Agency for data collection for Accelerator for Shifting Gender Norms through Education
Request for Proposal
Background:
Centre for Catalyzing Change (C3), works to mobilize girls and women to achieve gender equality. Our vision is a future in India where girls and women are fully empowered and equipped to realize their rights, access opportunities and achieve gender equality. At the core of our work and approach is a belief that achieving gender equality is essential to development, democracy and progress. We address challenges that girls face in our country at different stages of their life cycle. For its work to impact the lives of adolescent girls, C3 follows an empowerment model, based on an integrated and holistic approach to empowerment of adolescent girls.
C3 is a part of a coalition of 12 organizations working across Africa, Asia, and Latin America to generate evidence, tools, and momentum to shift gender norms in classrooms and beyond. One of the activities under this coalition included co-designing and validation of a practical assessment tool to measure shifts in adolescent gender norms. The Adolescent Gender Norms Assessment Tool (AGNAT) survey tool is now ready for validation with school going adolescents aged 10-19 years old. The tool will be measuring gender norms in girls and boys in two age groups, 10-14 year olds and 15-19 year olds. The quantitative tool will be preceded by a small sample of qualitative cognitive interviews. Some of the survey participants will be invited to complete the survey again after approximately two weeks to assess the consistency of responses over time.
The agency will be responsible for training of enumerators, data collection, both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data will be collected through CAPI, not self administered.
*Addendum: Agencies will also be responsible for development of CAPI and storage of data as per DPDP act.
Development of CAPI:
Agency will be responsible for development of CAPI (in 2 languages) and storage of data on an Indian server.
Training:
Agency will be responsible for training of enumerators for both quantitative and qualitative data collection. C3 team will be present in the training.
Study Design:
This study will use a sequential mixed-methods design to test and validate the Adolescent Gender Norms Assessment Tool (AGNAT) in India. The study comprises two phases: (1) cognitive interviews to assess the clarity, comprehension, and cultural appropriateness of the tool, followed by (2) a cross-sectional survey to evaluate its reliability and validity among adolescents, including repeat survey after 2 weeks.
Sample Distribution:
The sample size proposed is 1600 adolescents attending school for quantitative survey and 20 cognitive interviews (qualitative). The sample break up is given below.
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Stakeholder
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Survey
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Repeat Survey
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Cognitive Interview
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Girls 10-14 years
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400
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193
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5
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Girls 15-19 years
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400
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192
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5
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Boys 10-14 years
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400
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193
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5
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Boys 15-19 years
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400
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192
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5
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Total
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1600
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770
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20
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Within the selected districts, partner programme schools list will be provided, and the required number of schools will be selected ensuring maximum diversity (such as urban/rural, tribal/non-tribal). Around 20 schools will be selected (10/district). Finally, school enrolment records will be used to prepare age- and gender-specific sampling frames, from which eligible adolescents will be selected using simple random sampling.
For the cognitive interviews, purposive sampling will be used to ensure diversity by age group, gender, urban/rural location, tribal/non-tribal communities, and school type (co-educational and single-sex schools). Adolescents participating in the cognitive interviews will not be included in the survey. For the survey, cluster random sampling will be used. Eligible students will be identified from school enrolment registers and grouped by age and gender. Participants will then be randomly selected from each group to achieve the required sample size.
Written parental or guardian consent and adolescent assent will be obtained for all participants below 18 years of age. Adolescents aged 18–19 years will provide written informed consent. Adolescents will be provided with the assent/consent and parental consent forms a day before data collection to take home. Only those providing signed forms will be interviewed.
Geography: Data will be collected from in-school adolescents across 2 districts in Jharkhand- East Singhbum & Dumkha. School list will be provided by C3.
Scope of Work for Agency
- Develop CAPI application based on tool shared by C3.
- Identify, recruit and train enumerators for data collection, and develop shared understanding of the research instruments, sampling protocols and the quality control mechanism.
- Design and put in place quality control protocols for ensuring quality data collection and share with C3.
- Ensure quality data collection with a clear supervision plan and adequate human resources, data entry and data cleaning protocols.
Support & Tools provided by C3
- AGNAT Quantitative tool (in English and Hindi)
- Cognitive Interview tool (in English and Hindi)
- Assent, consent and parental consent forms (in English and Hindi)
- School lists for data collection
- Ethical Approval Letter
- Support in the training of enumerators before data collection
- Approvals from the appropriate authorities
Deliverables
- Survey tool in CAPI format
- Field Plan and methodology note
- Cleaned dataset of quantitative findings (Excel/SPSS/CSV)
- Interview recordings and transcripts of qualitative interviews (Hindi as well as translated to English)
Timelines:
The proposed timeline of the assignment is November 20th – 31st December 2026. The assignment should be completed within 45 days of signing of the contract. The agency will propose a detailed timeline in its proposal and strictly adhere to the agreed schedule.
