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Background and Context
Tiko is a non-profit organisation that leverages digital platforms and behavioural insights to improve access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH), HIV, mental health, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) services for adolescents and young people (AYP) aged 15–24 years. In Uganda, Tiko applies an ecosystem implementation approach, working with health facilities, community actors, referral partners, and policy stakeholders to reduce barriers to care and improve service quality for vulnerable populations.
As part of its SGBV programming, Tiko supports survivors to access a complex set of interlinked services, including biomedical care at health facilities, police services, legal aid, shelter accommodation, and psychosocial support. Survivors may access these services sequentially or concurrently and often experience repeated interactions across multiple service points over time. This makes the SGBV survivor journey particularly complex, with significant risk of attrition, re-traumatisation, and inequitable access to quality care.
To strengthen survivor-centred service delivery, Tiko is implementing a mixed-methods SGBV feedback study to systematically document survivor experiences, service quality, referral effectiveness, and provider capacity gaps across the SGBV response ecosystem. The study is guided by an approved research protocol and is designed to generate actionable evidence to inform continuous quality improvement, provider capacity strengthening, and system-level adaptations.
This Request for Proposals (RFP) invites qualified individual consultants to provide technical leadership and implementation support for the Uganda SGBV Feedback Study, in line with the approved study protocol.
Purpose of the Assignment
The primary purpose of this assignment is to lead the implementation of a rolling SGBV feedback study that assesses the accessibility, quality, safety, and coordination of SGBV services for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) survivors aged 15–24 years in Uganda.
The consultant will be responsible for ensuring high-quality, trauma-informed data collection; adherence to ethical and safeguarding standards; rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis; and timely reporting of actionable findings to inform programme improvement.
Study Objectives and Key Evaluation Questions
1.General Objective
To assess the accessibility, quality, and coordination of health and referral services for adolescent survivors of SGBV, in order to inform survivor-centred, safe, and effective service delivery.
2. Specific Objectives
The specific objectives and corresponding evaluation questions that the evaluation seeks to address include:
Research Objective
To identify and analyze the multi-level barriers and facilitators influencing the practice of SGBV screening among healthcare providers and community mobilisers using the Tiko platform in Uganda.
Research question
What are the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of healthcare providers and mobilisers regarding the importance, feasibility, and their role in screening for SGBV?
What are the specific individual, client-related, and health system-level barriers that prevent providers and mobilisers from consistently screening all Tiko clients for SGBV?
What practical, evidence-based interventions and support mechanisms could increase the rates and quality of SGBV screening within the Tiko platform?
Research Objective
To assess the accessibility and responsiveness of health services provided to SGBV survivors aged 15–19.
Research question
How accessible are the SGBV-related health services to adolescents aged 15–19 in terms of location, affordability, and availability?
How promptly do adolescents receive care after reporting an SGBV incident?
Research Objective
To evaluate the quality of care and support received by adolescent SGBV survivors from health service providers.
Research question
What are the perceptions of adolescent survivors regarding the quality of medical and psychosocial care they received?
To what extent do survivors feel respected, listened to, and supported during their interactions with service providers?
Research Objective
To understand the experiences, perceptions, and satisfaction levels of adolescent SGBV survivors in navigating the referral and linkage system to other relevant services (e.g., psychosocial support, legal aid, shelters).
Research question
How effective are the referral mechanisms in connecting adolescent SGBV survivors to other relevant services (e.g., counselling, legal aid)?
What challenges do adolescents face when navigating the referral process?
Research Objective
To identify the stages as which attrition could occur across the biomedical, police, legal and shelter services
Research question
At what stages in the service delivery pathway does client attrition occur within biomedical, police, legal, and shelter services for survivors of gender-based violence, and what factors contribute to drop-off at each stage?
Research Objective
To identify barriers and facilitators that affect the willingness and ability of adolescent survivors to seek and utilize SGBV-related health services.
Research question
What personal, social, or systemic barriers prevent adolescents from seeking or continuing with SGBV services?
What factors encourage adolescents to access and continue using these services?
Research Objective
To gather adolescent survivors’ feedback on how health and referral services can be improved to better meet their needs.
Research question
What changes or improvements do adolescent survivors suggest for SGBV services to better meet their needs?
What specific components of the service delivery were most or least helpful from the adolescents’ perspective?
Research Objective
To determine the extent to which confidentiality, safety, and dignity are maintained in the provision of health services to adolescent SGBV survivors.
Research question
Do adolescent survivors feel that their privacy and confidentiality are respected throughout the service process?
What measures are in place to ensure their safety and dignity, and how effective are these?
Research Objective
To explore the role of community awareness, stigma, and family support in influencing service uptake among SGBV survivors aged 15–19.
Research question
How does stigma related to SGBV affect the decision of adolescents to seek services?
What role does family or community support play in the survivors’ access to and use of services?
Study Design and Methodology
Tiko expects the use of a mixed-methods approach. The Consultant is expected to apply these methods, among others:
Quantitative surveys with service providers
Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with survivors
In-depth interviews (IDIs) with survivors’ care givers
Key informant interviews (KIIs) with providers, mobilisers, Paralegal officers, case managers, legal actors and community leaders.
Data collection will be conducted primarily in selected facilities in Kampala. Sampling will be purposive and survivor-centred, with careful attention to age, service type, and ethical considerations. Where feasible, survivors may be followed longitudinally across multiple service touchpoints to document referral pathways and attrition.
