Infant and Young Child Feeding Survey Consultant Vacancy at Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected. Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Infant and Young Child Feeding Survey Consultant for NJR4 Project in MAFA Local Government, North East Nigeria

Location: Maiduguri

Description
Dutch MoA Funded Emergency nutrition response project in Mafa LGA, north each Nigeria, Borno State. September, 2018.

Background

• The humanitarian crisis in north-east Nigeria continues as hostilities between Nigerian security forces and non-state armed groups enter their ninth year.[1] Due to the ongoing conflict in the area the humanitarian crisis remains severe, continued internal displacement and the unpredictable return of refugees from neighboring countries.[2]
• As per humanitarian need overview, 2018 Approximately 10.2 million Nigerians in the six states that make up the country’s north-east region require some kind of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 7.7 million people in the three worst-affected states (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe). Women and children represent 85 per cent of those in need.
• Millions of people in Nigeria’s north-east need assistance to ensure their basic survival. An estimated 3.9 million people are food insecure, and more than 400,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Only 30 per cent of health facilities are functional in Borno State, where malaria is endemic and cholera and other diseases affect the population regularly, often in life-threatening ways[3].
• A total of 1.7 million persons remain internally displaced, human rights violations continue to be reported daily, and the food security situation remains extremely concerning as conflict continues to limit the amount of land under cultivation and 3.7 million persons are expected to face critical levels of food insecurity during the upcoming lean season (June through September).[4]
• As per the Nigerian national health and nutrition survey (2015) revealed that highlight poor and sub-optimal Change to infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices with only 22 per cent of children being exclusively breastfed, 4 per cent being breast feed up to 2 years and 12 per cent of infants consuming the minimum acceptable diet and likewise Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) prevalence for under-five children is reported at 7.2 and 1.8 percent respectively. Similarly, in Borno state the GAM rate was above the warning threshold for GAM (10< GAM <15) and SAM was above the WHO SAM crisis threshold of 2 percent.
• In recent third round nutrition and food security surveillance conducted from July to August, 2017 by UNICEF depicted that in central Borno state including Mafa Local Government area the GAM rate was 13.4 % and the SAM rate was 3.1% %, ranking the location as in acute malnutrition crisis/ serious.
• As part of the project activities Plan International will obtain an information on the current IYCF practices in the targeted local government area through conducting Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) survey. The survey result will also be used to see the targeted communities behavioural change on Infant and young child feeding practices and to reinforce the positive ones.

Objectives of the TOR:

• Plan International Nigeria is looking for external resource person (consultant) to conduct KAP survey on IYCF in targeted Mafa local government of Borno state, north east Nigeria.

Objectives of the Study

• General Objectives: To determine knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of key infant and young children feeding practice of children under two years in targeted LGA of Borno state of North East Nigeria that will serve as input for activities planning and reference for monitoring the impact of the IYCF project to be implemented in the area.

The specific objectives of this survey are:

• To determine the status of IYCF practices of mothers of children under 24 months of age in IYCF intervention in each community of targeted LGA in order to provide benchmarks for detecting changes in IYCF behaviors.
• To collect information about potential determinants of IYCF practices such as demographic characteristics, IYCF-related knowledge, beliefs and behaviors.

Approach / Scope and Method of Work:

• The consultant will be assigned to undertake the study. Plan International Nigeria and the consultant will oversee the planning as well as implementation of the survey.
• The state, and Local government area primary Health offices will be engaged in the process.

Required Duration:

• The consultant will be working with Plan International for a maximum duration of 20 days in collaboration with plan international country Office and Field Office staffs.
• The consultant will be leading overall activities starting from the development of proposal to report writing.

Survey Methodology:

• The survey will be conducted in Mafa LGA, Borno State, east Nigeria. The survey will combine a quantitative and qualitative methods including household interviews, Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews and Observations for triangulation and gathering of community norms and beliefs using appropriate IYCF KAP methodological study design in targeted local government area of Borno state of North East Nigeria. The consultant will develop appropriate data collection tools with appropriate study design, sample size determination and sampling technique.

Work Scope of External Consultant
The consultant(s) activities, outputs and working conditions are outlined below.

Overall Responsibilities:

• The consultant will lead and coordinate the overall survey process.

Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following:

• Prepare technical proposal with work schedule and a separate financial proposal and submit to Plan International Nigeria for review not later than the date specified in the announcement.
• Hold preliminary discussions with, Emergency Response manager, CO M&E manager and Emergency nutrition Specialist and with key stakeholders.
• Design appropriate data collection tools/procedure with appropriate study design, sample size determination and sampling technique (to be discussed and agreed with Plan International team prior to the commencement of the actual survey).
• Develop and translate data collection tool to the local language (Hausa and other Language)
• Develop appropriate training and field manual with local language to guide data collection process.
• Recruit and manage experienced and professional data collectors/interviewers and supervisors/team-leaders
• Design and manage training for supervisors and interviewer’s/data collectors.
• Oversee the data collection process to include: survey pre-test/Pilot test; and ensure effective management of data collection teams by supervisors.
• Collected data will be entered and cleaned and analyze applying using EPi info version 7 and SPSS software and submit the softcopy of the data file with findings.
• Produce draft report on findings (per required format and data request).
• Incorporate comments from the nutrition project team into draft report and produce final report.
• De-brief the nutrition project team and other Plan International employees both at field and country office (after initial field trip and upon submission of report).
• Coordinate with the emergency unit to disseminate study findings to respondents and other stakeholders.
• Prepare and submit electronic copy of the raw data and final report, and two hardy copies of the final report within the specified time of agreement.
• Produce final report and make relevant amendments/enrichment based on the draft report comments.

Outputs/Deliverables:

• The consultant should submit schedule as per the following outline or with own expertise

Deliverables:
Final technical proposal:

• Survey tools and discussion guides
• Training and field manuals
• Database template for data entry submitted before data entry (for review by Nutrition specialist and M &E manager)
• Cleaned database with descriptive statistics and analysis (2 hard and soft copies)
• 1st draft of report (2 hard and soft copies)
• Final survey report (3 hard and soft copies with RW-W CD)

Duration of Consultancy:

• The consultancy work is expected to be commenced on October 15, 2018 and ends on November 8, 2018. The consultant, however, is required to submit the detail schedule attaching with the technical proposal.

Ethical Issues
The consultant/s should adhere to the following ethical issues:

• All terms/conditions stipulated in the contract agreement.
• IYCF Survey Proposal must be reviewed and approved by Nutrition Sector and state Primary health and development agency
• Conducting them in a respectful manner, while undertaking assignment, this includes not making any commitments to communities and any other persons, on behalf of Plan International Nigeria.
• Time-frame and conditions outlined in the TOR and consultancy agreement

Plan International’s Responsibilities

• The Emergency Response Manager and Emergency Nutrition Specialist will facilitate the following responsibilities by:
• Providing consultants with literature review materials and other necessary documentations.
• Linking consultants to relevant stakeholders, especially in Maiduguri.
• Ensuring effective coordination of the study logistics to facilitate the consultant(s) in undertaking the assignment.
• Consolidating Plan International’s comments for incorporation by the consultants.

The NJR4 project coordinator and M &E officer based at Maiduguri field office will facilitate the survey by:

• Coordinating with the consultant to ensure the quality implementation of the study on ground (e.g. training and supervision of interviewers)
• Ensuring field survey logistics are on track e.g. providing accurate and comprehensive beneficiary information to inform the sampling, mobilizing/informing beneficiaries/local authorities about survey.
• Ensuring the dissemination of survey findings/report to beneficiaries and other field-based stakeholders.
• Providing additional information on ground.

Qualification Required

• The consultant is expected to have at least Master’s degree in Public Health, Nutrition or other related field and five years of work experience with the following additional requirements:
• Over five years working experience in nutrition and food security response (Experience in North east Nigeria context is desirable).
• Strong analytical skills and research experience, with solid knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies particularly IYCF Survey methodology
• Experience in undertaking IYCF KAP surveys
• Sound experience and knowledge of Humanitarian Accountability framework (HAF), evaluation of integrated projects/programs and drawing lesson learns/good practices.
• Proven leadership and coordination skills.
• Sound training and facilitation skills in Nutrition particular to Infant and young children feeding practice (IYCF).
• Excellent writing and document presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines.
• Familiarity with the National nutrition response program.

Ownership of Research Data/Findings:

• All data collected for this study shall remain the property of Plan International Nigeria. Any work product resulting from this study must cite Plan International Nigeria and NJR4 as a primary or contributing author.

Reporting:

• The general report outline, if necessary can be provided during commenting the draft report however; at minimum it should include the following:
• Executive Summary
• Introduction section (background information about the project target area, project itself, etc):
  • Literature review
• Objectives for and intended use of the evaluation:
  • Survey methodology and limitation of the study,
• Description of the programme/project work evaluated
• Results
• Conclusion and recommendations
• Names and detail contact information of those conducting the survey.
• Annexes

The following disclaimer should be included in the report:

“This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the NJR phase 4 from Dutch MoA. The views expressed herein should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.”

Time Frame
The consultant is expected to strictly follow the following schedule:

• Survey Proposal finalization – October 25,2018
• Study tool development – October 26-27,2018
• Travel to survey area – October 28,2018
• Training for data collectors and pilot test – October 29 to 31, 2018
• Field data collection – November 1-8, 2018
• Draft preliminary and Raw data report – November 11, 2018
• Final report – November 17, 2018

Deadline: Monday, 8th October, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their Applications to: Maiduguri.Recruitment@plan-international.org with the following document:

• Cover letter
• Curriculum Vitae:
• Technical Proposal including a work plan/Inception plan
• Financial Proposal (budget)