Issue Date: January 23, 2017
Submission Date: February 3, 2017
SUMMARY
Women’s World Banking seeks a local research consultant / research firm in Pakistan to conduct (1) market intelligence research focused on low-income women and (2) a focused understanding of women’s DFS adoption between February and March of 2017. The scope of each project and timeline is outlined below. Women’s World Banking would prefer one local research consultant/ research firm that can complete both components but is open to considering multiple consultants or firms for this project.
ABOUT WOMEN’S WORLD BANKING
Women’s World Banking is the global non-profit devoted to giving more low-income women access to the financial tools and resources essential to their security and prosperity. For more than 35 years we have worked with financial institutions to show them the benefit of investing in women as clients, and as leaders. We equip these institutions to meet women’s needs through authoritative market research, leadership training, sustainable financial products, and consumer education. Headquartered in New York, Women’s World Banking works with 40 institutions in 29 countries with a reach of 16 million women to create access to finance on a greater scale than ever before.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
This project has two components. Each component has a distinct scope of work, stakeholders to engage, deliverables, budgets, and timelines. While each component has discrete activities, the scope of activities will inform one another and insights need to integrate across the projects. The two components call for similar skill sets but require adequate resources to conduct activities identified under the two projects concurrently and be completed in multiple locations within Pakistan. The findings that are generated from each component should be complimentary and must be leveraged across both projects.
Component 1: Market Intelligence on Pakistan
To build a more comprehensive knowledge base on the Pakistan market context, Women’s World Banking is conducting holistic market intelligence research on a range of life dimensions that impact women. Our market intelligence framework looks at the landscape starting from the vantage point of the woman to understand the degree of personal agency and the balance of resources available for her to access. The major elements of the framework seek to deeply understand trends and pain points across the life-cycle for women with a focus on low-income communities, such as economic participation, buying/purchasing patterns, health, safety, social norms, family dynamics, education, livelihoods, engagement with digital technology, and financial services. For this research, Women’s World Banking seeks a local research consultant / research firm to investigate macro trends affecting women (through analysis of consumer behavior patterns, market development indicators, economic activities) and the demand perspective (through interviews with a broad base of women about their lives and with organizations serving women), and to support supply-side and other stakeholder interviews and analysis.
Component 2: DFS Adoption and Activation among Low-Income Women in Pakistan
Women’s World Banking is conducting a project entitled “Creating Paths to Inclusive Economies through Digital Financial Services Adoption and Activation among Low-Income Women in Pakistan,” in partnership with one of the leading mobile network operators in Pakistan as well as an international foundation and behavioral insights firm. For this project, Women’s World Banking seeks a local research consultant / research firm to investigate the demand perspective on DFS through interviews with Pakistani women (both clients and non-clients of our MNO partner) and to support supply-side research by conducting interviews with key stakeholders outside Islamabad.
OBJECTIVES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Component 1: Market Intelligence on Pakistan
Macro trends:
Investigate macro trends in the development of the market (education, literacy, health, safety, employment, etc.) through secondary analysis. Analysis should include the trends, pain points, and patterns of women’s lives across the full range of dimensions included in the Women’s World Banking market intelligence framework;
Conduct data analysis on women’s buying/purchasing patterns through consumption of key reports and available data sets to identify patterns, choices, and frequency of economic participation by different segments of women in Pakistan;
Complete a data segmentation of the women within the market using publicly available data sets to identify the different segments, indicators of economic engagement, trends in access to resources and usage. Use the data to identify the market’s economically active groups, their characteristics, and implications;
Develop PowerPoint deck detailing research findings and analysis, and collaborate with Women’s World Banking in identifying insights to inform approaches to advancing women’s financial inclusion; and
Provide in-depth analytic materials and data for Women’s World Banking use.
