Terms Of Reference : Engagement Of Survey Firms For The Nassp Scale-Up Validation And Enumeration Into The Rapid Response Register (RRR) (Lot 1-6 Data Structuring, Field Validation and Enumeration on Output Based Disbursement (ODB) plan.)

1.     Background

The Government of Nigeria has prioritized social protection interventions as a key strategy towards reducing poverty and socio-economic vulnerabilities in the country and has partnered with the World Bank under a National Social Safety Nets Project (NASSP) to expand safety nets to poor and vulnerable populations.

The development objective of the National Social Safety Nets Project for Nigeria is to provide access to targeted transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system. NASSP has two components;

1. to establish the building blocks of a safety net system for the delivery of targeted support to poor households across Nigeria; and
2. implementing a targeted cash transfer to targeted poor and vulnerable households included in the NSR, by delivering regular and reliable transfers in a way that is accessible to beneficiaries and with benefit levels that are consistent with project objectives.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic has been dire for poor and those at-risk of falling into poverty, such as non-traditional poor-itinerant informal urban workers, and daily wage earners across Nigeria. It is against this background that the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and the Management of the World Bank agreed to scale up NASSP to reach the urban poor not previously captured into the National Social Register (NSR).

The Rapid Response Register (RRR) is designed to capture the urban poor as one of the components of the scale-up, and a sub-component of the NSR. The “Rapid Response” as the name implies, requires urgent and meticulous approach. Whereas the National Social Register (NSR) has covered over 600 LGAs across the 36 states and FCT, the register is largely made up of the rural poor and hence, the need for the RRR to focus primarily on the urban poor and vulnerable population. The clusters of locations where these populations, in the urban and semi urban settlement live, have been identified using innovative technical inputs in combination with satellite imagery for the NASSP scale up intervention. The NASSP scale-up approach utilized existing database of Telecommunication firms; projected population from the 2006 national census figures by the National Population Commission (208 Million Nigerians as of the year 2019); the national poverty head counts established from the national living standard survey (NLSS) 2019; as well as the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) estimated 196 Million GSM subscriber base, as of June 2020 – most of whom (phone subscribers) are concentrated in urban areas. These databases were put to critical consideration in the design of the RRR.

The RRR approach for identifying urban poor and populations at-risk of falling into poverty were subjected to pilot test using a quick dissemination of bulk SMS/USSD to subscribers that enables data aggregation and structuring according to pre-defined benchmarks for urban poverty metrics, and the analysis and extraction of list of potential beneficiaries.

• Rationale

The approach and methodology structured for the implementation of the RRR is relatively novel and uses a multi-stage approach, one of which includes data validation and enumeration process. This process facilitated equitable targeting, based on evidence from data and global best practices. The exercise is designed to capture respondent’s data, validate and enumerate household heads or alternates/care givers using Computerized Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) tool with pre-loaded checklist.

The validation exercise provides a physical validation of the respondents who have responded to the USSD application and enables the elimination of respondents who may have provided false details on the application to increase their possibility of being enrolled in the program. Enumeration is the process of enlisting the validated respondents with their respective demographics and other variables that will be provided by the checklist

NASSCO is hereby seeking to engage survey firms, to undertake field survey services, to conduct data validation and enumeration exercise. The Firms will work in line with the scope of work outline in 2.0 below.

The successful survey firms will work closely with the State Operations Coordination Unit (SOCU), an affiliate of the National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) at the state level and would ensure 100% coverage. Using a uniform validation mechanism, the firms will lead the data collection at the states. Once the data from the USSD is validated, enumerated and accepted by SOCU, the enumerated data will be shared with NASSCO, where it will be subjected to further due diligence process before it is aggregated into the Rapid Response Register.

• Aim and Objectives

The aim of the data validation exercise is to ensure effective targeting and efficient allocation of resources to appropriate beneficiaries. Other specific objectives include:

• To develop adequate framework for validation and enumeration of targeted poor and vulnerable household using the available primary data of Telco’s infrastructure and facilities especially through Short Message Services (SMS) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
• To effectively target and register poor and vulnerable household using the developed targeting framework as in objective 1 above.
• To carry out data synthesis and structure of the collected feeds ensuring data quality and interoperability.

2.  Scope of Work

The Rapid Response Registration will focus on a settlement within the defined target ward as identified by the NASSP targeting categorization for urban poor and vulnerable, with a total population of 20,196,650 across the Six geo-political zones of the country. The selected firms will collect information on specific variables of interest within those political zones as defined by NASSCO for the purpose of establishing the Rapid Response Register. The sampling frame to be surveyed by each firm has been finalized and will be shared with the survey firms.

