Consultant to conduct a review of “The Length Mat Pilot of the NOURISH Project” -- Save the Children

Consultancy Opportunity

Save the Children’s mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. We work with government partners and local NGOs to improve children’s lives, especially marginalized and disadvantaged children. Save the Children is currently seeking a qualified and motivated consultant to conduct a review of “The Length Mat Pilot of the NOURISH Project”.

Duration of the Work

• The work is expected to be completed by 30 June 2017.
• Anticipated level of efforts: 30 days

Objective and Scope of Work
The primary purpose of this review is to assess the child length mat pilot for the past six months in order to make recommendations for future utilization and scale up.  Specifically, the review will aim to answer the following questions:
1. How does the inclusion of the length mat in community activities affect VHSG and families’ understanding (perception of short stature) and awareness around chronic malnutrition/stunting?
2. How is the length mat working to help the VHSG identify children who need special attention and care because they are not gaining adequate linear growth (stature)?
3. How many children had adequate weight gain, but were found to be low length for age?
4. How do VHSG perceive the following situations and provide interpersonal counselling (IPC) based on the growth results:
      a. for children who are stunted and underweight,      b. for children who are stunted but not underweight, and       c. for children who are underweight but not stunted?
5. What are the perceived benefits and challenges of the child length mat from the perspective of health workers, VHSGs and mothers/caregivers?

Minimum qualifications:

• Post-graduate education (master’s or higher) with research training, and over 7 years of experience with social research and nutrition programs where anthropometry was used, with a focus on community-based programs preferred.
• Experience conducting project data reviews.
• Prior experience in working with nutrition in Cambodia or elsewhere.
• Demonstrated understanding of community mobilization and engagement approaches.
• Substantial experience with English-language report writing.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong report writing skills.
• Excellent spoken and written English-language skills.
• Excellent English and Khmer.
• Excellent references from past clients.

How to apply

Interested candidates should send their application/proposal including: detailed budget including tax, work plan, CV highlighting relevant experience, and previous baseline or evaluation reports to the Human Resources team at Save the Children no later than 17.00 on 13th February 2017. A detailed Terms of Reference is available from our website or at the address below.

“All recruitment practices and procedures reflect Save the Children’s commitment to protecting children from abuse”.

Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified women and people with a disability are strongly encouraged to apply. Only shortlisted applicants will be notified for an interview. Submitted documents will not be returned.

Save the Children: P.O. Box 34, Villa 5, Street 242, Sangkat Chaktomouk, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Phone: (855) 23 223 403/4/5/6, CCC Box 59,

Email: jobs.cambodia@savethechildren.org  / website: http://cambodia.savethechildren.net

Please mention "www.Cambodiajobs.Biz" where you saw the ad when you apply!

Terms of Reference

1.       Project Information

Assignment Title:	REVIEW of the Child Length Mat Pilot of the NOURISH Project
Thematic of focus:	Nutrition
Project:	NOURISH
Assignment Location:	Cambodia Country Office
Assignment Duration:	To be completed by June 2017

2.       Background

The NOURISH Project is a five-year USAID-funded integrated nutrition project implemented by Save the Children and partners: SNV, The Manoff Group, OEC, Partners in Compassion and Wathnakpheap. The project operates in three provinces—Battambang, Siem Reap and Pursat—directly reaching over 560 villages. The project uses four strategies to achieve integrated nutrition inputs at the village level, including 1) strengthening community structures to deliver nutrition services, 2) increasing demand for improved services, practices and products, 3) engaging the private sector to expand the supply of key WASH and agriculture products, and 4) strengthening capacity of partners in integrated nutrition.

NOURISH is piloting the “Child Length Mat”, an innovative community assessment and awareness raising tool designed to help rural families better understand and visualize their child’s linear growth during the first two years.  The length mat enables rural health volunteers, together with caregivers, to get an indication of children’s linear growth over time, and whether the child, at six monthly intervals is too short for his/her age (stunted). The length mat can be used starting from six months of age and every six months when the child is 12, 18 and 24 months old. 

