TOR for the Researcher (s) Insight on Prevalence of Girl Child Marriages in Pakistan: A National Analysis of Causes, Consequences

and Programs (best practices) Background and Introduction

This is the era of e-commerce; however, technology alone can never serve the purpose to secure human life and their social affairs. This is evident from the fact that despite of presence of viable technological solutions the social issues remain unresolved forcing people to live in poverty. Its very difficult to solve social problems until we understand how they come about and they persist. Social science research offers a way to examine and understand the operation of human social affairs. It provides points of view and technical procedures that uncover things the issues and provides a pathway towards programs and approaches to resolve social issues and human affairs. This makes effective inquiry into the facts of issues. The special value of social science research methods is that they offer a way to address such issues with logical and observational accuracy. Moreover, social science research offers an opportunity to take on those problems and discover the experience of making a difference after all. Consequently, research plays a key role in shaping the world by gaining a better understanding of todays most pressing and complex social science issues such as cultural diversity, human rights (gender based violence, poverty, gender disparity in education, health disparity, child marriages, and sexual harassment), disease prevention, and climate change.i Yet, its imperative to decision makers, social experts/social scientists and even researchers themselves, must have confidence in how research is conducted, and the utilization of subsequent findings for addressing social issues. The benefits of the research enterprise cannot be realized unless the knowledge generated is both accurate, trustworthy, authenticated and is utilized to address social issues logically without any discrimination, harm, and biasness to any segment of the society. The importance of high-quality research cannot be overstated. Research plays a key role in shaping the world in which we live and as such, the integrity of research is vitalii. The proposed project research aims to have an insight on one of the social issues i.e. Prevalence of Girl Child Marriages in Pakistan: A National Analysis of Causes, Consequences and Programs (best practices).

Rationalization and validation for conducting research

Girl child marriage is one of the threatening forms of violence against women. It is recognized as a human rights violation but also as a barrier to development. Considerable evidence shows that the negative consequences of child marriage are numerous and especially harmful for girls, their children and their communities. As described below, these consequences include poorer health outcomes for young mothers, higher experiences of violence and abuse among girls married before age 18. Evidence also suggests early marriage results in lower levels of education and persistent poverty among girlsiii. Girl child marriage has long been practiced as a cultural and customary practice in Pakistan which is justified by certain misinterpretations of Islamic texts and tradition. There is very little data on the 1

problem; whereas, that child marriage appears more common in reality than even exhibited by current reported data. As per a research conducted in Asia (excluding China) by International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in 2007 one in seven girls in the developing world marries before 15. Nearly half of the 331 million girls in developing countries are expected to marry by their 20th birthday. At this rate, 100 million more girls or 25,000 more girls every day will become child brides in the next decade. In the context of Pakistan, there isnt any authenticated quantitative and qualitative data available on the issue of girl child marriages. Little literature is available on the issue of girl child marriages which primarily examines the prevalence of the issue, consequences and reported reasons for girl child marriages. However, much more efforts are needed to be done to generate evidence of both reported and unreported cases of child marriage, the causes, impacts, and reasons for getting married earlier. Most importantly, much less has been analyzed about the risks and protective factors that may be associated with child marriage. In Pakistan there are lesser programs to address the issues as well. Though, if there are any, little is known about the range of existing programs addressing girl child marriage to overcome issue in order to prevent ourselves as a society from social, psychological and economic factors. Consequently, the proposed project is of extreme importance to identify in-depth details of aforementioned factors associated with girl child marriages. Because, the proposed task will be investigating two major concerning questions: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) What is the prevailing ratio (quantitative data) of girl child marriages in focused areas? What factors and risks are associated with? What are the causes and consequences of the customary practice? What protective measures could be taken to combat against girl child marriages? What could be the ultimate focus of prevention for clutching roots of the issues? What are the current programmatic approaches of government and private sector and their effectiveness to prevent girl child marriages in Pakistan? 7) What are legislative lacunas? Moreover, this research will be of extreme importance as a reference material for policy-makers and development practitioners working on or planning a future program to prevent girl child marriages in the country. New insights on risk and protective factors will help program designers find points of intervention to prevent girl child marriages. This effort will be also contributing to examine what current programs are and how as well as the additional efforts are required to overcome the issue.

Overall purpose of the research study

The main purpose of the study is to assess the causes, consequences, current programs and ultimate focus of prevention for clutching roots of girl child marriages in Pakistan.

Specific objectives of the research study

Specific objectives of the research are to: Identify current programmatic approaches of government and private sector and their effectiveness to prevent girl child marriages in Pakistan; Prevalence of the issue Identify factors and risks associated with girl child marriages;

 Identify and propose best possible protective measures to combat against girl child marriages as a systemic discrimination against girls and women; and Propose ultimate focus of prevention for clutching roots of girl child marriages. Identify cases of girl child marriages from relevant LRPs Illustrate the legislative lacunas, analysis of the legislation associated with its implementation, role of implementing agencies like courts, Union Council, religious leaders, Nikah registrars/Nikah Khawan, Children Groups etc.

Focused Areas
The research will be conducted in the following from respective provinces of Pakistan. These are the LRPs where AAPks campaign program on girl child marriages is in progress. The LRPs are: LRP 15 Noshki Baluchistan LRP 35-Khuzdar, Baluchistan LRP 38 Chachro Sindh LRP 44- Karachi city, Sindh LRP 41- Mardan, KPK LRP 43-Charsadah, KPK LRP 30-Kot Addu, Punjab 25-Bhakhar, Punjab

Duration of the research

The total duration for conducting research study will be 4 months from April to August.

