Semi Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SQUEAC) Consultant

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) FOR THE CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT SEMI QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION OF ACCESS AND COVERAGE (SQUEAC) SURVEY IN BORNO STATE

1). Background

Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001. The early focus was on getting children actively involved in shaping the decisions that affect their lives.  Today, Save the Children International (SCI) is working in 20 states (in both development and humanitarian contexts) focusing on Nutrition, Health, Food security and Livelihoods, WASH, education, HIV Programming, Social Protection and Child Protection.

The humanitarian response started in Borno since 2014 with Save the Children been among one of the first responders to the conflict, bringing relief to children and families affected by the humanitarian crisis

In line with the 3 global breakthroughs of the organization – Survive, Learn and Protect, SCI provides interventions in the areas of Child Protection, Nutrition, Education, WASH, Food Security and Livelihoods, and Education. The ongoing conflict in the North East continues to increase population displacements, poor sanitation and hygiene, poor access to safe water supplies, restrict income-generating opportunities, limit trade flows, increase protection concerns as well as the need for health and nutrition services

The conflict in Northeast Nigeria has resulted in widespread displacement, abuse and violation of human rights, destruction of livelihoods and disruption of basic services. The conflict has also resulted in alarming levels of malnutrition with global acute malnutrition (GAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) rates, some of which exceed WHO emergency threshold levels of 15%.

Borno remains at the center of the ongoing crises in Nigeria; 7.1 million vulnerable men, women, girls, and boys remain in need of assistance. Women, girls, and boys account for 79% of the IDP population – with 28% of the population being children under five.

The nutrition intervention aims at identifying and treating acutely malnourished children under five, uses social behavior change communication approaches in providing counselling to pregnant and lactating mothers and other family members on appropriate nutrition behaviours as an immediate life saving measure while at the same time tackling barriers that cause poor utilization of health and nutrition services.

Although acute malnutrition is a continuum condition, severe and moderate acute malnutrition are treated separately with different protocols and therapeutic products.  SCI has been implementing CMAM program in Borno since 2014, providing Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP) services to save the lives of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in the State; and assessing coverage of treatment services is one of the principles for measuring the performance of Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programs.

Currently the program supports eighteen (18) static Out-patient therapeutic treatment centers and thirteen (13) mobile OTPs.

The key components of the activities carried in these canters include : Screening of under-5 children in the communities and referral of all severely malnourished under-five children to the nearest OTP, admissions and treatment of those identified as severely malnourished using anthropometric measurements such as mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) for children 6 – 59months and weight for height for children less than 6 months of age, weekly follow-up of the children enrolled into the OTP program,  provision of routine medication and routine immunizations to the children in the program, defaulter tracing, nutrition hygiene and health promotion activities across all the project areas in Borno, individual and group counselling of pregnant and lactating mothers as well as caregivers/caretakers of children under-2 about infant and young child feeding practices.

2). Overall Objective/Purpose.

The Semi Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SQUEAC) Survey will be conducted to ascertain the level of access of beneficiaries to CMAM services and determine the coverage of the CMAM program within project locations to better inform the implementation of CMAM programs and improve program delivery

Specific objectives.

To estimate the:

a) Point coverage in the targeted locations

b) Period coverage in the targeted areas

Identify factors affecting the uptake of OTP and CMAM services in target area of operation (Barriers and Boosters)

Develop in collaboration with Community leaders and MOH specific recommendations to address the identified barriers to coverage of CMAM programme.

Enhance competencies of SCI technical teams in SQUEAC methodology

Develop specific recommendations to build on the identified enhancers of CMAM coverage.

3). Detailed Terms of Reference.

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the survey consultant will undertake the following:

Design the survey and develop comprehensive tools for data collection which suit and address gender and cultural contexts of survey locations.

Finalize the data tools with technical team

Conduct a one-week training for SCI nutrition staff on SQUEAC methodology and thereafter guide and supervise them as they take part in the entire assessment processes – planning, data collection, data analysis and reporting.

Train data collectors on the use of the survey tools

Organize adequate supervision and coordination of the survey teams in the field

Analyze data and compile a comprehensive coverage survey report.

For purposes of survey validation, the consultant will present the results to the Nutrition Technical Working group in Borno.

In collaboration with SCI staff, organize a one-day workshop to develop specific recommendations and a joint action plans to improve coverage of CMAM program in the target areas.

4. Desired Qualifications:

1. Education (knowledge): Advanced degree in Nutrition, public health, Epidemiology or related discipline.

2. Experience: At least 5 years of international and field experience preferably in developing countries.

Extensive Experience in Nutrition surveys and surveillance systems as well as proven experience with the SQUEAC/LQAS methodology (provide evidence of previous assessments undertaken)

Experience in conducting coverage surveys in pastoral areas

3. Skills and Abilities: Proven ability to organize and supervise a survey team in a cross-cultural setting. Excellent report writing and communication skills. Good training/facilitation skills and understanding of NGOs operations.

