Consultant V

BACKGROUND TO THE ASSIGNMENT

International Medical Corps (IMC) has been implementing a 12-month multi-sectoral Protection, Health and integrated Nutrition program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). The project – which began in September 2021 – is providing essential services through direct implementation and in partnership with local organizations. The Health and Nutrition components are designed to build upon IMC’s years of experience in responding to the needs of the population in the targeted area in these sectors. The activities will mainly focus on provision of basic primary health care and pharmaceuticals, health systems and clinical support, and management of acute malnutrition and maternal, infant and young child nutrition in emergencies (MIYCN-E). The current program cycle is scheduled to end in September 2022. As per BHA’s Monitoring & Evaluation guidelines, an endline should be conducted for the outcome indicators related to those activities as specified in the section below.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of the assignment is to conduct a mixed methods assessment of health and nutrition outcomes in the program’s target communities. The assessment has two primary objectives: a) serve as an endline for the current grant cycle; and b) generate evidence on certain program components’ performance to inform the design of similar activities in the subsequent grant cycle.

Endline indicators

Survey data will be used to calculate the endline values of indicators under the BHA project for the following indicators:

Health

Number and Percent of community members who can recall target health education messages.

Nutrition

• Percent of infants 0–5 months of age who are fed exclusively with breast milk;
• Percent of children 6–23 months of age who receive foods from 5 or more food groups;
• Percent of women of reproductive age consuming a diet of minimum diversity (MDD-W); and
• Percent of children (6 to 59 months of age) and pregnant and lactating women (PLWs) with acute or moderate malnutrition based on mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) screening.

b) Formative research on the program’s integrated nutrition component

Quantitative and qualitative data will contribute to information required by the IMC program team to strengthen design and implementation of nutrition activities.

What is the level of utilization of IMC-supported health and nutrition facilities with consideration to future resource planning?

What are barriers and enablers of households in acquiring nutritionally diverse diets as promoted during the project?

To what extent have households received promotional messages through individual counseling on nutrition, and how well have staff adhered to the standard counseling protocol?

How households perceive the modalities and topics used in health and nutrition outreach activities?

To what extent did the education messages contribute to shifting households’ attitudes and behaviors with respect to the messages? How could IMC’s social behavior change approach be improved to increase the likelihood of households adopting these practices? What are the barriers to changing attitudes and behaviors?

3. SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The health/nutrition specialist will be responsible for developing the assessment methodology, inclusive of the sampling strategy and sample size calculations (as per BHA M&E guidance and IMC support) for the community survey and qualitative interviews. S/he will also support with development and revision of qualitative and quantitative data collection tools in close consultation with IMC’s MEAL and Program teams and advisors. All indicators must be measured in accordance with the latest BHA and global nutrition survey guidelines (see WHO/UNICEF 2021 guideline: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240018389).

The specialist will also perform all data analysis, which must be multi-sectoral and include statistical significance testing for evidence of change between baseline and endline values as per BHA M&E guidelines. The specialist will develop the final report that captures indicators’ endline values and provides additional evidence/recommendations for the country program related to the formative research.

4. DELIVERABLES DESCRIPTION

1. Inception report including the proposed methodology, sample size, team composition, tools, and detailed implementation plan. The inception report should be based on initial desk review of relevant project documents and the initial baseline survey report.
2. Remote training (ToT) of enumerators, team leaders, and other relevant staff on the data collection, sampling, and other requirements as needed
3. Quantitative data analysis along with summary tables and statistics, a PowerPoint presentation reflecting the findings
4. Qualitative data analysis
5. A clear and concise, well-written draft report containing tables, facts and figures demonstrating the state of the current health and nutrition situation (in light of the indicated activities and indicators), and comparisons against baseline values with use of significance testing. In addition, the report should include Challenges, recommendations for the project implementation and strategy, and next steps. It is recommended to include staff capacity building plan/recommendations (e.g., outreach and awareness techniques) whenever needed in consultation with IMC team (potential requirement).
6. Final report incorporating all feedback and comments

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT DELIVERABLES

The assignment involves the participatory preparation and implementation of the community survey (and other qualitative methods). For the assignment, it is expected that the consultant will ensure close coordination with IMC and other relevant stakeholders.

The following specific tasks are to be carried out:

1. Desk review of the project’s key documents including but not limited to:
   1. Project logframe
   2. BHA M&E guidelines
   3. baseline report
   4. Existing data collection tools
2. Consult with IMC TU and country team to further define the objective of the survey.
3. With the IMC team, update the survey tools if needed.
4. Develop draft inception report for the community survey (and other qualitative methods) implementation including
   1. Detailed sampling strategy and complete data collection and analysis protocol (revision of the baseline sampling approach)
   2. Primary questions to be addressed
   3. Indicators
   4. Revision of the data collection tools
   5. Detailed field implementation plan
5. Training for the enumerators and team leaders on the data collection, sampling, and other requirements as needed
6. Conduct data cleaning and analysis, including statistical significance tests of difference between baseline and endline values
7. Prepare the final report of survey results (including qualitative methods) and recommendation in consultation with IMC program team and TU. (including activity plan)

TRANSFER OF SKILLS-Potential requirement (IF ANY)

• The analytical endline report might include additional trainings recommended by the consultant to enhance the outcome of health outreach and nutrition activities in line with Syrian context aiming to reach the expected target for the upcoming project

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, community nutrition education studies or equivalent.

Experience

• At least 2 years of experience in public health and or community- based interventions including health and nutrition education and hygiene promotion. Demonstrated experience in leading health/nutrition survey design, including probability-based sampling, mixed methods data collection approaches, developing a variety of data collection tools, training enumerators, supervising data collection, and data quality oversight
• Familiarity with IYCF survey methodology (particularly CARE IYCF Data Collection Guideline). Prior experience conducting IYCF surveys strongly preferred.
• Experience in remote assignments in project monitoring, evaluation, assessments, or research
• Experienced in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis as per the scientific research methods
• Experienced in analytical software such as SPSS, STATA, etc.
• Experience in XLSforms data collection systems such ODK, Ona, etc.
• Previous experience in consultancies.

Competency

• Excellent report writing skills and communication skills in English.
• Strong familiarity with IDP, emergency, and complex contexts.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle multiple tasks in a dynamic, high-pressure environment
• Must have the flexibility and ability to work effectively with various personalities and cultures
• Experience in remote management

Language(s)

• Fluent English (writing, reading)
• Arabic

Code of Conduct As applicable to this position, an individual must promote and encourage a culture of compliance and ethics throughout the organization and maintain a clear understanding of International Medical Corps and donor compliance and ethics standards and adheres to those standards.

Safeguarding It is all staff shared responsibility and obligation to safeguard and protect populations with whom we work, including adults who may be particularly vulnerable and children. This includes safeguarding from the following conduct by our staff or partners: sexual exploitation and abuse; exploitation, neglect, or abuse of children, adults at risk, or LGBTI individuals; and any form of trafficking in persons. Staff are also responsible for preventing violations to our Code of Conduct and Ethics, which may involve Conflicts of Interest, Fraud, Corruption or Harassment. If you see, hear or are made aware of any violations to the Code of Conduct and Ethics or Safeguarding Policy, you have an obligation to report.

Equal Opportunities International Medical Corps is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or status as a veteran.