Background

 

Kishoree Kontha was a three year program implemented by Save the Children USA (SCUSA) Bangladesh Country Office partnered with IPA and Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) with the aims of empower adolescent girls through the creation of safe spaces at the village level where girls can attend peer education, livelihood and life skills training. At the beginning of the program a baseline survey was conducted to benchmark the status of the catchment area. Then after a while a midterm survey was comducted to asses the changes made by the program. Finally, the endline survey was conducted for the final evaluation. The endline survey strarted on May 11, 2015 and will be ended by March 31, 2017. 

 

Survey objectives

 

The endline survey was conducted to assist in the evaluation of the impact of the development intervention of Kishoree Kontha program and the comparison of the effectiveness of different strategies for empowerment of adolescent girls.

 

Survey method

 

Sample

 

The endline sample consisted of all the girls from the baseline survey. However, since the endline required a rigorous follow-up of each of the baseline girls, many of whom have migrated to other locations, the target area for the KK endline went well beyond the target area for the KK baseline. The sample size by categories of interview is given below:

 

1. 1. Number of households for the census: 76,000 (this number is close approximation)
   2. Number of girls for detailed interviewing: 11,350 and

• Number of spouses for detailed interviewing: 7378 (assuming 65% girls married)

• Number of migrant interview???

 

Tool

 

The Endline included surveys from the following separate questionnaires aimed to collect information on a number of issues that may have been affected by the project:

 

1. Household census (25 minutes): Administered to the head/spouse of a list of households provided by IPA and J-PAL.
2. Girl/Woman Questionnaire (1 – 1.5 hours): Administered to the girls interviewed in the baseline
3. Spouses Questionnaire (1 hour): Administered to the spouses of the girls who had married.

 

Tasks carried out by Mitra and Associates

 

Preparatory works

 

The major preparatory works involved in implementing the survey are listed below. Each of the activities were carried out in a professional manner to achieve the successful completion of the survey:

 

1. Review and provide substantive comments on the questionnaires designed  by IPA
2. Translate and format survey instruments (three different questionnaires for Census, Girls’ survey, and Spouse survey) into Bangla in collaboration with IPA
3. Recruite field personnel including the Interviewers, male supervisors, female supervisors, female quality control officers and male quality control officers.

 

Pretesting

 

Census survey: The pretest team left for Barisal on 12th February 2015. 1 interviewing team consisting of 1 male supervisor and 7 enumerators (5 females and 2 males) conducted the pretest. There was also a Research Officer for overall supervision. On 13th February 2015 total 36 interviews were completed by 7 enumerators. On 14th February 2015 the team returned to Dhaka after completing the pretest. 1 day was spent for the review of the field practice. Then 3 days were taken to finalize the questionnaire and manual.

 

Girls and spouse survey: The team started for the field on August 15, 2015. A team of 12 enumerators (2 males and 10 females) was led by a Senior Research Officer. All enumerators completeed 18 spouse surveys and 60 girl surveys in 3 days. In the day 1, 2 male enumerators completed 2 spouse surveys each and 10 female enumerators completed 2 girl surveys and 1 spouse survey each. In the day 2, 2 male enumerators completed 1 spouse survey each and 10 female enumerators completed 2 girl surveys each. In the day 3, 2 male enumerators completed 1 spouse survey each and 10 female enumerators completed 2 girl surveys each.

 

Training

 

Census survey: Training for household census was started on 11th May 2015. About 140 participants were trained for long 14 days for household census. 3 Research Officers and other representatives from Mitra, representatives from IPA, and representatives from J-PAL conducted the training program. First 2 days of the training were spent for discussing paper questionnaire and manual. Tablet training was started from day 3 and continued till day 6. Then day 7 was spent for discussion on the paper questionnaire again. Day 8 was spent for ethical training on human subjects. In the whole training program 2 days were spent for field practice and 2 more days for corresponding review and briefing. On day 13 tests were taken for all enumerators, editors and supervisors using standard question prepared by Mitra. Then in the last day of the training tests were reviewed and published. In the same day teams were declared by Mitra and all personnel were paid there advance.

 

Girls and spouse survey: Girls and spouse survey training was started on August 23, 2015. Forty five enumerators, 9 supervisors, 9 editors, 12 QCOs was trained for 16 days for the Girl’s Survey. In the 16 days training, 5 days took for the questionnaire (hard copy) training, 6 days took for the questionnaire (tablet) training, 1 day took for the anthropometric measurement training, 2 days took for the field practices and 2 days took for the briefing on field practices. After completing the training, 9 teams started for the Girl’s Survey data collection on September 10, 2015.

 

Development of program for tab

 

1. Standard, user friendly, smooth applications for Census, Girls’ survey, and Spouse survey Bangla questionnaires were built using SurveyCTO.
2. The application was tested and upgraded by trial and error method.
3. For the security of the application, a strong anti-virus was used was used in each tab.
4. For another security measure, a strong app locker was also used in each tab.

 

Equipment and logistics

 

1. Mitra office arranged secured storage place for tablets used for survey operation. Mitra also ensured proper maintenance and functionality of all tabs.
2. Mitra arranged sound internet package to send the surveys to server. Proper management and workability of the SurveyCTO were ensured.
3. Mitra office arranged secured storage place for height-weight machines used for anthropometric measurement. Mitra also ensured proper maintenance and functionality of all height-weight machines.

 

Data collection & quality control

 

Mitra and Associates organized the fieldwork for conducting census, girls and spouse survey. The detail of data collection and quality control of census, girls and spouse survey is explained below.

 

Census survey: Fieldwork of household census was completed in 3 phases. The fieldwork of census survey was started on 28th May, 2015 and ended on 11th August, 2015. At the beginning of the survey, 17 interviewing teams (each team consisted of 1 supervisor, 1 female editor, 5 enumerators, and 1 logistic assistant) were deployed. 7 QCO teams (each team consisted of 1 male QCO and 1 female QCO) were deployed to check the quality of data.

 

Girls and spouse survey: The girls and spouse survey data collection work was started on September 11, 2015 and ended on April 4, 2017. At the beginning of the survey 9 teams were deployed. Each team was consisted of 1 male supervisor, 1 female supervisor, 1 male interviewer, 5 female interviewers and 1 logistic assistant.  4 QCO teams (each team consisted of 1 male QCO and 1 female QCO) were deployed to check the quality of data. Total 12 phases were spent to complete the girls and spouse survey.

 

Data processing

 

The endline survey involved electronic surveys (Computer Assisted Interviewing using a portable hand-held electronic device) and Mitra intended to use SurveyCTO to administer surveys. Before sending/placing the data to SurveyCTO server the data was stored in an offline server. From there the data was checked and if required edited and finally the clean data set was placed to SurveyCTO server.

 

Client reference

 

Rachel Glennerster, Executive Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, MIT, 617 324 0098, Skype: rachel.glennerster. Nusrat Jahan, Research Coordinator, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Apt # 6B, House #35, Block-G Rd No 7, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Phone: +8801714069354, email: njahan@poverty-action.org and ARM Mehrab Ali, Research Coordinator, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Apt # 6B, House # 35, Road # 7, Block G, Banani, Dhaka – 1213, Phone: (+880) 1715 418 546, email: mali@poverty-action.org.