4. Child safeguarding: previous experience working or conducting assessments involving children and knowledge of children’s rights.

  5. Duration of the Consultancy:

The proposed consultancy will last for 5 weeks; the first 2 weeks will be for development and finalization of data tools, information harvesting (average MUAC on admission, average length of stay in the program, performance indicators, locations of defaulters among others) from OTP Cards for a given period of time (at least 1 year preceding the survey); 1 week will be for class room training SCI staff on SQUEAC methodology, 1 week for survey teams training and data collection and 1 week for analysis and reporting and final 2 weeks for consultation meetings to develop recommendations, validation meeting with Nutrition Sector, review of report with feedback from the consultation and validation meetings as well as the Country office.

Expected Output.

At the end of the assignment the consultant should deliver:

SCI staff training and post training report, this should include aspects of data collection, analysis and report writing.

Final coverage survey report including recommendations

A PowerPoint presentation of the report for presentation to the nutrition technical forum

All raw data collected and reports generated will remain the property of SCI.

6. Conditions of Work.

The consultant will be required to travel from his/her base to the field (Borno) on where the training of SCI staffs will be conducted and thereafter continue with the assessment while staying in Borno SCI field base. SCI team will be trained centrally for one week. The consultant will be expected to lead the team in the initial preparations including enumerator selection, survey team’s trainings and subsequent data collection in Maiduguri, Borno -Nigeria. In order to ensure high quality data the consultant will be required to rove across the location offering technical guidance to the teams in the entire process. Data will be entered and analysed in the field office under the supervision of the consultants who will have to review all the Data for accuracy. Besides reporting will also be undertaken at the field level. SCI will support and facilitate the consultant’s travel to the field, within the Borno and back, as well as administrative, logistics, and security related issues of the consultancy. The consultant will be required to abide by SCI security procedures and rules in place for SCI staff including the child safeguarding policy and other field procedures. While in the field, the consultant will be provided with security briefings from the field security focal person.

General Conditions of the Consultancy

SCI will provide accommodation for the consultant in team guest house

Meals and other incidentals will be the responsibility of the consultant while in the primary location of the consultancy

Payment of per diem for the period of Consultancy (where applicable) will be in accordance with the SCI per-diem policy

The consultant will conduct his/her work using his/her own computer equipment.

Other miscellaneous costs directly related to the task that can include photocopying of questionnaires etc. shall be covered by SCI. Any cost needs to have prior approval from SCI.

The movement of the consultant and team to and from the field will be facilitated by SCI.

SCI will provide survey enumerators; translators as may be required.

The cost related to travel from/ to Field of the survey teams will be covered by SCI.

  Force Majeure:

The consultant and SCI may agree to reschedule or alter some tasks in the TOR, if unforeseen circumstances arise. In the event SCI is not satisfied with the work produced by the consultant, they may opt to terminate the contract on mutually agreeable terms. Likewise, if the consultant is unhappy with new conditions given by its client, She/he may opt to withdraw on mutually agreeable terms.

Scope of Survey.

The survey will cover Konduga, Jere, Mafa and Magumeri Local government areas (LGAs). The specific target areas will be catchment areas/ populations of health facilities SCI is implementing OTP services.

7. Application Pack

How to ApplyInterested and qualified candidates should submit their applications (CV, and technical proposal detailing survey methodology, work plan and financial budget). Copies of relevant previous evaluation reports (to be kept confidential).

  Evaluation Criteria and the Rights of Save the Children

Applications will be evaluated based on a composite index considering:

· The content of the technical proposal

· The proposed methodology

· Cost effectiveness as reflected by the financial proposal

· The related experience of the consultant

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better health care, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday

All children learn from a quality basic education and that,

Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.  We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Save the Children is committed to ensuring that all our personnel and programmes are absolutely safe for children.

We undertake rigorous procedures to ensure that only people suitable to work with children are allowed to join our organisation and all candidates will, therefore, be subject to this scrutiny.

We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Applicants are advised that Save the Children International does not require any payment or expense during the entire recruitment process. Any request in this direction should be immediately reported as it is contrary to the values and practices of our organization.

Due to the volume of applications received, Save the Children may not provide feedback to all applicants. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible, as applications will be reviewed as received. Save the Children reserves the right to change the closing date, if considered necessary.

25 Oct 2019 – 22:59 UTC

Maiduguri, Nigeria

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning

Contingent

Full-time