UNICEF recruits 01 Consultancy (Cost analysis of Community Management of Acute Malnutrition)
Consultancy (Cost analysis of Community Management of Acute Malnutrition)
Job Number: 523141 | Vacancy Link
Locations: Africa: South Sudan
Work Type : Consultancy
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Background
In South Sudan, the cumulative effect of years of conflict, violence and destroyed livelihoods has led to a humanitarian emergency of high proportions. The recently revitalized peace process promises to offer new opportunities in the coming years for South Sudan’s women, men and children. The launch of the National Development Strategy 2018-2021 with the overall objective of consolidating peace and stabilizing the economy echoes the peace optimism.
However, under nutrition remains a major public health emergency in several parts of South Sudan. The nutrition situation in the country remains critical due to a combination of factors mainly, poor harvest, dry spells and past conflict. The findings of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis for January-July 2019 predicts that food security is expected to worsen, with a projection that about 7.17 million people (63 percent of the total population) will face acute food insecurity or worse in the projection period of February to April 2019. This will be an increase of 11% from the 6.33 million people (57% of the population) from the same period in 2018. In projection period of May to July 2019, and in the total absence of humanitarian food assistance, an estimated 7.68 million people (67% of the population) will face Crisis acute food insecurity or worse, an increase of 8% from the 7.08 million people (63% of the population) from the same period in 2018. The Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring Survey (FSNMS) conducted in June 2018 reported that seven out of ten states, had very high prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under the age of five years (prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) ≥ 15%, or severe acute malnutrition (SAM) > 2%). Nearly 860,000 children under the age of five years and 600,000 pregnant and lactating women are expected to be affected by acute malnutrition in 2019.
The Nutrition Cluster was established in 2010 in South Sudan and currently comprises 64 active partners from Government, UN agencies, Donors and national and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) supporting the implementation of nutrition responses on the ground. Detection and treatment of children and women affected by severe or moderate acute malnutrition takes place at 57 stabilization centres (SC), 899 outpatient treatment program (OTP) sites and 854 targeted supplementary feeding program (TSFP) sites, established across the country.
The Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) are generated annually by Clusters to serve both strategic and operational guidance for programming by partners. The HNO establishes the number of people in need and the targets while the HRP outlines the strategies and activities to be implemented, in order to reach the planned targets. The core activities of the Nutrition Cluster are treatment and prevention of SAM and MAM. The Nutrition HRP budget is estimated by activity-based costing (or unit-based costing).
Implementing partners (national and international NGOs) rely on own funds or grants allocated by donors either directly or through United Nations agencies for nutrition service delivery. The HRP funding is monitored through the web-based Financial Tracking System (FTS).
Rationale for the assignment
Activity-based costing, or unit-based costing, depends on reliable estimates of unit costs for the planned activities. Activity-based costing for humanitarian appeals refers to a method of estimating overall resource needs for a humanitarian response plan (HRP), using average costs per sectoral activity, per person served, or per item delivered. In this approach the costs per sector are determined on a unit cost per person per type of activity; sectors identify humanitarian activities, with indicators and targets, and present these in the sector response plans.
A costed HRP is an excellent tool for advocacy and resource mobilization. In South Sudan, the HRP budget is often questioned, mainly due to lack of robust and consensual unit cost for SAM and MAM treatment. A case in point is 2016, when the cost of treating a child with SAM was estimated at US$ 207, which included 9% technical assistance, 20% cross sectoral and 8% cost recovery. However, the cost did not include many aspects such as contribution from CSO partners. Therefore, the SAM unit cost was revisited in 2018, in a more comprehensive way, with a new estimate of US$ 350 per SAM child treated. While the revised unit was closer to some published in the literature, still there was no consensus among partners and donors.
Furthermore, cost drivers, such as, infrastructure, human resources, equipment, supplies, logistics, security, and other related cost, remain unclear. The lack of clarity on unit cost of treating a child with acute malnutrition leads to incessant misunderstanding in budget allocations. The complex and uneven operating environment coupled with logistical constraints, and operation costs which differ from one region to another makes costing of intervention much more challenging in South Sudan.
In South Sudan, series of attempts to use the FTS to derive unit costs of treatment from the funded nutrition budgets have not been successful because of unreliable data. Furthermore, the FTS is not regularly updated, and where updates are provided, concerns are raised about possible double submission by donor and implementing partners, or inaccuracy in the case of integrated programs with a nutrition component, and multi-year programs.
It is therefore critical that standard basic unit costs are established to inform the development of country-level costed plan, program effectiveness and budgetary analysis for nutrition.
Purpose / Tasks and expected results
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to establish an average unit cost of delivering treatment for children with SAM and MAM in South Sudan. The cost estimation will include cost of supplies, logistics, programme and administrative components from UN agencies and NGOs. The result of this exercise is expected to inform costing of the Humanitarian Response Plan for the year 2020.
Tasks
Under supervision of the Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, in close collaboration with the Nutrition Cluster Cost Analysis Technical Task Force, and Strategic Advisory Group (SAG), the Consultant will accomplish the following tasks in five phases:
Phase 1. Study inception
Partner consultation to include bilateral meetings with key partners (MoH, UNICEF, WFP and WHO) and two group meetings, i.e. the cluster forum and the donor group meeting. This will lead to the exhaustive listing of partners that contribute to nutrition service delivery.