Demand perspective:
Identify and recruit segments of women to engage in interviews and complete all sample development through a range of organizations and channels to ensure a strong representation of different identified segments. The research sample should include diverse perspectives and be representative of the country as a whole. Included in the scope of work is recruitment of research participants and coordination of all logistics required to conduct the research (e.g., venues, transportation, communication with participants, etc.);
Conduct all interviews with women regarding a range of topics and behavioral and social dynamics that align with the overarching market intelligence framework. Women’s World Banking will develop the interview guides with input from the local consultant / research firm. The interviews will be with women in multiple locations within the country and the research firm / consultant should identify comfort and ability to travel to these locations. The total number of interviews and methodology employed within the interview will be determined in the planning period;
Take verbatim notes of each interview and share transcripts with Women’s World Banking. Transcripts will be shared throughout the research process to ensure that the content is aligned to the expectations of the Women’s World Banking research team. The research firm / consultant will be available for regular discussions with the research team. The research firm / consultant will provide all raw notes from the interviews;
Analyze interviews through inductive themes analysis which will be developed in partnership with the Women’s World Banking team. The research firm / consultant will lead the analytic coding and synthesis of findings with input from the research team. Develop PowerPoint deck detailing key themes and findings, including breakdown by any relevant segments. Provide in-depth analytic content from the analysis; and
Collaborate with Women’s World Banking in analyzing research findings and identifying insights.
Supply perspective & enablers/innovators:
Identify and engage organizations working to address women’s life needs (health, safety, education, livelihood, community engagement/civic participation, government initiatives, humanitarian initiatives, digital and new corporate strategies, and other areas of import for women), innovators in multiple sectors, government and multilateral stakeholders, philanthropy, and other relevant stakeholders. (Women’s World Banking will contribute to identifying stakeholders and will develop the interview guides, welcoming any insights the research firm / consultant may add.);
The research firm / consultant will lead all coordination and engagement to liaison with these stakeholders for meetings. Lead interview and provide detailed interview notes to Women’s World Banking, along with summary of key themes across interviews, and collaborate with Women’s World Banking in analyzing research findings and identifying insights to inform project outcomes. The Women’s World Banking team will participate in interviews when possible which will be determined during the planning period once the research firm is selected;
Take verbatim notes of each interview and share transcripts with Women’s World Banking. Transcripts will be shared throughout the research process to ensure that the content is aligned to the expectations of the Women’s World Banking research team. The research firm / consultant will be available for regular discussions with the research team. The research firm / consultant will provide all raw notes from the interviews;
Analyze interviews through inductive themes analysis which will be developed in partnership with the Women’s World Banking team. The research firm / consultant will lead the analytic coding and synthesis of findings with input from the research team. Develop PowerPoint deck detailing key themes and findings, including breakdown by any relevant segments. Provide in-depth analytic content from the analysis.; and
Collaborate with Women’s World Banking in analyzing research findings and identifying insights.
Component 2: DFS Adoption and Activation among Low-Income Women in Pakistan
Demand perspective:
Integrate the findings from Component 1 (market intelligence) into the research planning and insights that are related to a deeper review of the DFS access and usage among Pakistani women;
Conduct interviews with women (clients of our partner MNO and non-clients relevant to project objectives) regarding their lives, digital access and engagement, and access to financial services. The research sample should include diverse perspectives and be representative of low-income populations across the country and should engage women located within and outside Islamabad. Included in the scope of work is recruitment of research participants and coordination of all logistics required to conduct the research (e.g., translator, venues, transportation, communication with participants, etc.). Women’s World Banking will provide randomized client lists from our MNO partner for client recruitment purposes, and will also lead the develop the interview guides with input from the selected consultant. The consultant will conduct all interviews with women. The interviews will be with women in multiple locations within the country identified by the research team and the consultant should identify comfort and ability to travel to these locations. The Women’s World Banking team may participate in select interviews which will be determined in the project planning activities. The total number of interviews and methodology employed within the interview will be determined in the planning period;
Take verbatim notes and recordings of each interview and share transcripts with Women’s World Banking. Transcripts will be shared throughout the research process to ensure that the content is aligned to the expectations of the Women’s World Banking research team. The research team and local consultant / research firm will hold regular discussions to ensure alignment with the process and desired content. The local consultant / research firm will provide all raw notes in English from the interviews;
Analyze interviews through inductive themes analysis. The local consultant / research firm will lead the analytic coding and synthesis of findings with input from the research team. Develop PowerPoint deck detailing key themes and findings, including breakdown by any relevant segments. Provide in-depth analytic content from the analysis; and
Collaborate with Women’s World Banking in analyzing research findings and identifying insights to inform improvements in DFS for women.
