Project Title

Operational Research on Climate-Resilient Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Interventions, with a Specific Focus on Midwife-Led Maternity Care at Union-Level Facilities in Bangladesh.

The assignment will examine health-system resilience, continuity and quality of midwife-led maternal and SRH services, and develop implementation-oriented recommendations.

Introduction

Bangladesh experiences climate-related hazards, including floods, cyclones, waterlogging and extreme heat, that can interrupt access to essential sexual and reproductive health services.

Union-level facilities are important points of contact for women and adolescents. However, their capacity to maintain quality services may be affected by infrastructure damage, staffing gaps, supply interruptions, difficult transport and weak referral links. Midwives are central to person-centred maternity care and the early identification and referral of complications.

CIPRB proposes operational research to understand how existing and feasible climate-resilience interventions can support the availability, accessibility, quality and continuity of midwife-led maternity care and related SRH services. The research will generate actionable findings for local health managers, implementing partners and policymakers.

Educational Qualifications

1. Essential: Master's degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Maternal and Child Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Population Science, Health Systems/Health Policy, Midwifery, Nursing, or a closely related discipline.
2. Desirable: PhD in Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Systems, Climate and Health, or a related field; or a professional clinical qualification with postgraduate public-health or research training.
3. Additional training or documented experience in implementation or operational research, maternal health, midwifery-led care, climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, or mixed-methods research will be an advantage.

Professional Skills

1. Strong ability to design and manage mixed-methods and implementation research, develop protocols and sampling frameworks, and assess service-delivery quality and health-facility readiness.
2. Excellent skills in qualitative interviewing, quantitative analysis, triangulation, scientific writing, policy briefs, research reports and stakeholder facilitation.
3. Ability to work with government health managers, midwives, women and community representatives using participatory, gender-responsive and ethically sound approaches.

Computer Skills

Proficiency in Microsoft Office and at least one quantitative analysis package, such as R, Stata, SPSS or equivalent, is required. Experience with qualitative software such as NVivo or ATLAS.ti, electronic data collection tools such as KoboToolbox, ODK or REDCap, and reference-management software is desirable. GIS or spatial risk-mapping skills are an advantage.

Expertise and Experience

1. At least ten years of relevant professional experience in public-health research, programme evaluation or implementation research, preferably in Bangladesh. Direct experience in maternal health, midwifery, SRHR or primary health care is strongly preferred.
2. Demonstrated understanding of union-level service delivery, the roles of midwives and facility teams, maternal referral pathways, ANC, childbirth and PNC, and respectful, equitable maternity care.
3. Experience studying climate-related service disruption, emergency preparedness, hard-to-reach populations or health-system resilience is desirable.
4. Proven experience with field-team training, supervision, quality assurance, ethical approvals, data security, government coordination and research dissemination.
5. Evidence of high-quality research reports and/or peer-reviewed publications, with strong written and spoken Bangla and English.

Assignment Objectives

1. Assess climate-related risks, exposure and service disruptions affecting midwife-led maternity and essential SRH services at selected union-level facilities.
2. Examine facility readiness and operational capacity, including workforce, infrastructure, WASH, electricity, medicines, equipment, infection prevention, communication, referral and emergency preparedness.
3. Explore the experiences, needs and coping practices of midwives, other providers, pregnant and postpartum women, adolescents and community stakeholders during climate-related events.
4. Identify existing good practices, implementation barriers, equity gaps and feasible improvements for maintaining safe, respectful and accessible maternity and SRH care.
5. Develop practical, prioritized recommendations, including a facility-level climate-resilience and continuity-of-care improvement framework for government and partners.

Scope of Work and Responsibilities

I. Inception, Protocol and Methodology Development

1. Review relevant national strategies, service standards, facility-level data, climate-risk information and existing SRH and midwifery programmes.
2. Prepare an inception report with refined research questions, conceptual framework, sampling, study-site criteria, data-collection matrix, analysis plan, work plan and risk-mitigation measures.
3. Develop a mixed-methods protocol. Methods may include facility-readiness assessments, routine service-data review, key-informant interviews, focus-group discussions, client interviews and referral-pathway mapping.
4. Define indicators for service continuity, staffing, essential commodities, preparedness, referral functionality, disruptions and service-user experience. Avoid claims of causal impact unless supported by the final study design.

