Request for proposals: 2024 South Africa Pre- and Post-Elections Panel Survey

6 March 2024

Introduction

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) is an independent, non-governmental organisation established in 2000 in the wake of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), with the aim of ensuring that the lessons of South Africa’s successful transition to democracy remain fundamental principles central to government and society as the country moves forward. Today, the IJR works to build fair, democratic and inclusive societies across Africa after conflict. More information about the IJR is available at https://www.ijr.org.za.

 

The IJR is also the Core Partner of the Afrobarometer in Southern Africa and the National Partner in South Africa. Afrobarometer is a non-profit company limited by guarantee with headquarters in Ghana, is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, the economy, and society. More information about Afrobarometer is available at https://www.afrobarometer.org.

 

Purpose

 

The IJR, as commissioned by Afrobarometer, intends to conduct a national survey in South Africa focused on the upcoming elections, which are scheduled to take place on 29 May 2024.

 

The methodology will be a pre- and post-election telephonic panel survey with a sample of 2,400 South African adults. The questionnaire consists of approximately 120 close-ended survey items (including questions and sub-questions), based on various scales. Each interview will last approximately 20 – 30 minutes.

 

The successful service provider will be required, in close collaboration with the IJR, to: review the questionnaire; obtain a telephonic database and select a nationally-representative sample as per the Afrobarometer protocol prescribed in the AB Survey Manual; conduct all planning and logistics around data collection; field the survey, including pre-election interviews and follow-up, post-election interviews with the same participants; and return the cleaned, weighted datasets (pre and post) to the IJR.

Scope of Work

 

3.1 Conduct the fieldwork and data collection for the 2024 South African Elections Survey

 

3.2 The service provider will be required to fulfil the following tasks, ensuring compliance with the robust standards and established protocol developed by Afrobarometer:

 

Research instrument

 

• Understand the Afrobarometer project and its previous research and results in Southern Africa

 

• Review the survey questionnaire and provide advice and feedback on the questionnaire design and fieldwork readiness

 

• Translate the questionnaire from English into six additional South African languages: Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Setswana, Sepedi and Sesotho

 

Sampling

 

• Source a robust telephonic database

 

• Design and draw a nationally representative survey sample of 2,400 South African citizens 18 years and older, in consultation with IJR/Afrobarometer

 

• Ensure that the survey’s sample frame is constructed using the latest population data available and that the final dataset can be weighted according to key demographic variables

 

• The margin of error must be no greater than 3%, at a confidence level of 95%

 

Interviewer training and pilot study

 

• Recruit, contract and manage interviewers

 

• Train all interviewers in collaboration with IJR/Afrobarometer (3 days including pilot study)

 

• Ensure that any feedback from the pilot study is incorporated into the final questionnaire, in consultation with IJR/Afrobarometer

 

Pre-election data collection

 

• Implement and manage all aspects of fieldwork, logistics and data collection, in accordance with the strict project timetable developed by the IJR
• Conduct 2,400 telephonic interviews with South African adults ages 18 and older, who consent to participate in follow-up, post-election interviews, and selected as per the sample frame

Pre-election data collection (continued)

 

• Ensure quality control of data collection in the field, including conducting backchecks on a minimum of 20% of the sample

 

• Provide daily updates to the IJR project leader while data collection is underway

 

• Deliver a clean, weighted pre-election dataset in SPSS format to the IJR according to the agreed deadline, as well as an Excel sheet with frequencies for all survey items

 

Post-election data collection

 

• Implement and manage all aspects of fieldwork, logistics and post-election data collection

 

• Review and translate any supplemental survey items added to the post-election questionnaire

 

• Conduct 2,400 telephonic follow-up interviews with the same participants interviewed in the pre-election survey
• Ensure quality control of data collection in the field, including conducting backchecks on a minimum of 20% of the sample
• Provide weekly updates to the IJR project leader while data collection is underway

 

• Deliver a clean, weighted, merged dataset including both the pre- and post-survey results, in SPSS format according to the agreed deadline, as well as an Excel sheet with frequencies for all survey items
• Prepare a final methodology report on the survey, covering sampling, fieldwork and other relevant issues.

