• Pricing and business strategies including sales/distribution/marketing strategies.
• Supplier/manufacturer/developer innovation potential (including any information on product ‘pipelines’)
• For highest cost/price sanitation commodities: assess manufacturing inputs, processes and cost of goods – to understand drivers of cost / price, and the potential financing needs of suppliers (e.g. for working and investment capital)
• Promotional / marketing activities by local suppliers

1. Market and Market Segments

It should also be considered that the market assessment in Bangladesh is the gateway for markets to other countries in the region.

• Market size/value (by product/service segment), market growth trends, geographic distribution of the sanitation market and specific products

• Distribution channel including supply chain and service consideration such as but not limited to mapping national distribution, transport/ import, distribution at wholesale and retail spare parts available, stock, distribution, installation facilities, warranty and training, 
• Competition and competitive dynamics: identification of healthy competition/ market, barrier/challenges to entry (including intellectual property), barriers to private sector engagement, policy barriers for private sector operation, infrastructure barriers (roads, power etc.)

1. Enabling Environment

• New technologies and other stakeholders (Government and development partners) (UNICEF context: How can the public sector foster and regulate the private sector in a way that it can maximize its role in reaching the poorest with high quality products and services? Any relevant policy framework within the sector in favour of reaching the poorest with WASH services especially sanitation marketing?)
• Regulations and standards for sanitation products, and the extent to which these exist, or are needed (e.g. to address quality), and whether such (potential) regulations facilitate or constrain competition
• Other policy frameworks including taxes, tariffs and labelling etc.
• Sanitation marketing, promotion and campaigns: existing public sector or development partner initiatives promoting products and communication for behaviour change 
• Private sector marketing of relevant products and services
• Potential sources of financing and financing structures for suppliers –Explore if there are existing structures/mechanisms to facilitate financial assistance (for MSMEs)
• Potential sources of financing for households/consumers
• Experience of Public-Private sector partnership on sanitation
• Existing sources of private sector financing in any sector within the country
• Institutional arrangements to facilitate sanitation marketing/market shaping

Quality assurance and other implementation considerations

In order to ensure accessibility of communities and key informants, the timeline for the study needs to avoid the rainy and harvest seasons as much as possible, as well as the school holidays.

Use of smartphones and mobile-based applications or Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) data collection, entry, or similar, will be employed to increase data quality and reduce data processing time.

The monitoring study partner/managers will be required to apply high standard quality assurance processes throughout the study, notably in: methodology and sampling; translation of data collection tools; selection and training of data collectors and their supervisors; field supervision during data collection; data cleaning, writing of field notes to accompany transcripts, and analysis; and reporting. Logs should be maintained of all changes made to collected data as a result of cleaning/editing.

Where applicable, the data should be disaggregated or at least qualitatively analyzed by population groups, as per UNICEF instructions. 

The UNICEF Regional and Headquarters Offices (WASH and Evaluation focal points) will review the data collection tools and analysis frameworks, as well as the draft report. Quality and harmonization of the study process and results are key priorities for UNICEF globally.

Ethical and other considerations

This study will be held to the highest standards employed by UNICEF. This means, the agency will abide by the following:

1. UNICEF Procedure for Ethical Standards in Research, Evaluation, Data Collection and Analysis
2. UNICEF Strategic Guidance Note on Institutionalizing Ethical Practice for UNICEF Research

The agency is expected to explain ethical considerations for the assessment, specifically spelling out how these above guidelines will be followed/met. In particular, the training of all data collectors and supervisors will include information and guidance on ethics and communication skills. Any specific ethical considerations or strategies necessary to prevent or avoid COVID-19 infection and spread should be addressed and detailed in the proposal. Further, ethical clearance must be obtained during the inception period, before any data collection with human subjects begins. The ethical clearance letter should be attached in the annexure of the final report. Any sensitive issues or ethical concerns arising during implementation should be raised with UNICEF as soon as they are identified. The final report should include a section that describes the way ethical considerations were identified and addressed as part of design, implementation, and analysis/writing.

All data collected through this study as well as reports and dissemination materials are the intellectual properties of UNICEF and shall not be used for purposes other than those approved by the registered Institutional Review Board during the ethical clearance. 

Additionally, the study should be human rights-based (including child rights) and gender sensitive. All applicable data will be disaggregated by sex, age, and ability level.