2.1. Duties and Responsibilities

Additionally, the firms will work under the following scope:

1. The Firms under the supervision of NASSCO will adopted computer enabled data collection toolkit for enumeration successfully used during the pilot.
2. The firms, under the supervision of NASSCO and hand holding of SOCU, will use the data collection toolkit to undertake respondent validation and enumeration, including the geo-reference of respondents’ residence.

The Survey Firms would provide to NASSCO a field procedure plan, including enumerators training plan. The field procedure plan should outline in detail all aspects of the field work to be conducted by the Survey Firms in validating and collecting the relevant data.

The responsibilities of the survey firm include the following:

2.1.1 Survey Preparation

1. Developing the digitized version of the questionnaire. The survey firm will be primarily responsible for testing the program and identifying/ correcting any programming errors (bugs) or inconsistencies; NASSCO should have access to the programming source code files at every point of the contract period.
2. The enumerators will be required to be fluent in the local language of the state in which they will be working.
3. Provide the field staff with the necessary equipment and materials for data collection (e.g., tablets, enumerator manual/guidelines, field protocols/beneficiary identification protocols, identification cards, etc.).
4. Ensure safe transportation of field staff for all field activities as well as their safety and security in the field.
5. Manage the field staff team to collect the data based on the specific requirements described in these terms of reference and in coordination with NASSCO/SOCU.
6. Ensure implementation of data collection plan and quality control protocols.
7. Ensure that double phone numbers of respondents are eliminated, and no same name enumerated under single phone number
8. Ensure that only targeted areas are validated and enumerated
9. Ensure that enumerators are assigned in a designated segment of an area to identify and eliminate double enumeration for respondents with multiple phone numbers
10. Ensure that there is a (and digitized data) record evidence of respondents’ refusal to answer any questions during the interview.
11. Ensure that all (survey firms) enumerators perform consistency checks of the dataset to ensure that data are fully consistent and complete before they leave the respondent’s household.
12. Ensure the security of the data and data collection equipment.
13. Ensure that the SOCU team is handheld and capacity built to undertake and exercise of this nature going forward.

The survey firms will make every effort to contact each individual enlisted from the initial USSD dataset and complete all interviews. NASSCO and SOCU expects a minimum response rate of 95 percent.

2.1.2 Personnel Management

1. Contracting with individual consultants and other vendors/service providers who may be hired to provide services as required, to complete the project-related activities. The Firms will provide feedback on the hiring process of the survey staff.
2. Designing a training and field manual to be used as a reference by enumerators and supervisors throughout the survey administration in collaboration with the NASSCO/SOCU
3. Training enumerators, survey supervisors and support staff on the administration of the survey with both the tablet, computers and the paper questionnaire in close cooperation with NASSCO/SOCU (noting that paper is to be used only for exceptional cases of device failure). The training session should be at a minimum span of 3 working days and include the components envisaged in the checklist and the guideline
4. Training support staff in running high-frequency consistency checks on the collected data using STATA or any other interoperable software, throughout the collection process (when possible on a daily basis, depending on the availability of data) and under the supervision of the lead data officer.

2.1.3 Data Collection

The survey firms under the supervision of NASSCO and SOCU will be responsible for delivering a final dataset, final report and final monitoring dataset. The data is to be properly organized, with variables named and labelled and appropriate identifiers that permit seamless merging between databases.

1. The survey firms would provide the database of the respondents in a data structure that allows efficient inter-operability with the National Social Register (NSR).
2. Work under the support of the SOCU and ensure that all survey enumerators and their managers have signed a confidentiality agreement.
3. Planning for the interviews by contacting in advance all the identified respondents as contained in the USSD aggregated data from NASSCO; NASSCO/SOCU will provide the list and contact details of individuals to be interviewed; it is expected from the survey firms to plan for the administration of the interviews.
4. Managing survey logistics, including transportation, equipment (among which electronic data collection devices) and facilities is the responsibility of the survey firm.
5. Documenting respondents’ household location to allow maintaining contact with respondents over time and GPS coordinates is the responsibility of the survey firms.

