TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONDUCTING A BASELINE SURVEY FOR NPA ZIMBABWE

1.INTRODUCTION
Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is the development organization of the labour movement in Norway.  In Zimbabwe, NPA started working with civil society organizations in 1980.  NPA supports the building and strengthening of people’s organizations.  This implies the strengthening of their organizations as a strategy for the empowerment of people and communities as well as for their ability of influence the conditions under which they live .  In addition NPA also cooperates with human rights and advocacy organizations working to defend and promote the right to organize and access information, achieve gender equality and youth friendly policies.   The current long term programme is supported through the NORAD Frame Agreement and is based on the strategy 2008 – 2011, which has come to an end.  The programme is implemented through long and short term partnerships with local civic society organizations and Community Based Organizations (CBOs).

“In order to put our solidarity and partnership strategy into practice, NPA needs continuous evaluation of who it should work with to promote the desired change.”  In view of the above principle NPA Zimbabwe is carrying out a baseline survey for the new strategy period 2012 – 2015.   NPA works in 4 year strategic phases and has just completed the 2008 – 2011 phase.  NPA will work with 8 partners and other short term partners to respond to Zimbabwean context.  The geographic cover of the work is within 10 provinces in Zimbabwe but in selected constituencies.

Program Goals and Key Expected Results
Development goal:  Strong NPA partners who mobilize for democratization, equality in the distribution, access and control of power and resources.
Key results areas
-NPA partners remain visible and are active on issues of women and human rights.
-NPA partners influence laws and policies that govern the access and control of resources (such as land, economy, technology, mineral property and trading rights).
-NPA partners who are skilled and have knowledge to engage in issues that affect them such as financial management, monitoring and evaluation, community mobilization and fundraising.

2.PURPOSE OF BASELINE SURVEY
NPA is expecting a baseline study that will “be used to perform analysis to find current performance against the expected level for the new strategic program 2012 – 2015.  The baseline must provide a description of conditions in Zimbabwean context, prior to the NPA intervention 2012 – 2015.  Benchmarks against which change and progress can be measured and evaluated must be provided in the survey.

Objectives of the Baseline Survey
-To provide benchmark information for measuring project achievements and impact (at the project objectives, intermediate results levels).
-To provide information on each of NPA implementing partner and the issues they are engaged in their target constituencies.
-To provide information on the implementing partner’s impact to-date and provide baseline information for new proposed activities for 2012 – 2015.
-To identify benchmarks and indications for each implementing partners which NPA can be used as a point of reference for monitoring and evaluation of NPA implementing partner’s projects.
-To provide information for planning the program, including information about the relevant Zimbabwean socio-economic and political context, especially looking at the work NPA’s implementing partners intend to do in 2012 – 2015.
-To provide information on key areas that will enable NPA to draft a country strategy for 2012 – 2015 programs.
-To provide information on the number of civil society/youth groups actively engaged in issues of citizen participation in good governance.
-To provide information on the number of civil society/youth groups actively engaged in issues of access and control of resources including impact of extractive industry and impact on poor and women’s economic and social empowerment.
-To review the NPA LFA with inclusion of baseline and target.
-To provide information of reducing partner capacity needs and strategies to cover/ fulfill the identified gaps.
-To review the impact of disseminating information on Democracy and Human Rights as against bread and butter issues.
-To review NPA and each NPA implementing partner’s monitoring and evaluation tools and identify gaps.
-Recommend effective intervention for NPA implementing partners on how best,  sustainability for each organization can be achieved.

3.METHODOLOGY
The baseline survey will comprise of a desk review/survey and field visits; specifically:
a)Conduct a desk review including an analysis of documents, policy papers, national surveys and reports that have been produced in connection with the project thematic area.  Review internal NPA documents related to this project including data already gathered.
b)Conduct field visits and interviews with citizens, CBOS, NGOS, local leaders, local authorities in the selected constituencies.
c)Develop a comprehensive data collection tools for the above assignment.
d)Develop participatory methodologies for the survey.

4.SCOPE AND FOCUS OF THE BASELINE SURVEY
Specifically, the baseline will have the following:
Scope
-Specifically targeting constituencies to be agreed with NPA but at least 2 wards targeted per constituency.
-General outlook on initiatives by implementing partners especially looking at the issues being addressed by the project.
-Focus should be on the project objectives and the planned NPA results areas.

