TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)
CONSULTANCY SERVICE CALL FOR CONTEXT ANALYSIS
BACKGROUND
Driven by the vision that everyone has a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort and has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in more than 70 countries. Operating as a branch of Habitat for Humanity in Vietnam for over 20 years, we have worked with families throughout Vietnam to achieve adequate housing, and have lasting positive change. Habitat for Humanity Vietnam (Habitat Vietnam) has been delivering a holistic approach to housing by supporting and empowering communities to take ownership in improving their living conditions and enabling them to have improved wellbeing, affordability, access to basic housing-related services, climate change resilience and self-reliance.
Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) has developed a Theory of Change (ToC) that is driven by the housing ecosystem, people-centered development, systems approach, and definition of adequate housing. The ToC compels us to take a major shift in the way we design, implement, measure and learn from our programs. In line with our new programs and to set us up for future programming, Habitat Vietnam seeks to engage consultant(s) to design, carry out and present the results of a context analysis of the housing ecosystem so as to have a deeper look into the Vietnam context. The ToC can be viewed here [1].
OVERALL OBJECTIVE & KEY STUDY QUESTIONS
The Overall Objective of this context analysis is to inform how Habitat Vietnam can address barriers causing inequities in the housing ecosystem to achieve desired impacts and outcomes in accordance with HFHI’s Theory of Change.
The Key Study Questions which will contribute to achieving the overall objective are:
- What are inequities in the housing ecosystem that people and communities are experiencing and how significant are these inequities?
Note: Habitat Vietnam understands the housing ecosystem to be all of the social norms, formal and informal institutions, and external forces that influence how people are able to act to make changes that they value in their housing situations. Social norms, formal and informal institutions, and external forces determine the accessibility of goods and services and the character of interactions people encounter throughout the housing value chain, from land-use policy and regulations, to design and technical assistance, financial services, permits and approvals, construction materials and transport, skilled and unskilled labor, provision and management of basic services, etc.
- What are the barriers causing the identified inequities and how are they causing the inequities?
Note: Habitat Vietnam classifies these barriers into two general categories. First, systemic bias and imbalances of power (political, economic, social, cultural, legal and environmental factors) are created through or influenced by a combination of social norms, formal and informal institutions and disruptive trends and events (external forces). Systemic discrimination can often occur based on race, age, ability, gender, and sexual orientation. Second, disruptive trends & events are stresses or shocks to people or their ecosystems such as financial crises like recessions, migration, urbanization, climate change, humanitarian crises and global pandemics. Social norms and formal and informal institutions influence how different people are able to cope with and recover from stresses and shocks caused by disruptive trends and events?.
- Which barrier(s) should Habitat Vietnam work to address in order to achieve the desired outcomes and impacts, and how?
Note: Habitat Vietnam’s desired impacts are:
- People and communities are more resilient
- People have improved health and wellbeing
- People enjoy inclusive social, educational, economic and cultural life/opportunities
Habitat Vietnam’s desired outcomes are:
- Vulnerable and excluded individuals, households and communities use previously inaccessible parts of the housing ecosystem to improve housing situation; and have the capacity and leadership to address inequities
- Public and private sectors are more responsive to vulnerable and excluded stakeholders across ecosystem; and implement policy, system, and services that are inclusive, participatory and meet quality standards
- Throughout the housing ecosystem, people act in ways they value in their pursuit of adequate housing; and people and institutions make commitments and take action to change inequities
SCOPE OF WORK
The consultant(s) will report to Habitat Vietnam, and will be expected to carry out the following work:
- Attend an orientation briefing with Habitat Vietnam
- Conduct a desk review of existing and relevant data, including but not limited to available research studies on the housing sector in Vietnam, provincial and national policy environment, Habitat Vietnam’s documents.
- Conduct preliminary interviews with Habitat Vietnam staff if necessary
- Design an inception report, whose content is outlined below
- Conduct field survey with support from Habitat Vietnam and provincial government agencies
- Perform data analysis
- Draft the context analysis report
- Present the preliminary findings to Habitat Vietnam
- Improve the report based on the feedback from Habitat Vietnam
- Draft the final report and the summary report for Habitat Vietnam
METHODOLOGY
The consultant(s) may propose a combination of methods to fulfill the assessment’s objectives in the technical proposal. The consultant(s) will work with Habitat Vietnam to finalise the methodology to be used. Some suggestions are as follows:
Desk review: Collect and review available reports and documents related to Vietnam’s housing sector and housing deficits, barriers preventing access to adequate and affordable housing, current national and provincial policy and financing space for housing, climate impact assessment reports, urbanization and migration trends, socio-economic reports to identify the missing gaps for designing the specific field research.