II. Ethics, Tools and Research-Team Orientation

1. Prepare consent and assent procedures as applicable, questionnaires, checklists, interview guides and a data-protection plan. Translate, pretest and refine all tools.
2. Coordinate required ethics approval and administrative permissions before field data collection.
3. Orient enumerators and supervisors on data quality, referral for distress or disclosed safety concerns, non-coercive recruitment, safeguarding and context-appropriate climate-risk and SRH terminology.

III. Field Research and Implementation Assessment

1. Lead facility visits and data collection in agreed locations, covering feasible seasonal and climate exposures, service organization, midwife-led services, and referral and transport contingency arrangements.
2. Engage midwives, facility managers, relevant government health officials, community representatives and service users without interrupting clinical care.
3. Document constraints and promising practices relating to service continuity, emergency communication, staff deployment, commodities, privacy, gender and disability inclusion, and links to higher-level emergency obstetric care.
4. Consider midwife involvement in the MPDSR programme after training, as relevant to the study.

IV. Data Management, Analysis and Validation

1. Maintain secure, de-identified datasets and transcripts; perform systematic cleaning, coding, quality checks and triangulated quantitative and qualitative analysis.
2. Analyse differences by facility type, hazard exposure and relevant population groups where sampling permits. Clearly distinguish observations from attribution or causal effects.
3. Facilitate a technical validation meeting with CIPRB and relevant stakeholders, incorporating substantiated feedback into conclusions and recommendations.

V. Knowledge Products and Action Planning

1. Prepare a comprehensive operational research report covering methods, results, limitations, prioritized interventions, practical implementation steps, costs and resource implications where evidence allows, and a monitoring indicator matrix.
2. Produce an executive summary, policy brief and stakeholder presentation. Draft one manuscript suitable for journal submission, subject to data quality, authorship agreement and approval.
3. Share cleaned, de-identified data, codebooks, analysis files and finalized tools with CIPRB in agreed secure formats, subject to consent and ethics conditions.

Expected Deliverables and Tentative Timeline

The consultancy will be completed within two months, covering inception, research design, data collection, analysis, reporting and dissemination of findings.

1. Month 1, Weeks 1–2: Inception report and detailed work plan, including research questions, methodology, study sites, sampling strategy, indicators, schedule and responsibilities.
2. Month 1, Weeks 2–4: Final research protocol, data-collection tools, pretesting, and necessary ethical and administrative submissions and approvals before fieldwork.
3. Month 2, Weeks 1–2: Field data collection and preliminary findings across selected facilities, including assessment of EmONC functionality, service readiness, referral systems and integrated HIV-SRHR services.
4. Month 2, Week 3: Data analysis and draft assessment report presenting findings, service-delivery gaps, challenges, opportunities and preliminary recommendations.
5. Month 2, Week 4: Final assessment report, recommendations, implementation roadmap and dissemination presentation incorporating stakeholder feedback.

Institutional Arrangement and Quality Assurance

The Consultant will be contracted by CIPRB and will coordinate with the CIPRB RCH/research team and relevant government and partner stakeholders. Any UNFPA technical oversight and clearance arrangements will be confirmed by the contracting authority.

CIPRB will approve the research protocol, field plan, key deliverables and dissemination materials. The Consultant is accountable for methodological quality, ethical compliance, timely communication and secure transfer of agreed outputs.

The final contract will specify the number and type of facilities, geographic coverage, travel schedule, research team, consultant fee, reimbursable expenses, payment tranches and intellectual property and data-access terms. Substantial changes to scope, sample or methodology require written agreement.

Application Requirements

1. Technical proposal demonstrating understanding of the assignment, preliminary methodological approach, research questions and indicators, team arrangements, risk management and a feasible work plan.
2. Financial proposal with itemized professional fees, fieldwork, data collection, travel, workshops, taxes/VAT and other relevant costs, clearly identifying assumptions.
3. Updated CV and copies or details of relevant academic qualifications, examples of two comparable research assignments or publications, references and availability declaration.
4. For institutional applications, organization profile, proposed team CVs and the lead consultant's role, if consultancy firms are permitted by CIPRB.

Payment Terms and Conditions

The consultancy fee will be paid in one installment (100%) upon successful completion of all deliverables and submission of all required documents, including the final assessment report, datasets, data-collection tools, recommendations and presentation materials.

Payment will be processed only after review, acceptance and formal approval of all deliverables by CIPRB and relevant stakeholders, subject to applicable VAT, tax deductions and organizational financial procedures.