Gender Responsive Reading Program

GENDER RESPONSIVE READING PROGRAM

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Three-Year Independent Research Study – Open Books, Open minds, a gender responsive reading program.

About Us

Pratham Books is a not-for-profit publisher dedicated to putting a book in every child’s hand. For over 20 years, the organisation has democratised access to high-quality children’s literature in underserved languages. To date, Pratham Books has published over 7,000 titles in 32 languages, disseminated approximately 50 million books and story cards across India, and built StoryWeaver — an open-source digital repository hosting 66,000+ stories in 378 languages, 60% of which are indigenous. Pratham Books supports integration of reading into education systems through structured reading programmes, reaching millions of children with measurable improvements in literacy and socio-emotional learning.

1. The Programme Being Evaluated

In 2023–24, Pratham Books piloted a gender-focused reading programme across 20 government schools in Dharashiv district, Maharashtra. An end-of-pilot assessment showed meaningful shifts in teachers’ gender-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and observable changes in children’s perceptions of gender, traits, and professions.

The full programme is a structured 3-year intervention targeting Grades 3–5 children in government schools, operating through three mutually reinforcing mechanisms:

  • Gender-inclusive storybooks: curated picture books in Marathi and Hindi featuring characters who challenge gender norms, presented in contextually grounded ways
  • Facilitated classroom reflection: 32 structured weekly sessions per year with facilitation prompts, discussion questions, and reflection activities that move children from passive reception to active questioning
  • Teacher transformation: annual in-person training on teachers’ own gender experiences and biases, sustained through monthly peer reflection via WhatsApp cluster groups and coordinator visits
Parameter Detail
Duration 3 years (July 2026 – March 2029)
Geography Dharashiv district, Maharashtra — 250 government schools
Books per school Set of 50 gender inclusive storybooks
Teacher support Annual training + WhatsApp cluster + monthly coordinator visit

The programme’s Theory of Change centres on ages 7–10 as a critical window for gender schema formation. The causal chain runs: teacher training and awareness building → weekly classroom practice → sustained child exposure to gender-inclusive storybooks and adult modelling → widening gender schemas → expanded aspiration and self-efficacy over three years.

2. Purpose of the Research

Pratham Books seeks an independent research partner to design and conduct a rigorous 3-year mixed-methods study serving three purposes:

  • Learning: Generating evidence that informs real-time programme improvement, particularly around facilitation quality and teacher transformation — functioning as a learning partnership, not a terminal audit
  • Accountability: providing credible evidence of what is changing and how, appropriate to the complex, multi-layered nature of gender norm change in children aged 7–10
  • Knowledge contribution: generating insights for the field of gender-responsive education in India, particularly around children’s literature as a pedagogical tool

3. Evaluation Research Questions

Strand A — Children: what is changing, how, and for whom

  • What shifts are observable in children’s gender schema flexibility across grades, gender, and school contexts?
  • How do children make meaning from gender-inclusive storybooks, and what kinds of narrative encounters generate genuine reflection?
  • For children who move through Grades 3–5 within the programme, what patterns emerge over time —in how children think and talk about gender, in how they act, interact, and navigate roles within and beyond the classroom?

Strand B — Teachers: transformation, practice, and the modelling effect

  • What does teacher transformation look like in practice; how do teachers describe the process, what moves them, and what is difficult?
  • In what ways do shifts in teachers’ gender beliefs express themselves in classroom behaviour?
  • What sustains or erodes a teacher’s reflective engagement with gender across the year?

Strand C — Mechanisms, conditions, and variation

  • What school-, coordinator-, and system-level conditions enable or constrain the programme’s intended functioning?
  • In what ways, if any, does the programme’s influence extend beyond the classroom into the wider community?
  • What role do government system actors, school leadership, and local institutions play in sustaining or undermining the conditions for change?

4. Methodological Expectations

The study should use a longitudinal mixed-methods design. Rather than establishing causation through experimental comparison, it should work from the programme’s Theory of Change to test whether the assumed mechanisms are actually operating, and under what conditions they work better or worse. Quantitative and qualitative streams must be integrated analytically.