Proposed methodology for conducting research

Proposed methodology for conducting research could be following; however, partner has the choice to add an innovative approach into it. Existing literature review Collection of data through consultations, FGDs, observations, informal discussions, open and close ended questionnaires for gathering and validating qualitative as well as quantitative data Primary data collection Analyzing data to determine causes, consequences, possible risk and protective measures Conducting a program scan to see how child marriage is addressed so far and what could be the future policy and program recommendations Report compilation Review of the research report Finalization of final research report

Scope of work
The Researcher (either individual or research institute) shall involve visits to aforementioned districts for conducting interviews and focus group discussions with provincial and district human/women department officials, community representatives, legislators and representatives from law enforcing agencies. 3

End product
A complete report with qualitative and quantitative information will be submitted to ActionAid Pakistan. The report will be in English and both hard and electronic copy in Word format should be submitted to the organization.

Target Audience
The target audience has been identified on the basis of outreach of the proposed research. The proposed audiences are: o INGOs, NGOs and CBOs working in Pakistan o Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) o Policy makers of Pakistan o Government line agencies o International community via e-media o All 23 LRPs of AAPk, and ActionAid International o Academia o Youth

Key strategies to implement the objectives include

a) An authentic research report will be generated and disseminated widely to provide evidence. b) The research report generated as an end product will be utilized as a building base for developing ActionAid Pakistans Campaign Strategy on girl child marriages. c) The research report will be utilized as reference at different target audiences levels. d) At different plat forms the research report will be shared for review and endorsement. e) The research report will be utilized as an evidence for endorsing and authenticating ActionAid Pakistans Campaign on girl child marriages from different stakeholders particularly, at the government level.

Roles & Responsibilities

Researcher (s) Responsibilities Researcher (s) responsibilities will include the following: o Preliminary meetings or discussions regarding concept clarity and approach; in some cases via email, phone concepts and themes and approach. o Project time line, schedule and framework development. o Research plan development in collaboration with ActionAid Pakistan at Country Office level. o Finalization of approaches and research tools and techniques. o Finalization of travel plan. o Review of secondary data/desk review. o Preparation, research by field visits for gathering primary data from the identified areas. o Discussion in the process of sample selection from each focused area. o Identification of key informants, interviewees/research respondents for gathering primary data via LRPs, Area Offices & Country Office. o Get list of key informants from the field by geographic location at LRP levels. 4

o o o o o o o o o o

Set up a data gathering schedule to maximize opportunities at each location. Informed consent of each and every respondent and key informant. Usage of social science (i.e. Statistical Package for Social Sciences) packages for data gathering and analysis. Geographical and graphical representation as well as analysis of the primary data. Prevention from personal interests. Data collection, data analysis, preparation and presentation of drafts as well as the final research report. Draft research report to be reviewed by AAPK with suggestions, feedback, for final version. No changes or revisions after this point. Scheduling of the visits to fields for data and information gathering. Accommodations. Researcher (s) will also be responsible for own travel and transportation, airline tickets and ground transportation to main cities.

AA-PK Responsibilities
AAPK responsibilities will include the following: o Technical input orientation to the project and clarification of expected outcomes. o Participation in designing the research plan. o Providing all written and printed materials to help develop the research report. o Continuous input and feedback. o Approval of final research report. o Dissemination of final research report. Access o Identification and accessibility to all key interview informants and respondents. o Provision of guides and field workers for identification and assistance with interviewees at the designated field locations. o Assisting in setting up time schedule. o Linking up with key informants to be interviewed. o Provision of local transport at each focused LRP. Draft and final submission o Review and feedback on draft research report (s), with recommended changes for the finalization of the research report.

Plan of Action
Month of April o Preliminary meetings o Schedules for travel. o Preparation and finalization of research tools and techniques. WEEK 4o Coordination with relevant coordinators at Area offices and LRP levels. Month of May, June and till mid of July o Visit to fields (all focused areas i.e. LRPs). o Rapport building. 5

Data collection via different techniques and research tools

Month of July and August o Compilation of gathered data from the fields. o Analysis of compiled data. o Drafting of the first draft. o Finalization of the research report after incorporating feedback. Tools & techniques of the research o The tools and techniques used by the researcher (s) for conducting the research study will exclusively and solely owned by the research team. Research team o The research team will be selected by the partner. o One coordinator form Area office and one from each LRP will be assisting the research team during their field work.

Qualifications
o o o o o o o Graduate or advanced level degree in Social Sciences/Social Research or related field of study. At least 5 years experience in the relevant filed. Have previous experience of conducting, writing and monitoring researches. Sound knowledge of womens rights issues in Pakistan. Sound Knowledge of provincial cultural ethics of Pakistan. Willing to travel. Should have strong communication skills.

Expected Outcomes
Major expected outcomes of the proposed research are: o The research report generated as an end product will be utilized as a building base for developing ActionAid Pakistans Campaign Strategy on girl child marriages. o The research report will be utilized as reference at different target audiences levels. o The research report will be utilized as an evidence for endorsing and authenticating ActionAid Pakistans Campaign on girl child marriages from different stakeholders particularly, at the government level. o The research will contribute to highlight the issue to be addressed at policy levels.

i
ii

New Insights on Preventing Child Marriage: A Global Analysis of Factors and Programs
Council of Canadian Academies. Report of the Expert Panel on Research Integrity, October, 2012

iii

UNICEF, Unite for Children: Child Protection Information Sheet. 2006

All those interested must send their Cvs and EOI to Zohra.bano@actionaid.org. The closing date for receiving EOI is April 3rd 2013. No EOI and Cvs will be entertained after the due date.