Child Labour Prevalence Survey, Ghana

Established in 2002, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) is a leading organisation promoting child protection in cocoa-growing communities. ICI works with the cocoa industry, civil society and national governments in cocoa-producing countries to ensure a better future for children and contribute to the elimination of child labour. In September 2024, ICI will mandate a baseline survey in 10 primary schools in cocoa growing communities in Ghana for the project “Alliance for Change: Supported caregivers and thriving children”.

Project

ICI is seeking a consultant to conduct a quantitative baseline survey in 10 primary schools spread across 10 communities in Bekwai/Nsokote Districts - Ashanti region, Ghana. The names of these communities will be provided by ICI. 

Data will be collected from a sample of approximately 1200 children and 50 teachers. 

Two questionnaires will be administered:

• Teacher questionnaire (administered at school, 10mn/teacher)
• Child questionnaire (administered to pupils at school, 30mn/pupil)

Authorization by the authorities to collect data in the primary schools as well as community entry will be facilitated by ICI. 

Data will be collected with KoboToolbox forms and stored and managed on an ICI Kobo platform. The data will be used as part of a broader impact study to understand the impact of the “Alliance for Change” intervention.

Timeframe

Data collection must be completed in September 2024.

Requirements

ICI is seeking a consultant with proven experience conductinglarge-scale surveys of child labour, including interviews with children, in rural areas of Ghana. Child and teacher interviews must be conducted by trained data collectors, with prior experience interviewing children. 

• Participation in the survey will be voluntary. Teachers will be asked to give their informed consent prior to starting interviews, children will be asked their assent.
• The consultant will use data collection tools developed by ICI, which have been extensively field tested and build on tried and tested methods of interviewing children about child labour. ICI staff will support the training of the data collectors on the use of these tools. Adjustments can be made in collaboration with the ICI team during the field-testing phase.
• Recognising that children involved in child labour represent a vulnerable population group, the consultant will follow local guidelines on working with vulnerable populations. For any children identified at immediate risk (for example a child in a situation of forced labour), an identification and referral process will be set up to ensure that follow-up and support can be provided.
• During data collection, each child, teacher and primary school will be assigned a unique identifier, enabling personal data to be stored separately and ensuring anonymity of participants during the analysis phase.

Analysis

The consultant conducting the survey will be responsible for preparing a clean dataset containing all key outcome indicators, accompanied by a comprehensive codebook and documentation of indicator construction, and short summary report with descriptive results on key indicators (basic demographic characteristics of teachers and children, child labour status), a description of the methodology followed, and additional observations during data collection.

Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for providing the following deliverables: 

• Approved workplan and schedule, including training plan 
• Sampling of children within classes and schools (based on information provided by ICI)
• A clean dataset containing all key outcome indicators collected from the 1200 children and 50 teachers, accompanied by a comprehensive codebook and documentation of indicator construction; each of the 2 data sets data must contain unique identifier codes for children and teachers, so that they can be matched from baseline to the future endline, and matched to primary schools
• A short summary report with descriptive results on key indicators (basic demographic characteristics, child labour), a description of the methodology followed, and additional observations during data collection

How to apply

Interested contractor should send a technical and financial proposal, describing the contractor’s relevant experience and capacity to undertake the study for the survey. The proposed budget and technical proposal must be submitted by email with the email subject: “Alliance for Change survey consultancy” to 
recruitment-gha@cocoainitiative.org by 21 July 2024. 

For additional technical questions: l.foubert@cocoainitiative.org

Please compile your offer as a single document (ideally pdf).  

The offer must include: 

• Information on prior experience and how the contractor meets the requirements above, including at least one example of a previous survey of child labour prevalence with children. (2 pages, max.)
• Technical and financial offer, including the total amount offered in Ghanaian Cedi. Note that the budget should detail all staff and material costs, including travel expenses and other fees. (2 pages, max.)
• CVs of the study team leader and other key team members, and qualification / profile of enumerators to be hired
• Contact details of two referees.

By submitting your application, you consent to us processing your data for the purpose of evaluating your application for this consulting position. We will keep your application data confidential and only use it for recruitment purposes. Once the consulting position is closed, your application will be deleted.

Please note that only those candidates who match the above requirements and who have been selected for interview will be contacted.

ICI Core Values

All ICI staff members and partners are expected to adhere, respect and always promote at any time ICI Core Values: HUMANITY, INTEGRITY, NEUTRALITY, PARTNERSHIP, INNOVATION. Please refer to the ICI website for more details (https://www.cocoainitiative.org/about-us/our-organisation/our-values) 

Child safeguarding

ICI has zero-tolerance for all forms of child neglect, abuse (sexual, physical, emotional, and psychological) and exploitation (sexual and commercial). ICI commits to put the best interest of the child first, and at the centre of its work, irrespective of a child’s ability, ethnicity, faith, gender, sexuality, and culture. By applying at ICI, you automatically agree to the above term and uphold the principles described herein.

Equal opportunity and non-discrimination

ICI is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunities and non-discrimination for all employees and employment/consulting applicants and to providing employees with a fair work environment free of discrimination. 

Disclaimer

ICI and preferred recruitment partners will NEVER ask candidates for fees for any purpose during the recruitment process. No recruitment fee, no hiring fee, no security deposit, no software or equipment charges are charged to candidates applying to ICI.