Call for proposals: Consultant to carry out analysis of SRH and gender policies in BARMM

July 14, 2023

Date of posting: 14 July 2023

Deadline of submission: 30 July 2023

The Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) Foundation, Inc., with support of UNFPA Philippines, is looking for a consultant to carry out an early assessment of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender policy provisions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The outcome of the situation analysis will be used to develop an informed and context-specific policy advocacy communication strategy that will enable the members of the BARMM parliament to advocate, articulate, and pass population, gender and youth development legislations and to enlist the support of the whole parliament with a view to enhancing population and human development in the region. The scope of the present consultancy is two-fold:

  1. undertaking a policy mapping and scanning of existing BARMM relevant (national and regional) policy provisions and legislations pertaining to population, health, education, gender and the broadly defined social protection sector in BARMM; and ascertaining the extent to which the existing legislation, policy and institutional framework may or may not be adequate to meet the population, gender equality and development challenges and needs in the region; and
  2. carrying out focused informant interviews with a select group of members of parliament with a view to documenting their assessment and synthetizing their strategies and suggestions on the possible policy advocacy that is required to bring about the desired change of legislation in the above identified areas.

Applying the techniques of content analysis, conduct a structured and itemized policy mapping and scanning of existing legislations and policy provisions in the BARMM that have relevance to the broad range of sexual and reproductive health, education, adolescent girls and women’s empowerment as well as social protection policies and programs integrating gender dimensions including female education and women’s employment, fertility, migration, elimination of anti-discriminatory practices, provision of parental leave, and child-care services among others. The mapping will be used to highlight the possible institutional and policy inadequacies to address population and social barriers and challenges that stand before youth full social and economic insertion.

The analysis will also endeavor to gather evidence on the possible policy gaps where further efforts could be deployed to strengthen, improve, and expand support in the primary areas of SRH, youth and gender equality.

Within the limits of available data, the analysis is expected to account for the suitability and outreach of the existing institutional framework for ensuring cost effective delivery of SRH services, document the sectoral policies, plans and legislation, with a particular focus on SRH, gender and social protection sectors, identify current institutional gaps and barriers to making SRH and gender services multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary, assess current budgets provisions of relevant ministries as well as the sources and volume of external financing for the broadly defined social protection sector, and the modalities required for ensuring the sustainability of social protection services.

The desk review will account for existing studies/documents of relevance. This information will be useful to further refine the design of the informant interviews which represent the second component of the data gathering for the situation analysis.

Carry out key informant, in-depth interviews with a select group of Members of Parliament in the Bangsamoro Transition Authority. The purpose of the interview is to gather first-hand information regarding the above issues of priority in BARMM, the needs, barriers, availability, affordability and quality of SRH service, the challenges they perceive and their views on the most feasible, practical and practicable approaches that have potential to succeed in addressing the issues raised. Approximately 10 to 15 interviews will be conducted. The consultant is expected to develop an open-ended structured guide that will be used to introduce the exercise to the informants and seek their views and perspectives in a structured manner identifying the issues raised, their magnitude and complexity, the policy challenges standing on the way of addressing them and the strategies and processes that are likely to help address these challenges.

The two components of the consultancy will be used to come up with a statement of the problems; highlights of the challenges at the policy, administrative, institutional and resource level; the policy advocacy required to enlist the support of the whole assembly; and the concrete processes leading to this objective including devising a systematic, articulate communication strategy.

Key deliverables of the consultancy

  1. Inception report proposing a design and a methodology of the situation analysis and a tentative informant interview guide;
  2. Policy mapping identifying areas covered and highlighting policy gaps;
  3. Synthesis of the issues highlighted by the members of the Parliament interviewed; and
  4. An itemized list of priority policies and strategies that should guide a systematic and structured a policy advocacy campaign

Example of issues to be probed in the legislation

  • High adolescent unintended pregnancy
  • Child, early and forced marriage
  • Raising the age of statutory rape
  • Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health law
  • Population requiring particular attention/Muslim communities and indigenous people/Persons with disabilities
  • SRH/Youth issues among marginalized groups
  • Supporting government to maximize the demographic dividend
  • Data insufficiency
  • Data dissemination and use for policy and monitoring implementation

Ethical considerations and protection of confidentiality

The consultant is expected to have a substantive expertise in secondary research studies, informant interview technique, familiarity with content analysis and a practical knowledge in the areas of interest to the study. The consultant shall be working closely with PLCPD and the UNFPA Philippines Country Office both in Manila and in Cotabato.

How to apply

Interested parties may submit a detailed proposal with the following information:

  1. Narrative proposal and work plan reflecting the scope of work and expected outputs;
  2. Cost proposal;
  3. Company/organization profile showing evidence of competency to carry out the engagement;
  4. List of top three clients with similar engagement with contact person’s details, name and date of the projects handled, and brief scope of work.

Send your proposal to Mr. Romeo Dongeto, Executive Director of PLCPD, via email at plcpdfound@plcpd.org.ph not later than 30 July 2023.