Impact Assessment of Family Planning (FP) Interventions on the Viamo Platform in Nigeria

About Viamo

Mobile technology is revolutionizing how organizations engage with their end users. More than 96% of the world’s population has access to a mobile phone, meaning it is now possible to reach nearly every single person on the planet. Yet 3 billion people living in emerging markets still lack access to relevant, timely, and engaging information in their local languages, and their voices remain underheard. The organizations that serve them lack the technology and capacity to reach them, and many are unaware of the power of mobile technology to meet their organizational goals.

Viamo connects individuals and organizations using digital technology to make better decisions. With more than 28 million people reached so far in 2023 alone, we are well on our way to meeting our goal of reaching 50 million people annually by 2025.

BMGF investment

Viamo’s three year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) falls into two of the three Bodies of Work within the BMGFs Gender Equality Division's Digital Connectivity Learning Agenda: (1) Action-oriented User Research; and (2) Gender-Intentional Tool and Platform Development. Viamo has access to a unique and growing data set to uncover key preferences regarding how women and girls engage with a mobile / digital platform to improve their health and livelihoods. In addition, Viamo’s powerful platform is already leveraged by many international development organizations across sectors, and improvements to user experience and engagement under the BMGF investment will consequently scale to millions of women and girls accessing life-enhancing content across a multitude of areas.

BMGF’s funding comes from three program strategy teams; the Gender Equality Team, the Family Planning Team and the Neglected Tropical Diseases Team. These teams are aiming to leverage the Viamo Platform’s unique ability to reach the ‘under-connected’ or otherwise difficult to reach populations - including women and girls - through their mobile device, in their own language, and irrespective of their literacy levels.

Viamo has conducted quantitative analysis of our current users and qualitative field research of our current and potential users to develop version one of a strategy that identifies women’s and girls' needs and barriers for activation and behavior change. Based on the research findings, Viamo will conduct UX experiments on the Platform in three countries: Mali, Nigeria and Uganda, in Q1 and Q2 2024. This will be followed by this impact assessment, conducted with a research partner which will be completed by late 2024, with a focus on family planning.

Impact assessment overview

This Request for Proposal (RFP) invites qualified organizations to submit proposals for conducting an impact assessment of Family Planning (FP) interventions on the Viamo Platform.

The primary objective is to evaluate the impact of FP experiments and outcomes, focusing on knowledge, attitudes, and behavior/practice related to FP product/service uptake. The selected organization will collaborate with the Viamo team to manage data collection and synthesis for this assessment.

Methodology

The goal of this scope of work is to provide an impact assessment of FP interventions recommended and tested based on learning and evidence generation conducted in the research phase of his project. The interventions are likely to include ensuring a comprehensive suite of FP messages, arranged into directional user experience, bringing listeners a personalized listening experience based on their FP awareness and level of engagement. Other interventions will include timely referral to off-platform services (i.e. referral from the Viamo platform to a specific telehealth service or clinical service provider).

Scope of Work

FP Outcomes

The assessment will monitor and evaluate the impact of FP platform interventions over time, focusing on knowledge, attitudes, and FP behavior/practice. The impact study will focus on FP outcomes for, with a particular focus on outcomes for women and girls.

The study will rely on Viamo engagement data and self-reported data as primary sources for FP outcome data.

Key Activities

1. Develop quantitative instruments for assessing the impact of FP platform interventions. These will be reviewed and inputs provided by both the Viamo and BMGF teams.
2. Review finalized platform interventions (to be implemented by Viamo in Q1 and Q2 2024), and design an impact evaluation methodology and protocol.
3. Define and justify a strong quantitative sample for assessment of the different platform interventions.
4. secure IRB approvals as necessary.
5. Implement quantitative surveys through Computer Assisted Telephone Based