2.1.4 Data Management

1. Data Entry: The firm will provide tablet computers which will allow data entry on the spot during the interview; in case of failure of the device and need to rely on paper questionnaires.
2. Daily Maintenance of Records: The firm will ensure daily records of all contacts and visits of respondents over time. Every day, the survey firm should be able to provide the list of respondents contacted and visited on that day, and corresponding outcomes (e.g. interview planned/completed/refusal); any failure of the tablet computers and any incident happening during the interview need to be reported. The Firms will ensure the provision of tablet to field staff where operations device failed for entry of information from paper to the device.
3. Data Quality Monitoring: The firm will work with the NASSCO and SOCU monitoring and evaluation (M&E) staff to monitor data quality regularly, run completion and consistency checks on 100% of the observations (including particular attention to the respondents’ ID, missing or outlier values) using STATA. STATA code to perform the checks will be provided by the NASSCO/SOCU.
4. Random revisits of respondents: The firms will, under the supervision of SOCU MIS/M&E, perform daily revisits of selected respondents that will be selected randomly (corresponding to 5% of the observations), in addition to those respondents where revisits are necessary due to problems/ inaccuracies found in the data. For the random revisits, only a part of the questionnaire (selected at random by an appropriate software) will be administered again.
5. Daily reporting on data checks/ cleaning: The firms will report to NASSCO through SOCU on all checks and cleaning performed to the data on daily basis. Templates for this daily report will be provided by the NASSCO M&E team
6. Ensuring data confidentiality, with a specific procedure to protect respondents’ personally identifiable information.

2.1.5 Review and Validation of Interviews

The survey firms will be responsible for guaranteeing high-quality data recording. To achieve accuracy, the firms will ensure that:

1. Every enumerator has a fully operational tablet and each field team has at least two reserve tablets and chargers.
2. Every tablet is fully charged and loaded before beginning the work;
3. Every Poor and Vulnerable Household enlisted through the USSD application process is enumerated using the checklist enclosed.
4. The enumerated data from the field is well synthesized and prepared in accordance to the enclosed checklist as will be verified by the SOCU
5. Every supervisor monitors the survey by checking the GPS location of where and when the interview took place; and
6. Every supervisor review and validates interviews at the end of each day before uploading the data to the central server

3. Contingency Plan in Case of Failure of Electronic Data Collection System

To ensure continuity in the survey administration, the survey firm will be responsible for:

1. Ensuring that all survey enumerators carry a sufficient number of paper versions of the questionnaire, to cover any exceptional case of failure of its devices.
2. Ensuring that any data recorded on paper is entered in the computer dataset, which may imply hiring, training and supervising data entry clerks;
3. Maintaining records: clearly indicating any occurrence of device failure and the reason for it and administration of all or part of the questionnaire on paper;
4. Providing any original paper surveys collected in the field to the project team in hardcopy and as scanned images (one PDF file for each individual survey checklist).

4. Ethical Considerations

The survey firms will be responsible to ensure that enumerators are trained to and are able to:

1. Assure the participants that their answers will be completely confidential.
2. Assure the participants that they will not be forced to answer any question, and that their participation in the project does not depend on their willingness to answer questions or on the answers they give.
3. Discuss sensitive issues with care and objectivity.

All field and office staff involved in data collection and management should have signed confidentiality agreements.

5. Deliverables/Specific Outputs Expected from Survey Firms

The Survey Firms shall deliver the following components of the scope of work accompanied with payment within the stipulated timeframe.

S/N	Item Component	Payment (%)	Schedule (DC-Date of Contract) (Days)
1	Pre-validation assessment report including workplan	20	DC +12 days
2	75% Validation/Enumeration assessment report and the structured data endorsed by SOCU M&E/MIS	50	DC + 45 days
3	Full validation and Enumeration assessment report and the structured data endorsed by SOCU M&E/MIS	30	DC + 60 days

1. Summary report of training data validation instruments

The summary report will have to contain the following elements:

1. A report of the training, including lessons learned;
2. Report of the debriefing sessions with the entire survey team.

b.     Reports during data collection

Regular reports to the firm’s field coordinators and SOCU, which have to include:

• Daily field progress
  • List of interviews completed by geographic region (including respondents interviewed); reasons for the scheduled interviews which were not completed; any delays to the field work should be reported, together with mitigation strategies;
  • A detailed report for every missing respondent: all the necessary steps taken before the respondent is considered as missing;
  • Schedule for the remaining interviews of the week (to be updated each week depending on the progress of the teams);
• Any qualitative information from the survey firm’s field teams which could be useful to the project Coordinator and SOCU.
• Data checks, to be shared at least twice a week
• Results of the completion and consistency checks;
• Results of the random back-checks, including the list of observations concerned.

c.      Final data packages

1. Raw data properly uploaded with the necessary variables on the project’s software’s platform. A 100% completion rate will be required.
2. Cleaned dataset, following the completion and consistency checks as well as the random back-checks. The codebook designed with the checklist should have been used adequately to record all coded answers.
3. GPS coordinates of all respondents, labelled with the respondent’s unique ID.