Field research: Collect quantitative & qualitative data for study questions through surveys, key informant interviews and/or focus group discussions. The consultant(s) will work with Habitat Vietnam to design the sample size, methodology and tools that are best suited to the objective and local context. The context analysis process should be participatory, incorporating perspectives of different stakeholders, including but not limited to households, local government agencies, financial institutions, Habitat Vietnam staff. The field work will tentatively be done in 03 provinces, namely Hoa Binh, Quang Nam and Kien Giang. Consultants are expected to include the logistics costs in their financial proposal.
Data analysis: The consultant may choose to employ descriptive and/or inferential analysis for quantitative data. For qualitative data, methods such as content analysis, narrative analysis and discourse analysis can be utilised as appropriate.
DELIVERABLES
Expected deliverables for this TOR are as follows:
- Inception report: specifying the conceptual framework of the analysis, methodology, work plan to address the study requestions (with detailed timeline, analysis plan, and quality control plan), logistics and support required, team roles and responsibilities. The methodology component should include at minimum evaluation questions, indicators, methods and templates of data collection and analysis, and sample size.
- Raw data: database, qualitative and quantitative transcripts, all completed questionnaires, code book/data sets including detailed analytical data tables, participants list, interview & discussion recordings
- A draft context analysis report for Habitat Vietnam to review and provide feedback
- A presentation on key preliminary findings: the consultant(s) will present the key findings from the context analysis to Habitat Vietnam, followed by a Q&A session
- A final report: having been improved from the draft assessment report, the final report will contain responses to the Overall Objective and Key Study Questions, including:
- Identification and description of inequities in the housing ecosystem that people and communities are experiencing
- Identification of barriers causing the identified inequities and description how are they causing the inequities, including how these barriers may be interacting with each other
- Recommendations of barrier(s) Habitat Vietnam should work to address in order to achieve the desired outcomes and impacts
- A summary report: a shortened summary of the context analysis report, encapsulating the context analysis’ key findings and recommendations
TIMELINE
The context analysis is expected to be completed within 03 months from the signing date of the consultancy contract, which is scheduled to be in May 2022. The consultants will be expected to provide a detailed study schedule against the listed deliverables.
REQUIRED EXPERTISE OF CONSULTANT(S)
Selected consultant(s) are required to have the following qualifications:
- The team leader must have proven experience in conducting context analyses for development projects, preferably including issues of housing, poverty reduction, livelihood development, urban and regional planning, policy advocacy and influencing
- Academic qualifications (Master’s Degree minimum) in one of the following disciplines: social sciences, economics, development – 10+ years in a relevant field
- In-depth knowledge and professional experience in country-level assessment on housing, climate change adaptation, urbanization, people-centered development or disaster risk management research, programming, or evaluation in Vietnam
- Demonstrated experience in ecosystem approach and analysis – specific experience in land and housing country assessment is an asset
- Strong skill set in both quantitative and qualitative participatory methods.
- Be committed to and able to meet deadlines
- Strong analytical skills
- Excellent English and Vietnamese writing skills.
- Good narrative reporting and presentation skills
APPLICATIONS
The application package must include:
- The consultants/company’s profile/CVs and related track record
- 01 technical proposal, detailing how the consultants plan to investigate the Key Study Questions and achieve the Overall Objectives within the listed timeframe, including survey methodology, data collection tools, sample size, tentative work plan, team structure & role division
- 01 financial proposal that specifies the number of working days required with consultancy rate and proposed budget for logistics
- 01 sample summary report of a context analysis performed by the consultant(s)
- 03 contacts for reference. A reference check on the successful applicant will be conducted for safeguarding purposes, to ensure the successful applicant does not have a history of exploitation and abuse in working with vulnerable groups. Habitat Vietnam reserves the right to withdraw from signing the consultancy contract with the applicant if the reference check yields concerning results.
How to Apply: Proposals should be submitted in English by email with the subject mentioning “Consultant to conduct context analysis” to Mr. Truong Duy at [email protected] [2]. The closing date for applications is 17:00 26 May 2022. We regret that only short-listed applicants will be contacted for an interview.