Supply perspective:
Integrate the findings from Component 1 (market intelligence) into the research planning and insights that are related to a deeper review of the supply side perspective on DFS access and usage among Pakistani women;
Support Women’s World Banking’s supply-side research conducting interviews with key stakeholders located within and outside Islamabad who Women’s World Banking cannot personally meet due to travel constraints. (Women’s World Banking will take the lead in identifying these stakeholders and develop the interview guides, welcoming any insights the consultant may add);
Support in connecting and liaising with these stakeholders as needed;
Attend and provide detailed interview notes to Women’s World Banking, along with summary of key themes across interviews, and collaborate with Women’s World Banking in analyzing research findings and identifying insights to inform project outcomes; and
Collaborate with Women’s World Banking in analyzing research findings and identifying insights. The research team will be engaged in developing and presenting a findings and insights deliverable and presentation to the in field team during the project period.
DURATION OF CONSULTANCY
The duration of this consultancy is from February 2017 through March 2017
Component 1: Research activities for should begin in February 2017 upon contract award with macro research and will continue through March with the integration of the demand and supply side research and analysis. All activities and analysis should be completed with the final deliverable and presentation completed by the end of March 2017.
Component 2: Research for this component will begin in March and the bulk of work within the scope will coincide with a planned trip to Islamabad by the Women’s World Banking team in March 2017 (dates to be determined). The research firm will align development of the project components and preparation for the meetings in with the identified trip dates in March. Sessions that will not be completed with the Women’s World Banking team (due to travel constraints) may be completed before the in-field trip with the research team. Activities should be completed by the end of the in field trip (March) with a proposed presentation to the infield team.
LOCATION OF WORK
Consultants / research firms based in Pakistan are preferred. Demand-side research should be representative of the country as a whole, and thus much of this work will take place outside Islamabad. Other pieces of the consultancy may be performed remotely; no travel outside Pakistan is necessary.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
Experience conducting market intelligence / market trends research on a range of topics and knowledge about where to locate the information needed from reliable sources on a range of macro trends (e.g., buying/spending patterns, health, livelihood, education, financial, etc) and synthesizing those insights to identify trends and potential opportunities;
Expertise in data analysis and segmentation working with large public data sets to identify profiles and patterns within segments aligning with the research questions;
Experience developing analytic reports on macro trends and insights about a range of market issues impacting women – using a range of reports, data, and other resources;
Experience with on-the-ground (interviews and/or focus groups) with women in Pakistan;
Experience conducting secondary research related to the lives of women in Pakistan, experience in gender studies positive;
Deep understanding of issues around women’s financial inclusion and women’s lives more broadly in Pakistan, and of the organizations and strategies being employed in these areas;
Experience with process mapping and behavioral methodologies through qualitative data collection;
Strong analytical, research, and writing skills required with special focus on expertise in qualitative research data collection and analysis methods;
Proactive project management skills with strong attention to detail;
Experience working in tight timelines and rigorous schedule of data collection;
Experience working in a multilateral and cross-time-zone team to meet deliverables;
Commitment to delivering excellent quality results that can have a meaningful impact for women in Pakistan;
Fluency in English required;
Minimum 5-7 years’ experience in research, particularly in financial inclusion and/or women’s empowerment; and
Advanced degree in International Development, Economics, Research, Finance, or related field preferred.
TO APPLY
Please submit your application by February 3, 2017.
Proposals should include the elements below:
Statement of your organization’s capacity to complete this work and relevant experience;
Team structure and organization of work (describe the proposed team and how they will be organized, and include CV(s) of senior staff who will lead the work);
Brief overview of proposed approach for each component outlined above that includes what the research firm / consultant identifies as key issues that would be important to explore with women and stakeholders in Pakistan;
Timeline to fulfill each deliverable. Note that component 1 (market intelligence) will being at the beginning of February and the outlined scope of work will be completed by the end of March. Component 2 (DFS) will largely be completed at the completion of the field trip and activities should be completed by the end of the in field trip (March 2017) with a proposed presentation to the infield team;
Detailed fee proposal; and
References (at least two)
Applicants may submit their question(s) in writing until January 31, 2017 to tn@womensworldbanking.org. Please include in the e-mail subject line “Questions: Local Research Consultant for DFS & Market Intelligence Project in Pakistan”.
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