Scope of Work
The consultant’s responsibilities will broadly include, but not be limited to, the following:
A. Study Familiarisation and Inception
Review and demonstrate understanding of the approved study protocol, research questions, and tools.
Translate the protocol into a practical and context-appropriate implementation approach.
Propose an inception and fieldwork plan that reflects survivor-centred, trauma-informed, and ethically sound practice.
B. Field Preparation, Training, and Safeguarding
Propose and implement an approach to training research assistants on trauma-informed data collection, ethics, and safeguarding.
Demonstrate how safeguarding, distress management, and referral pathways will be operationalised during fieldwork.
C. Data Collection Oversight and Quality Assurance
Lead and supervise quantitative and qualitative data collection in line with the study design.
Propose mechanisms for ensuring data quality, interviewer performance, good response rate, and protocol adherence.
Ensure survivor safety, confidentiality, and dignity throughout all study activities.
D. Analysis, Interpretation, and Learning
Analyse quantitative and qualitative data in line with the study objectives.
Integrate findings across methods to generate actionable insights.
Support interpretation and learning discussions with Tiko to inform programme improvement.
Bidders are expected to clearly articulate the specific tasks, tools, sequencing, and quality control mechanisms they propose under each responsibility area, demonstrating a strong grasp of the study’s intent and methodological requirements.
Deliverables and Timelines
Activity: Inception phase. Deliverable: Inception report and fieldwork plan. Timeline: Month 1
Activity: Tool refinement & scripting. Deliverable: Final scripted tools. Timeline: Month 1
Activity: Data collection oversight. Deliverable: Raw and cleaned datasets. Timeline: Quarterly
Activity: Field operations. Deliverable: Field implementation report. Timeline: Quarterly
Activity: Analysis & reporting. Deliverable: Analytical report. Timeline: Quarterly
Activity: Final datasets. Deliverable: Clean datasets, codebooks, syntax. Timeline: Quarterly
The anticipated duration for each implementation cycle is approximately two months, with rolling quarterly outputs.
Ethical and Safeguarding Requirements
The consultant must ensure full compliance with approved ethical protocols, including:
Informed consent and assent procedures
Confidentiality and anonymisation of all data
Trauma-informed engagement and distress referral mechanisms
Immediate reporting of safeguarding incidents to Tiko (within one hour)
Required Qualifications and Experience
The consultant will be expected to demonstrate a clear understanding of the study’s objectives, design, and ethical requirements of such a study. We are looking for a bidder with the following skills and qualifications:
Demonstrable expertise in research and/or feedback studies among AYP, particularly on SRH, SGBV, and related psychosocial and mental health outcomes in Uganda
Demonstrable expertise in public health policy and service delivery in Uganda, including experience working within health and referral systems
A track record of designing, implementing, and reporting on programme research or learning-focused studies in Uganda, including but not limited to:
Experience in mixed-methods research and applied learning or feedback studies
Experience in qualitative approaches such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, outcome-focused inquiry, or contribution-oriented analysis
Experience in quantitative data collection and analysis using participatory and survivor-centred methodologies
The team leader and members should have the following skills and expertise:
A postgraduate degree in a research-oriented social science, public health, or a related discipline, with extensive knowledge of and experience in leading large-scale quantitative and qualitative research
A team leader or team member with recognised standing in the public health or gender-based violence space, particularly in adolescent health or SGBV; experience with digital health platforms is an added advantage
A history of publication or technical reporting on AYP SRH, SGBV, HIV, or mental health in peer-reviewed journals or high-quality programme reports
A proven track record of managing and coordinating research or feedback studies, and delivering agreed outputs on time and within budget
Excellent and demonstrated understanding of ethical issues in research, including trauma-informed practice, child protection, and safeguarding of research participants
Ability to respond to comments and questions in a timely and appropriate manner during implementation and reporting
Capacity to use mobile data collection platforms and conduct quantitative and qualitative data analysis
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English; working knowledge of local languages is an advantage
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be assessed against the following criteria:
Criteria
Team expertise, experience, and composition:
Expertise and experience in undertaking similar research activities in Kenya
Weighting: 40
Strength of the technical proposal:
Overall strength of proposed methodology, including to address the specific tasks outlined above within the anticipated timelines
Weighting: 40
Budget:
Value for money, including clarity, appropriateness, and cost-effectiveness of the proposed budget in relation to the scope of work and deliverables
Weighting: 20
How to apply
Firms and individuals are invited to submit proposals for this engagement. Proposals should include the contents below and not exceed a maximum length of 10 pages, excluding annexures (budget and summary profiles of proposed personnel).
Cover Page: Summary with basic information such as names, address, contact information, proposed budget, etc.
Capacity Statement: A brief capacity statement as to why your firm and the team you are proposing is well positioned to undertake the engagement
Qualification to the Scope of Work: Any qualifications that you may have regarding the scope of work
Proposed Approach: Your proposed approach to delivering on the scope of work requirements
Work Plan:proposed work plan with tasks, responsible person/s and timeline
Budget: Total budget envelope required to deliver the work (in Euros), and line-item breakdown of direct costs and overheads
References of similar engagements undertaken by the firm in the last 5 years
The submission must be clear, concise, and complete. Applicants should submit only such information as is necessary to respond effectively to this request for proposals. Unless specifically requested, extraneous presentation materials are neither necessary nor desired.
Applications are requested to submit their tender/application documents (technical & financial) proposals to Tiko via mail [email protected] by the end of day 23 February 2026 with “UG SGBV Feedback Study” in the subject line.