West Bengal is India’s sixth largest state in terms of economic size with a Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of USD 158.40 billion in 2017-18. Festivals are an integral part of this state and the Durga Puja festival tops the list with an estimated economic worth of approximately USD 5 billion (Assocham report of 2013). With an estimated footfall of between 200,000-300,000 people per day in the capital city of Kolkata alone, Durga Puja is one of the largest public carnivals in the world.

The British Council and Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal will collaborate to carry out a research exercise for mapping the economic worth of creative industries around the festivals of West Bengal. The proposed research exercise will have two lenses:

1. livelihoods generated through creative industries around festivals
2. the economic value of these livelihoods

We invite interested UK HEIs to send in research proposals based on the project details and terms of reference shared below.  

Terms of Reference

The objectives of the research study are to:

1. establish the economic worth of the creative industries that function around the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal, with the aim of documenting baseline evidence of the livelihood generation opportunities generated for a cross section of society
2. identify the potential opportunities in these creative industries to enhance and improve the quality of life of the artists, artisans and craftspeople who engage with this festival.
3. gather evidence about the flow and numbers of visitors to West Bengal, both domestic and international around the festival season
4. document case studies around the lives of artists, artisans and craftspeople with a focus on gender and inclusion.

Research Outcomes:

1. A primary database of the cross section of individuals, groups, communities of artists and artisans, craftspeople and organisations associated with the festival sector with profiles and demographic details.
2. A detailed assessment of the current economic value of the artistic creations, products, services, investments that contribute to the creation and the organisation of the festivals with special focus on the Durga Puja festival of West Bengal.
3. Baseline data that could be built upon and laid out as an index to assess the growth in the sector over the next few years
4. A list of possible policy recommendations for future consideration by the Government of West Bengal.

Scope of work

The research activities will take place in locations across West Bengal. Data will be gathered from a representative cross-section of stakeholders and extrapolated to arrive at the final research commentaries and recommendations. The methodology adopted for this research project is envisaged to be a blend of the quantitative and qualitative tools, including statistical analysis, surveys, interviews, focus groups and web-based research.

The consulting UK higher education institution will be required to:

1. identify one West Bengal university as partner and engage with them to undertake the research; they will be responsible for all communication and transaction with the West Bengal university.
    
2. liaise with the West Bengal university to co-design a project that will gather and extrapolate the data collected, analyse, develop and validate high quality reports at inception, mid-term and final stages.   
    
3. develop an agreed structure for the project including timelines, deliverables, budgets and resources
    
4. undertake one or more visits to West Bengal to participate in meetings, consultations and validation of the research

The British Council will:

1. act as the project lead for the research by scoping, commissioning, contributing to insights and monitoring the timely implementation of the project
    
2. liaise between all partners – the UK and West Bengal higher education institutions and government of West Bengal to manage the research process including quality control.
    
3. organise and co-facilitate the dissemination events and consultations 

Selection criteria:

All submitted proposals will be judged on three main parameters.

Financial information:

The estimated budget for this mapping exercise is GBP 47,000 

The proposal from UK HEIs should include cost break-up, showing project/program cost including travel, consultation fee, taxes (if applicable) etc. The total project cost should not exceed GBP 47,000
 

Schedule of payments and deliverables:

Timeline:

The proposed timeline for these activities is given below. There is scope for a moderate extension in the timeline for submission of the final report (upto February 2020). There is very limited scope for delays in the submission of the inception and mid-term reports and consequently in the timings of the actual mapping exercise itself.