1. Deliverables

Deliverables

Timeframe

i)  Inception and orientation meeting with UNICEF, PSB, LGD and other stakeholders as needed

Within one week after signing contract

ii). Inception report (including research protocol) and presentation. An inception report with oral presentation to client including:

• Key insights from previous market research and consumer/household studies in the country from desk review
• Research objectives and associated research questions
• Methods for data collection and justification
• Analytical framework
• Sampling strategy
• Key implementation challenges and risks
• Additional program design considerations
• Implementation work plan and timetable with proposed human resources
• Annotated Final Report Outline that will take account all the component listed in the TORs

Note that research protocol and survey instruments will need to be approved by the UNICEF team before going to the pre-testing and fieldwork stage.

Within 2 weeks after signing contract

iii). Study instrument development (including focus group discussion guides, observation checklist for hand hygiene practices, in-depth interview guides) – draft and finalized based on pre-testing results. English and Bangla language versions will be expected.

• Detailed timeline and work plan for the survey assignment
• Sampling frame including a Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)
• Review and adaptation of the ‘optional/adaptable’ elements of the survey methods and tools
• Preparation of water quality test methods and materials
• Recruitment of survey team members (surveyors/enumerators, supervisors, etc.)
• Translation of the Survey Training Guidance and Data Collection Tools into the relevant local language(s), and back translation

Data entry and analysis tables

Week 4

iv. Training of study team and field pre-testing

This will be done with participation of UNICEF, PSB, LGD and other relevant stakeholders. The training phase involves adjusting the study team based on their performance during training, adjusting the team organization and the data collection tools and their translation based on the field testing, etc.

Week 8

v. Data collection

This involves close field supervision and quality control procedures (including verifying data collected by surveyors as they come in), providing feedback to surveyors, regular communication with UNICEF, PSB, LGD and other concerned local stakeholders, etc.

Week 10

vi. Data entry, cleaning, analysis, and writing of draft report

Week 18

vii. Consultation and final deliverables

Final report (in English): The final report will include detailed results from data analysis and key recommendations to strengthen the supply of hand hygiene products and services. The final report will include the following chapters:

• Executive Summary that includes a market map and other key infographics that summarize the main findings in a simple, visual way
• Background
• Research Objectives and Questions
• Methods, including limitations and ethical considerations
• Main Results/Findings
• Conclusions & Recommendations (How to develop / strengthen the market with specific recommendations)
• References
• Appendices and/or Annexes

Week 22

viii. Dissemination of results

Participate in dissemination activities organized by UNICEF and the government, if requested

Week 24

1. Reporting requirements

The market research for hand hygiene products and services assignment will be led and managed by Md. Monirul Alam, WASH Specialist, WASH Section, UNICEF (management of the survey team, compliance with UNICEF instructions, quality of the study implementation process and results, timeliness, etc.) and will be the focal point for all communications with UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office (BCO).

Contract management and all final decisions/approvals will be made by the UNICEF BCO. UNICEF BCO will organize key meetings and review all survey documents/tools and draft deliverables. UNICEF BCO will also facilitate contacts with DPHE, DPE, DSHE, and DGHS at central level and sub-national level and local Government Institutes at sub-national level, including sharing information with them, ensuring their involvement and ownership, and seeking the necessary authorisations.

UNICEF BCO will ensure involvement of and collaboration with the relevant national and subnational authorities and other concerned stakeholders. In this connection under the leadership of Project Director (PD), GoB-UNICEF WASH project, an advisory committee will be formed with relevant WASH line department and sector experts. This committee will advise the UNICEF Country Office throughout the study process, provide guidance and oversight, help facilitate communication with the other relevant stakeholders, and assist with the dissemination and use of the survey results.

UNICEF BCO will also seek technical guidance and technical assistance from the UNICEF Regional Office (ROSA) and Headquarters offices (WASH and Evaluation focal points) as and when required. The regional and headquarters offices will also provide feedback and quality assurance of this assessment.

1. Payment schedule

Payments will be made against the specific deliverables as below:

1. 20% of total fee upon submission and approval of the inception report including workplan, monitoring format and tools, and IRB submission application;
2. 30% of total fee on completion of field implementation report, cover methodology finalization, training, pre-testing, and data collection;
3. 20% of total fee on completion of submission and approval of draft report, including mapping exercise and draft policy brief;
4. 30% of total fee on submission and approval of final report, policy brief, Powerpoint presentation of study, and raw data and analysed files

7. Qualification requirement of the company/institution/organization

The selected institution shall demonstrate proven experience in the successful delivery of complex Market Analyses, especially related to commodities which are manufactured and supplied locally. Experience related to sanitation markets is preferred, as is experience in Bangladesh and the region.