NOURISH selected 41 villages in Pursat province for the length mat pilot. There, NOURISH-trained rural health volunteers (VHSG) incorporated the length mat into monthly community growth promotion sessions where all children under two years are assessed.  At these sessions, health volunteers weigh all children and use the length mat with children ages  6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months.  The mothers/caregivers of children who are underweight or who have not gained weight since last month, and children who are too short for their age as assessed by the Child Length Mat, are encouraged to make age-appropriate changes to the diet, referred to health center as needed  and receive  follow-up home visits. The purpose of this consultancy is to summarize the experience with the child length map in Pursat and its feasibility for a scale up in Cambodia.

3.       Objective and Scope of Work

The primary purpose of this review is to assess the child length mat pilot for the past six months in order to make recommendations for future utilization and scale up.  Specifically, the review will aim to answer the following questions:

1.       How does the inclusion of the length mat in community activities affect VHSG and families’ understanding (perception of short stature) and awareness around chronic malnutrition/stunting?

2.       How is the length mat working to help the VHSG identify children who need special attention and care because they are not gaining adequate linear growth (stature?)?

3.       How many children had adequate weight gain, but were found to be low length for age?

4.       How do VHSG perceive the following situations and provide interpersonal counselling (IPC) based on the growth results:

a.       for children who are stunted and underweight,

b.       for children who are stunted but not underweight, and

c.       for children who are underweight but not stunted?

5.       What are the perceived benefits and challenges of the child length mat from the perspective of  health workers, VHSGs and mothers/caregivers?

                                                                                   

4.       Expected Outputs/Deliverables

·         Prepare a protocol with the needed instruments for the review and make adjustments with NOURISH, as needed.

·         Conduct the review in coordination with project staff, including a review of community register data, observation of sessions and interviews with health workers, VHSGs and families.

·         Prepare a report that clearly summarizes key findings from the pilot implementation, including strengths and challenges identified in processes, programming and data recording, and recommendations for further actions.

·         Prepare and delivery Power Point presentation with key highlights of the review.

5.       Duration of the Work and Duty Station

• The work is expected to be completed by 30 June 2017.
• Anticipated level of efforts: 30 days

6.       Institutional Arrangement

• The Consultant will report directly to NOURISH COP with additional contributions from NOURISH Integrated Nutrition Technical Manager, M&E Expert and the Pursat Provincial Coordinator;
• The Consultant is expected to travel to Pursat and meet with NOURISH project staff as well as local counterparts (e.g. CCWC, VHSG and health workers;) in the course of performing the work;
• NOURISH will make local travel and logistical arrangement for the Consultant and will reimburse for local travel expenses in full compliance with Save the Children and USAID rules and regulations.
• The Consultancy will not support international travel.

7.       Minimum Qualifications of the Individual Contractor

Education:	·         Post-graduate education (master’s or higher) with research training, and over 7 years of experience with social research and nutrition programs where anthropometry was used, with a focus on community-based programs preferred
Experience:	·         Experience conducting project data reviews. ·         Prior experience in working with nutrition in Cambodia or elsewhere. ·         Demonstrated understanding of community mobilization and engagement approaches. ·         Substantial experience with English-language report writing.
Competencies:	·         Demonstrated ability to conduct qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis ·         Excellent interpersonal and communication skills ·         Strong reporting writing skills ·         Excellent spoken and written English-language skills
Language Requirement:	·         English; Khmer
Other Requirements (if any):	·         Excellent references from past clients.

8.       Criteria for Evaluation of Level of Technical Compliance

Technical Evaluation Criteria	Obtainable Score
Education	15
Experiences (research and operational)	50
Competences (analysis and reporting) and other qualifications	35
Total Obtainable Score:	100

9.       Payment Milestones

The consultant will be paid on a lump sum basis under the following installments.

N	Outputs/Deliveries	Payment Schedule	Payment Amount
1	Draft protocol and instruments in English for the internal review, to be discussed and revised with NOURISH.	TBD	10%
2	Final protocol and instruments for the internal review.	TBD	20%
3	Draft review report.	TBD	50%
4	Final review report with recommendations for next steps.	TBD	20%