Specific responsibilities of the consultant will include the following:
1.Desk review of relevant literature (national, regional and community level reports).
2.Design and produce baseline survey tools.
3.Give input on the draft monitoring and evaluation framework, including indicators and tools.
4.Baseline data should be disaggregated by gender.
5.Conduct field survey.  Methods may include questionnaire, interviews, focus group discussions and meetings with local community organizations, local leaders, other NGOs operating in constituencies and government units in the project regions.  The survey must clearly ascertain the present status on levels of community participation in constituency development initiatives.
6.Design database for data entry, analyze the data, identify specific gaps/deficits in social accountability and clarify training and other needs to be met comparing with the already developed plans.
7.Identify lead agencies or local community organizations/groups that can be used for lobbying/advocacy and collaboration purposes.
8.Assess the underlying or implicit forces that impact on development and initiatives among communities.
9.Assess levels of participation at decision making and power sharing among the women, young women, youths other vulnerable groups and men.

5.    Set of baseline survey tools: Draft Proposal in respond to TOR
-Prepare and present draft report of findings at a forum to be attended by NPA, local partner organizations and other stakeholders.
-Prepare and submit final report of baseline survey, incorporating feedback from stakeholders, which presents, status, gaps and recommendations for future interventions including suitable implementation, methodology, appropriate structures for project success and possible sustainability strategy.
-The final outcome should be a revised RBM matrix which incorporates baseline and suggested targets by end of the project.
-The Final report should be not more than 40 pages.

6.WORK PLAN AND SCHEDULE
The evaluation is expected to be finalized within a period of 12 weeks after contract has been signed.   Activities will be based on provision set out in section 4.  A definitive time frame will be agreed within the assignment.

7.REPORTING
With reference to section 5.  The report shall be delivered under the contract and activity plan as outlined in section 4 and 5.  A draft report to be submitted to NPA Office in English and should not exceed 40 pages.  The report should include an executive summary.

8.PROFILE OF CONSULTANT(S) AND REQUIREMENT
The consultant should be skilled in conducting the baseline survey and performance measurement (especially qualitative measurements).  The consultant must have substantive understanding of Zimbabwean civil society, governance issues, access and control of resources and Zimbabwean politics as demonstrated capacity of policy advice and knowledge of project management and implementation issue.

It is also desirable that the consultant has experience from working with issues around democracy, gender and rights based approach and RBM.  The consultant should have proven experiences of previous assignments with development analysis, feasibility studies, baseline of similar nature and engaging communities using participatory methodologies.  In addition the consultant must have the following:
-Relevant advanced degree in social science related discipline.
-At least 5 years experience in baseline surveys.
-Gender expertise and sensitivity to gender issues.
-Traceable references and copies of previous evaluation reports.

The deadline for the submission of response proposal and budget is 16th December 2011

Interested and qualified candidates/firms should submit their proposals to:

The Program Manager
NPA Zimbabwe
50 Somerset Drive, Eastlea
Harare

npazim [at] gmail [dot] com
Tel: 746686 or 746689

From Women in Law in Southern Africa … here’s a copy of an order from the High Court of Zimbabwe in a case that challenged the authority of the Registrar General to compel married women to change their surnames into those of their husbands.

The order was issued by consent but it was a declaratory order so it protects all women in similar circumstances.  Hats off to Saru Njerere of Honey and Blackenberg who represented the applicants.

In the continued fight against HIVAIDS, Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and Population Services International (PSI) have set a goal of circumcising 1.2 million men by 2015. Since the launch of PSI’s, GetSmart or Pinda Musmart male circumcision campaign in 2010, about 40,000 men have gone under the knife. Other countries are following Zimbabwe’s example and getting behind the male circumcision, in fighting HIV. Rwanda is another country that has most recently jumped on the male-circumcision bandwagon, and they have done so in a most innovative manner.

Rwanda is introducing a painless, non-surgical circumcision that causes no bleeding!

Read more below:

Circumcision has been shown to lower the risk of HIV transmission and infection in Africa. Now, a new device known as the PrePex enables circumcision to be performed without surgery or any blood loss, by nurses, who don’t need extensive training to use the apparatus.