Quantitative strand

  • Baseline, midline, and endline design covering both children and teachers, with baseline administered before teacher training (July 2026).
  • For children: a validated measure of gender schema flexibility, a scenario-based acceptance tool, and a self-efficacy measure.
  • For teachers: a measurement of Gendered Attitudes and Perceptions administered pre-training and at subsequent time points.
  • Cohort tracking: the same Grade 3 children followed from baseline to endline (Grade 5), with explicit attrition management and documentation.

Qualitative strand

  • Structured classroom observations at multiple points across 3 years, capturing facilitation quality, classroom climate, and gendered texture of the environment.
  • Repeated interviews with a purposive sample of teachers, tracking individual arcs of transformation.
  • Child-friendly qualitative engagement: drawing, vignettes, and guided discussion appropriate for ages 7–10.
  • Periodic engagement with programme staff and coordinators to document implementation and surface early learning.

Recommended sample size

The programme launches in Year 1 across 100 schools. The research will follow the Grade 3 cohort enrolled in Year 1 through to Grade 5 by end of programme. The table below indicates recommended sample sizes based on 10–20% of Year 1 schools

Unit Year 1 total Recommended sample range (10–20%)
Schools 100 10–20
Grade 3 cohort (2026 – followed to Grade 5, 2029) ~2,700 ~270–540
Teachers (Grade 3) ~100 ~10–20

Learning loops

The research partner will participate in at minimum two learning conversations per year with Pratham Books where emerging findings are discussed and implications for programme adaptation considered. A short Year 1 learning brief should be produced before midline to enable evidence-informed adjustment.

5. Deliverables

Deliverable Description Timing
Instrument finalisation report All quantitative and qualitative instruments as finalised; piloting findings; sampling and cohort tracking protocol. June 2026
Baseline report Quantitative baseline across all measures (children and teachers) and qualitative documentation of programme start. September 2026
Year 1 learning brief Short synthesis of early implementation observations for Year 2 design. February 2027
Midline report Full quantitative midline with pre–post comparisons; qualitative process synthesis; implementation analysis. February 2028
Year 2 learning brief Short synthesis of Year 2 patterns and recommendations for Year 3. February 2028
Endline report Full quantitative endline with longitudinal analysis; integrated synthesis; recommendations for scale. February 2029
Final synthesis and knowledge product Research report and synthesis of key learnings March 2029

6. Proposal Requirements

Proposals must be submitted as two separate PDF files: a Technical Proposal (maximum 8 pages) and a Financial Proposal (with an itemised budget for three years). Profiles of key researchers should be included within the Technical Proposal and not submitted as separate files. The Technical Proposal must include:

  • Organisational profile and relevant experience in gender-focused evaluation; longitudinal mixed-methods research; research with children in Indian government school contexts.
  • Understanding of the programme and evaluation context.
  • Proposed methodology; design rationale, quantitative instruments with justification, qualitative methods and sampling, cohort tracking and attrition management.
  • Team composition and field arrangements
  • Detailed workplan — instrument development, data collection, analysis, and reporting milestones, with risk and mitigation.

7. Selection Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • Demonstrated expertise in gender-focused research and evaluation, particularly in educational settings with children.
  • Quality and rigour of the proposed methodology: credibility of quantitative instruments, depth of qualitative design, and coherence of mixed-methods integration.
  • Understanding of the specific evaluation challenge: measuring subtle, multi-layered gender norm change in a government school context with significant external influences.
  • Ethical rigour and demonstrated experience in child-sensitive research.
  • Feasibility of the proposed budget.

Pratham Books will interview shortlisted applicants  to ask methodological questions or request a discussion with the programme team.

8. Submission Instructions

Submission deadline 30th May, 2026
Format Two PDF documents; technical and financial proposal
Subject line RFP Response —Open Books, Open Minds Research Study 2026–29
Study start June 2026

Write to us:
Email your resume with ‘Gender Responsive Reading Program’ in the subject line to [email protected]