Conduct review and discussions on programming at national level, with exhaustive identification of cost drivers.
Develop detailed cost analysis protocol, indicating and explaining:
Choice of the methods (ingredient approach, expenditure approach, or mixed, or others);
Identification of partners to be contacted for response in the study;
Cost drivers to be considered;
The design/structure of the cost analysis tool to be used;
Analysis plan for the cost estimation exercise.
Preparation of data collection template;
Orientation for relevant partners on the use of data collection template, and submission. Submissions will focus only on 2018 data and will be done directly to the consultant only.
Phase 2. Data collection and management
Consolidation of partner submissions;
Control of data exhaustivity (number and completion of submissions);
Control of data quality (internal and external consistency);
Feedback to partners, with request for corrections and/or explanations where needed;
Data analysis in conformity to the data analysis plan.
Phase 3. Reporting and validation
Develop a study report with the following layout outline:
Executive summary;
Background;
Justifications;
Methods and approaches;
Results;
Conclusions;
Recommendations.
Plan and conduct meeting with partners to validate the costs analysis report;
Plan and conduct a briefing meeting with donors;
Plan and conduct a briefing meeting with OCHA;
Plan and conduct a briefing meeting with MoH.
Phase 4. Finalization
Finalize the study report as per recommendations of the validation meeting.
Phase 5. Documentation and dissemination
Prepare a Nutrition Field Note to document the process for dissemination.
Expected results
The expected result from this consultancy is the overall unit cost for SAM and MAM treatment in South Sudan with a breakdown by cost drivers.
Secondary results include nutrition programme total cost and cost-efficiency analysis and recommendations for improvements. Updates to FTS and recommendations for a continuous monitoring of the system are also expected.
Qualifications and Competencies
Advanced university degree in health economics/financing, health policy and planning or related fields, with significant knowledge of nutrition interventions especially CMAM programs.
Experience
At least eight-year expertise and experience in strategic planning and management, including costing of plans and programs.
A proven track record of high quality work/ product previously done in program costing and/or economic evaluation.
Strong capacity to meeting deadlines, an ability to prioritize tasks within his/her work program and strategies for working both collectively with others in a team and independently to deliver high quality products.
Excellent facilitation skills, ability to bring together stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds.
Strong leadership and team work abilities.
Strong information-gathering and analytical skills, coupled with excellent written and oral communication skills.
An understanding or knowledge of and experience in CMAM programming in developing countries.
Deliverables & Payment Schedule details
The consultancy will be conducted in four phases as above mentioned:
Phase 1 – In country: from 1st to 24th August 2019;
Phase 2 – Remotely: from 25th August to 13th September 2019;
Phase 3 – In country: from 16th to 21st September 2019;
Phase 4 – Remotely: From 23rd to 30th September 2019;
Phase 5 – Remotely: from 1st October to 31st December 2019.
For the in-country work, the consultant will be provided with a two-way flight ticket at economy rate and a daily subsistence allowance. He will be based in Juba.
Payment of consultancy fees for working days will be made after satisfactory delivery of the deliverables approved by the Nutrition Cluster. Payment will be made in two instalments: 60% after completion of phase 4 with approved deliverables, and 40% after completion of phase 5 with approved deliverables indicated in the table below.
| Tasks | Deliverables
|
Duration (Estimated # of Days) |
Deadline |
| Study inception |
|
17 |
24th August 2019 |
| Data collection and management |
|
15 |
13th September 2019 |
| Reporting and validation |
|
5 |
21st September 2019 |
| Finalization |
|
6 |
30th September 2019 |
| Documentation |
|
20 |
31st December 2019 |
| TOTAL |
63 |
|
Each payment will be made upon submission of invoice with requisite outputs of this assignment. The employer holds the right to withhold payments if deliverables do not contain requisite detail, are not meeting either minimum quality standards or publishable standard.
Duty Station and Official Travel
The consultancy will be home based. However, the consultant will need to travel to South Sudan, which will be facilitated by the contracting organization. The contracting organization will provide office space and access to internet and a printer. The consultant is expected to come with his/her own laptop.
Travel Clause
All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants/ Individual Contractors apply.
All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
The eligible maximum amount for travel is specified in the contract.
The consultant is responsible for his/her for travel arrangements. The most economic and direct route is authorized.
Travel costs will be reimbursed after the completion of mission.
Nature of Penalty Clause in Contract
If the final reports and documents are not submitted according to the deliverables stated in this TOR, the payments will be withheld. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines (fees reduced due to late submission: 20 days – 10%; 1 month -20%; 2 months -30%; more 2 months – payment withhold). All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.
UNICEF South Sudan. Cluster leads annual report 2018.
https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/south-sudan/document/south-sudan-humanitarian-needs-overview-2019
https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/south-sudan/document/south-sudan-2019-humanitarian-response-plan-13-december-2018
https://fts.unocha.org/
Global Nutrition Cluster. Costing of the NiECG response. Nutrition Cluster Coordinator Training Package 2019.
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf
Submissions will include:
A technical proposal highlighting the approaches and methods that will be used for the cost analysis;
A financial proposal indicating the total cost of the consultancy;
A CV outlining the relevant experience that qualifies the candidate to undertake such assignment including contact details.
Samples of previous work, especially with other UNICEF offices or other International Agencies.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Closing Date Fri Jul 05 2019 21:55:00 GMT+0100 (Afr. centrale Ouest)