The Rwandan Government has completed its third trial of PrePex with nearly 600 volunteers and has concluded the device is a safe and efficient way of performing circumcisions. It now aims to reduce new HIV infections by fifty percent, in part through a campaign to circumcise two million adult men over the next two years.

The results were presented at the 16th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Africa (ICASA).

Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS said:

“Innovation is key to achieving our target of 20 million voluntary adult male circumcisions by 2015 and saving millions of lives. Devices such as PrePex have the potential to facilitate safe and rapid scale up of male circumcision for HIV prevention, an urgent need in Sub Saharan Africa.

We commend the government of Rwanda for progressing the science of HIV prevention for the benefit of the region.”

An evaluation from the World Health Organization said the study of the PrePex device provides further clinical evidence that circumcision performed by nurses when using the PrePex device is fast, safe and effective, enabling a bloodless procedure that requires no injected anesthesia, no sutures and no sterile settings.

Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped) PhD hc, The Minister of Health of Rwanda said:

“We are unwilling to allow our health system resource challenges to dissuade us from our mission: to create a healthier, HIV-free Rwanda. We are committed to finding innovative, safe and effective solutions to make this happen …

This study shows that with the non-surgical PrePex device we can safely task-shift circumcision from surgeons and family physicians to nurses, which if nationally scaled up, would make a significant contribution to our public health system.”

Controversy regarding circumcision and HIV risk
There has been some controversy regarding the effectiveness of circumcision to prevent the spead of the HIV virus. Circumcision rates are far higher in the United States than in Western Europe, yet HIV cases remain stubbornly higher in the US and W. Europe, contrary to what might be expected if circumcision is so effective.

While many doctors are in agreement as to its effectiveness in Africa, the topic has its detractors that range from those demanding more research and scientific proof, some who point to contradictory findings from several studies, to wild conspiracy theories.

How does the device work?
The device basically works by stopping the flow of blood to the foreskin. It remains in situ for a week, after which time it is removed along with the foreskin that has died due to lack of circulation.

The average time for installation of the device is less than three minutes, with the advantage that it doesn’t involve surgery or cause blood loss, and thus can be performed by nurses.

The device and procedure, which can be performed in a regular doctor’s consulting room has an AE rate of 0.34% (2 out of 590), and the total study adverse event (AE) rate when performed by nurses was 0.83%. All resolved with minimal intervention, and the AE rate was lower than previously reported AE rates for surgical male circumcision when performed by surgeons (4.8%).

In Rwanda there are only 300 trained physicians for around 10 million people, and nearly 90 percent of the population live in rural areas that lack sterile facilities.

Analysis shows that scaling up circumcision via surgical procedures would drain resources from surgeons who work in vital life saving areas, not to mention the likely resistance from the local population.

The study was approved by the Rwanda National Ethics Committee and was conducted in Kanombe Hospital, Kigali Rwanda, between July 2011 and October 2011.

Source

This is my problem with SA business. When the time comes to stand up and speak out against dictatorships, its tail slips between its legs. SA business has been tjoepstil (nervously silent) while a bunch of nutters have called for nationalisation, expropriation of mines and other mayhem.

Justice Malala on Nando’s SA chickening out and pulling their advert.

From free education at Independence to auctioning the property of parents who can’t pay school fees.

Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe director Andy Moyse was released yesterday after questioning. But according to the latest update from MMPZ, its staffers, arrested Monday, in Gwanda in connection with a public meeting, are likely to remain in custody at least until Friday.

In a further update on the case, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights reports:

MMPZ employees condemed to prison

TWO Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) employees, Fadzai December and Molly Chimhanda and MMPZ member, Gilbert Mabusa will spend the next two nights in prison after Gwanda Magistrate Douglas Zvenyika on Wednesday 7 December 2011 postponed to Friday 9 December 2011, a ruling on a bail application filed by their lawyer, Kossam Ncube.

Magistrate Zvenyika postponed his ruling to Friday morning in order to consider submissions filed by Ncube, of Kossam Ncube and Partners Legal Practitioners and a board member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in support of bail and the opposition by the State prosecutor, Blessing Gundani.

In opposing bail Gundani argued that December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were likely to interfere with State witnesses because they have links to some of them.