 

More information about Afrobarometer survey guidelines and protocols is available here: https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/AB_R9.-Survey-Manual_eng_FINAL_20jul22.pdf

 

Deliverables

 

• Inception meeting

 

• Detailed project plan with delivery timetable

 

• Feedback on draft questionnaire

 

• Final translated questionnaires (6 languages)

 

• Final representative sample frame

 

• In-progress fieldwork updates (pre- and post-surveys)

 

• Pre-election survey dataset in SPSS format (weighted and cleaned)

 

• Final, merged pre- and post-election dataset in SPSS format (weighted and cleaned)

 

• Final methodology and sampling report

 

• Excel files with all survey item frequencies (pre- and post-surveys)

Timeframes

 

The IJR recognises that the following timelines are extremely tight, but adherence to these deadlines is a strict, non-negotiable requirement of the project.

 

7	March 2024		Call for proposals published
18		March 2024	Final date for proposals (by 17:00)
19		March 2024	Short-listed bidders notified
20		March 2024	Bidder presentations
21		March 2024	Public holiday
22		March 2024	Confirmation of successful proposal; inception meeting; contracting begins
25		March – 5 April 2024	Logistics and planning; questionnaire translation; sample selection
2	– 4 April 2024		Interviewer training and pilot (led by IJR/Afrobarometer)
5	– 21 April 2024		Pre-election data collection
29		April 2024	Clean, weighted pre-elections dataset delivered
20		May – 3 June 2024	Revisions, updates and translation of final post-election survey instrument
10		– 28 June 2024	Post-election data collection
1	– 12 July 2024		Data cleaning, weighting and validation
12		July 2024	Final clean, weighted, merged SPSS dataset and Excel files delivered
19		July 2024	Final methodology and sampling report

 

Expectations of service provider

 

The service provider shall have a demonstrated track record of experience in: questionnaire design; representative national sampling; conducting large and/or nationwide surveys; multi-lingual interviewing; effective logistical and project management; weighting and cleaning datasets; and working according deadlines.

 

The service provider must comply with Afrobarometer survey research standards and protocols.

 

The service provider will be responsible for all costs related to fielding the survey, including but not limited to: obtaining telephonic databases; sample design and selection; training of interviewers (in collaboration with IJR/Afrobarometer); telephonic and related costs; data capturing instruments and tools; project-related communications; payment of interviewers; and insurance.

 

The service provider will also provide the IJR with a contact person for the entire duration of the project.

Contractual agreement

 

Before commencement of this project, the service provider will enter into a contractual agreement with the IJR.

 

Submission of proposals

 

Interested service providers are requested to submit a comprehensive proposal including the following:

 

• Personnel details: Please list the qualifications and experience of all senior and key personnel, including the person(s) responsible for sampling and data management.

 

• Experience: Detailed description of past survey experience (with supporting documentation if possible), with a particular focus on those involving nationally representative samples. Please also include up to three recent, contactable references for similar projects.

 

• Methodology: A description of proposed approaches for a) sampling (b) interviewer training; and c) fieldwork implementation and supervision, including quality control measures to be implemented at each stage.

 

• Budget: A detailed budget including costs for each of the following:

 

• Costing for a representative sample of N=2,400

 

• Personnel, including daily rates and numbers of days for staff at various levels (e.g. project manager, sampling specialist, supervisors, interviewers, data capturers, translators and any

 

other staff or specialists required).

 

• Supplies and services, i.e. printing, office supplies, telephonic costs, etc. o Other direct costs: training, venue hire, translations, etc.

 

No travel is expected for this project.

 

Proposals should be submitted to Kate Lefko-Everett using the subject line “IJR Elections Survey Bid” by 17:00 on Monday, 18 March 2023. For enquiries, please contact Kate Lefko-Everett at kleverett@ijr.org.za.