6.   Special Terms & Conditions/ Specific Criteria

       i.     Survey Checklist

There will be one survey instrument for each respondent. The survey will ask questions about demographic details (but only for the head of household), socio-economic background, agricultural and business experience, financial capabilities, and intra-household decision-making. It is expected that one interview will take about 30mins, with time per interview potentially decreasing as enumerators gain experience.

Note: Caregivers contacts or Bank Account can be provided but only with the consent of the Head of the household.

      ii.     Training

Before the start of the data collection, an enumerator training will be conducted in order to familiarize the enumerators and supervisors with survey protocols and the handling of tablets. After the training, the questionnaire will be tested and optimized. This phase also serves to give a pre hands-on experience of the enumerators and logistics of the data collection process before mobilizing to the field for the exercise.

The survey firms will produce a training and field manual suitable for the local context in consultation with NASSCO/SOCU. If necessary, the training materials and field manuals will be translated to local languages.

A comprehensive general training should be given to the supervisors and enumerators in order to create a team environment and to allow for substitution between roles should any team member take a leave of absence due to illness or other emergency. Because the training should also serve as a screening process for skilled enumerators, the survey firms should recruit more enumerators for the training than will be ultimately hired for the project. The supervisors should receive supplemental training as needed.

The training should be scheduled for 3 workdays for all enumerators in a centrally placed location in Nigeria. The training program should include:

• Theoretical component: Training should include a review of the theory of the checklist on each item specified to ensure that the enumerators and supervisors fully understand the objective of requirement. Standard quantitative interviewing techniques and field protocols should also be covered.
• Classroom practice: Training should include individual and group exercises for enumerators to become familiar with the practice of asking survey questions and filling in questionnaires. This part of the training may include in-class demonstrations, where the checklist is projected, and one enumerator completes the checklist in front of the classroom. Finally, the trainees should conduct drill interviews on the same subject, and have the enumerators fill in a checklist for the interview to test consistency across the enumerators.

De-briefing: a one-day debriefing following the drill with the entire survey team as well as the field coordinators.

7.  Qualifications and Experience of Key Personnel

The survey firm should be locally based in Nigeria. The selected survey firm must have at least five years’ experience in managing surveys, preferably panel surveys (involving repeated interviews with individuals over time). Ideally the firm will also possess experience in interviewing smallholder farmers, processors, marketers and other actors along value chains of selected commodities.

The survey firm will have sufficient experience and capacity to manage survey logistics, including equipment, materials, and personnel. This includes the preparation of survey and training materials, training and supervising enumerators, data entry, maintaining records, and ensuring confidentiality of records. The survey firm will preferably have experience in handling sensitive material and information.

The survey firm must, at a minimum, exclusively and full-time assign the following staff to the project:

1. One (1) Survey coordinator – this person would be the reference contact point for the project team and the NASSCO team and have the following profile:
2. Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences or a related field or proven field survey experience with data management capability;
3. Minimum of 5 years’ experience leading/managing large-scale and complex surveys to collect individual, household, and/or provider/firm-level data, including survey field work and logistics;

• Proven experience with data quality assurance mechanisms (field work management, data entry programming, etc.);

1. Proven ability to facilitate communication between different stakeholders (government and non-government institutions);
2. Strong interpersonal skills, ability to lead and motivate a team of enumerators, data entry staff, etc. and the ability to communicate flawlessly in English;
3. High level of attention to detail;

• Familiarity with the cultural context of the Nigerian states
• Ability to communicate in local languages a plus;

1. Familiarity with the agribusiness sector and different value chains in Nigeria is a plus;
2. Experience working with/for both private and public sectors is preferred;
3. One (1) Lead data officer in charge of consistency checks and data management with the following profile:
4. Master’s degree in statistics or advanced degree in economics, social sciences or related field with a strong quantitative focus or have minimum of 5 years of cognate field survey experience;
5. Demonstrated capacity and 5 years’ experience in managing survey field work and logistics;

• Proven experience with data quality assurance mechanisms (field work management, data entry programming, etc.);

1. Prior experience with data collection as an enumerator;
2. Working knowledge of STATA;
3. High level of attention to detail;

• Experience with computer (including mobile devices) assisted data collection platforms and working knowledge of data entry software, prior experience with data entry preferred;
• Strong interpersonal skills, including ability to communicate flawlessly in English;

1. High level of familiarity with the geography, political and cultural context of Nigeria;
2. Familiarity with the agricultural sector and different value chains in Nigeria is preferred.