The prosecutor claimed that the MMPZ project officers and Mabusa were facing a serious offence with prospects of imprisonment which they are likely to flee from because they are young with no links to the country.

Gundani claimed that releasing December, Chimhanda and Mabusa would be inappropriate as the police were still conducting investigations and that there are some more compact discs of a similar nature that they want to recover from Harare.

The prosecutor also indicated that the police want to recover the equipment used to produce the compact discs and verify the residential addresses that were given by December, Chimhanda and Mabusa. Gundani claimed that the compact discs contain material that is insulting to some “particular individuals” and are “very sensitive to the extent that the matter had ruffled a lot of feathers.”

December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were arrested on Monday 5 December 2011 after they attended at Gwanda Police Station. Their attendance to the police station followed requests by Gwanda police officers that they should visit Gwanda Police station for questioning relating to a workshop conducted in the area in November.

December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were charged with contravening section 25(1) (b) of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), for allegedly ‘participating in a gathering without seeking authority from the regulating authority’ and also for allegedly contravening section 37(1) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, by ‘distributing material that is likely to provoke a breach of peace’.

On Tuesday 6 December 2011 police in Harare raided and picked up MMPZ Project Coordinator, Andrew Moyse for allegedly possessing some materials on Gukurahundi and confiscated some Digital Video Disc (DVD)’s from the organisation’s offices. They later released him after going through an interrogation session which lasted several hours.

This morning MMPZ staffers were brought before Gwanda magistrate Mr Douglas Zvenyika. Mr Kossam Ncube appeared on behalf of accused persons whilst the prosecution was represented by Blessing Gundani. After hearing arguments by both counsel judgment was reserved until Friday morning when the magistrate will deliver his ruling on the bail application. The state opposed bail on the grounds that:

• Accused persons were likely to interfere with witnesses;
• Fadzai and Moly are still of a young and impressionable age and therefore likely to flee given the publicity the matter has generated in and outside Zimbabwe and the gravity of the offense they are facing;
• The case is of a sensitive nature;
• Investigations are still ongoing and Gwanda police is yet to collect DVD exhibits and the equipment used in the production of the DVDs

In a further update on the case, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) reports:

MMPZ employees condemed to prison

Two Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) employees, Fadzai December and Molly Chimhanda and MMPZ member, Gilbert Mabusa will spend the next two nights in prison after Gwanda Magistrate Douglas Zvenyika on Wednesday 7 December 2011 postponed to Friday 9 December 2011, a ruling on a bail application filed by their lawyer, Kossam Ncube.

Magistrate Zvenyika postponed his ruling to Friday morning in order to consider submissions filed by Ncube, of Kossam Ncube and Partners Legal Practitioners and a board member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in support of bail and the opposition by the State prosecutor, Blessing Gundani.

In opposing bail Gundani argued that December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were likely to interfere with State witnesses because they have links to some of them.

The prosecutor claimed that the MMPZ project officers and Mabusa were facing a serious offence with prospects of imprisonment which they are likely to flee from because they are young with no links to the country.

Gundani claimed that releasing December, Chimhanda and Mabusa would be inappropriate as the police were still conducting investigations and that there are some more compact discs of a similar nature that they want to recover from Harare.

The prosecutor also indicated that the police want to recover the equipment used to produce the compact discs and verify the residential addresses that were given by December, Chimhanda and Mabusa. Gundani claimed that the compact discs contain material that is insulting to some “particular individuals” and are “very sensitive to the extent that the matter had ruffled a lot of feathers.”

December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were arrested on Monday 5 December 2011 after they attended at Gwanda Police Station. Their attendance to the police station followed requests by Gwanda police officers that they should visit Gwanda Police station for questioning relating to a workshop conducted in the area in November.

December, Chimhanda and Mabusa were charged with contravening section 25(1) (b) of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), for allegedly ‘participating in a gathering without seeking authority from the regulating authority’ and also for allegedly contravening section 37(1) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, by ‘distributing material that is likely to provoke a breach of peace’.

On Tuesday 6 December 2011 police in Harare raided and picked up MMPZ Project Coordinator, Andrew Moyse for allegedly possessing some materials on Gukurahundi and confiscated some Digital Video Disc (DVD)’s from the organisation’s offices. They later released him after going through an interrogation session which lasted several hours.