The institution is expected to propose the team structure and constituent members with expertise in market analysis, private sector engagement, sanitation technologies and markets, and Bangladesh, as appropriate.

The selected contractor will be a professional consulting/research contractor or other professional institution with significant experience in supply chain assessments in hand hygiene or other relevant sector and experience within (country) or comparable environments. Possible areas of expertise include value chain analysis, business advisory services, market research, including financial services for households and/or businesses, particularly in the area of market transformation and base-of-the pyramid research. The qualification for the key staff at minimum should be stated i.e. degree, masters, etc.

The ability to work and facilitate data collection in Bangla language is a necessity. UNICEF requests that special attention be given to:

• The design of research and analysis methodologies for supply chain analysis of hand hygiene products and services
• The development of a detailed work plan including quick mobilization and transportation into the field of field staff, keeping COVID-19 restrictions and limitations in mind
• The definition of a system for the management and quality assurance of the study
• The submission of complete CVs of the proposed staffing for key personnel and qualitative field staff

The study team composition and qualifications should be as follows:

• The team leader should be a business administration, economics, management with experience in Water supply, Sanitation and hygiene, he/she should have experience of (10 years minimum) in management and coordination in similar assignments. Educational qualification master’s degree.
• The deputy team leader should be a Water Supply Engineering or hydraulic Engineer with experience in urban   water supply systems study and design and supervision; he/she should have experience of (8 years minimum) in coordinating and participation in similar assignments. Educational qualification Masters Degree.
• The head of field services who overseas fieldwork having maser degree in social science. He/she should have experience of (8 years minimum)
• The private sector specialist with experience in business models having maser degree in business administration or marketing degree.  He/she should have experience of (8 years minimum)
• The Hand hygiene specialist having maser degree in public health with minimum 5 years’ experience in WASH sector

• Key personnel may only be replaced over the life of the contract with written permission of UNICEF. Each of the key personnel should have a graduate degree in a relevant discipline of study including but not exclusive to business administration, economics, management, survey analytics or equivalent. At least one member of the team must be fluent in (language) to review the translation of relevant documents, or alternatively the contractor must show sufficient budgeting for translation services within their proposal. Fluency in English is also expected. Please provide CVs for the proposed key personnel:
  • 1 – Project coordinator/team leader who will be responsible for managing the entire design and implementation process ensuring timelines and deliverables are met with agreed upon quality standards. Serves as main focal point with client.
  • 1 – Head of field services who overseas fieldwork and ensures quality assurance methods (including training of data collectors) are respected.
  • 1 – Private sector specialist with experience in business models (particularly for bottom of the pyramid and rural areas)
  • 1 – Hand hygiene specialist to provide advice to the study team on hand hygiene matters.

• Qualitative field staff should have at least two years of fieldwork experience and be fluent in relevant language(s). All qualitative field staff should have at least a college degree and have significant experience with in-depth interviews and FGDs.

NOTE: UNICEF’s experience with research contractors in other countries suggests that assignment of high quality, experienced interviewers to this field staff position (not just to the senior posts that analyse the transcripts) results in the best qualitative data. Please provide CVs for the proposed qualitative field staff.

Additional staffing requirements will be left to the contractor to determine based on the methodology and approach proposed.

8. General conditions: procedures and logistics

Policies both parties should be aware of:

i.    The consulting agency will be responsible for all support required to complete the assignment

including accommodation, meals, transportation, and tools of trade (including computers);

ii.   Office space will be provided by UNICEF for use during the evaluation and UNICEF premises will be available for the meetings and consultations;

iii.  The consulting company will not be entitled to the use of UNICEF transportation;

iv.  No contract related activities may commence unless the contract is signed and received by both parties.

vi.  Institutions or their staff will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget; and,

9. Policy both parties should be aware of:

• Members of the contracting company are not entitled to payment of overtime.  All remuneration must be within the contract agreement.
• No contract may commence unless the contract is signed by both UNICEF and the Contractor.
• No member of the contracting company may travel prior to contract signature.
• Members of the company will not have supervisory responsibilities or authority on UNICEF budget.
• No additional payment request beyond the approved budget will be authorized by UNICEF.