Quality Control Mechanism
Quality of data gathered is of utmost importance and so the hired agency for data collection is expected to design quality control protocols for ensuring quality data collection. The agency is also expected to deploy personnel to implement data quality protocols. The time and duration of every tool usage/interview must be recorded and included in the final data set. A full description of quality control measures must be included in the agency’s proposal. The agency will be responsible for providing computers and other hardware to its team for data entry and backup while in the field.
Data Residency and Data Protection Compliance: The Vendor shall ensure that all data processed, generated, collected, transmitted or stored in connection with the development, deployment, hosting, operation, maintenance and support of the application/software, including databases, backups, logs containing personal data and disaster recovery copies, remains hosted and stored exclusively within India, and shall comply with all applicable provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, as and when applicable and as amended from time to time, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and all other applicable Indian laws, rules, regulations and Government directions relating to data protection, privacy, cybersecurity and information security; the Vendor shall fulfil all obligations applicable to it as a Data Processor, Data Fiduciary or other relevant entity, as applicable, ensure equivalent contractual compliance by its subcontractors and third-party service providers, and shall remain contractually responsible to the Purchaser for any breach of this clause by itself or such parties.
Data Rights
A contract for this project will only be awarded on the condition that all information, reports and plans, both print and electronic that may have been designed specifically for this project, in whatever format, will belong to C3. The Agency may not use the data for their own research purposes, nor license the data to be used by others, without the written consent of C3. Data is to be stored in an Indian server
Agency Requirements
The agency that intends to participate in the bidding should have extensive experience conducting quantitative surveys. The agency should be able to demonstrate the ability to identify qualified interviewers who are fluent in Hindi language, are able to read and comprehend English, and are also able to code answers to the questions in English. At least 50% of the interviewers should be women, with preference to those having familiarity of local dialect.
The agency should have proven experience and expertise in conducting qualitative interviews and using participatory methodologies and tools as required for this assignment. Sound understanding and experience of conducting gender and adolescent norm-based studies. The agency should be able to deploy qualified facilitators who are fluent in Hindi language and are also able to understand and write notes in English fluently. Qualitative team will have a mix of male and female members. The agency should have experience in conducting Adolescent and gender focused studies.
Annexure 1: Format for Proposal
1) Technical Proposal
Section 1: Appreciation of the ToR and Qualifications, if any
Section 2: Credentials of the Firm (Organization, core-competency, experience and human resources; annual turnover for last three years & annual turnover on similar assignments for last three years not more than 2 pages)
Section 3: Previous Experience (details of assignments of similar nature successfully completed by the firms in the last five years, maximum 5; for each assignment, please mention the title, duration, client, total cost, role of the firm, brief description of services rendered by the firm and attach copies of agreement of 5 similar assignments)
Section 4: Approach and methodology of data collection (including how to manage the assignment, training of enumerators, quality control mechanism for data collection, kind of software to use for data analysis, the work-plan in the form of a Gantt Chart; team composition and personnel inputs; without any mention of the professional fees.
Section 5: Signed CVs of the proposed personnel and commitment of their availability for the (duration of the) assignment
Section 6: Any other information (e.g., conflict of interest, Joint venture or disclosure, etc.)
2) Financial Proposal: Financial proposal for quantitative survey and qualitative interviews will be submitted separately.
Summary of the total costs
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Professional costs
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Other direct costs
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Government taxes, if any
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Total Costs
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Details of the costs proposed (indicative)
Professional Cost
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Professional
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Number
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Days
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Rate
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Total
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Quantitative
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Qualitative
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Total
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Field Cost
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Individual Quantitative Survey
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Days
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Rate
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Total
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Total
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Qualitative Assessment
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Total
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Total Field Cost
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Travel Cost
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Individual Quantitative Survey
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Number
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Days
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Rate
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Total
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Total
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Qualitative Assessment
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Total
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Total Travel Cost
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Professional per diem
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Number
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Days
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Rate
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Quantitative Survey
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Qualitative Assessment
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Total
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Other Cost
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Unit
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Tool development cost
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Interested technical agencies should share the technical and financial proposal and the agency's credentials with procurement@c3india.org by 5.30 pm on/before October 25th, 2026 mentioning “PNR-PF150.05.01-2026-27-096” on the subject line of email.