 

1. An appropriate number of enumerators (survey takers) with the following profile:
2. At least Ordinary National Diploma-OND/WAEC/SSCE;
3. Good communication skills required;

• Fluency in English and the local language of their assigned state required;

1. Ability to understand implementation protocol required;
2. Ability to record data required;
3. Basic quantitative skills: MS Excel or similar applications;

• Experience with administering surveys is an advantage.

 

1. Field supervisors for enumerators: in addition to enumerator’s profile, a supervisor should have at least 3 years’ experience in survey-taking and a university degree.

Added to the minimum level of academic education stated above, all enumerators and supervisors have to be fluent in the appropriate local (regional) language where they are to conduct interviews.

The precise numbers and staff requirements will be agreed upon during contract negotiations. The survey firms should submit resumes for all of the above staff. The survey firm should clarify the time required for them to mobilize a data collection team.

For the duration of the contract, it would be expected from the survey firms to not take any other assignment which would de-mobilize any of the staff mentioned above. Those staff members should devote 100% of their time to the project for the entire duration of the contract.

Survey Firms

The selected firms shall possess the following qualifications:

1. Demonstrated experience in conducting surveys of a scale and complexity similar to those envisaged by the ToR in the past five years.
2. Experience in surveys of households, in low resource setting, especially with proven experience in data collection with low rate of non-response.
3. Experience in household surveys
4. Strong capacity and experience in planning and organizing survey logistics.
5. Good network of enumerators with strong experience in electronic data collection.
6. Demonstrated strong capacity in data management and statistics.
7. Proof of sufficient funds to cover at least 50% of the budget upfront.
8. CVs for the core staff are expected to be included in the firm technical proposal.

 

8.     Electronic Data Collection

The hardware used for the electronic data collection has to fulfil the following specifications:

• At least 7” Android-based tablet computers, with 24-hour battery backup on which the chosen electronic data collection software can be installed and used;
• Be able to take text information of all of the survey interview and record GPS coordinates;
• Be protected adequately with cases and accompanied with the necessary equipment (including power generators and fuel as necessary) to permit uninterrupted power supply during field work.

The firms should have proven experience in electronic data collection, using mobile phones or tablets, with demonstrated technical competency and a record of delivering quality data using this method of data collection. It should be able to propose an electronic data collection strategy adapted to the local context (including rural areas), with details on operational logistics,

The survey firms should agree to acquire a license for the data collection software on a monthly basis for as long as the project team requests this (within the lifespan of the contract). This is reflected in the budget.

8.1  Future Use of the Data

The completed datasets will be the property of NASSCO/SOCU. The firms will provide NASSCO/SOCU with the cleaned and coded datasets, including raw data files, codebooks(s) and survey questionnaires. The firms may not use the data for their own research purposes, nor license the data to be used by others, without the written consent of NASSCO

The firm will protect the confidentiality of those participating in the survey at all stages. All data are to be treated as highly confidential. No data or other information from this survey will be released to third parties without the written approval of NASSCO.

9.     Duration and Timeline

The Survey Firms shall deliver the following components of the scope of work within the stipulated timeframe.

Beginning date: 1^st April 2021 (approx.)

End date: 1^st May 2021 (approx.)

10.  Budget (FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY)

Lot	Zone	Item Description	Unit Cost (₦)	Qty (Population)	Estimated Target (70% of Population)	HH Size	Amount (₦)
1	South-South (Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Edo)	Data Structuring, Field Validation and Enumeration on Output Based Disbursement (ODB) plan.		3,397,434	2,378,204	495,459.13
2	South-East (Imo, Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi)			2,054,272	1,437,990	299,581.33
3	South-West (Ekiti, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo)			1,936,930	1,355,851	282,468.96
4	North-Central (Benue, Nassarawa, Plateau, Niger, Kogi, Kwara & FCT)			3,634,830	2,544,381	530,079.38
5	North-West (Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa)			4,681,644	3,277,151	682,739.75
6	North-East (Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto)			4,491,540	3,144,078	655,016.25
	Average HH size = 4.8	Total		20,196,650	14,137,655	2,945,344.79

 

Document attached below

Draft-ToR-for-the-RRR-data-validation-and-data-collection-WB-cleared10827