Consultant - Comprehensive Health Services for Vulnerable and Left-Behind Populations in Borno at The International Rescue Committee

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The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

 

 

Job Title: Consultant - Comprehensive Health Services for Vulnerable and Left-Behind Populations in Borno

Requisition ID: req19366
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Sector: Monitoring & Evaluation
Employment Category: Consultant
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No

Background
Project’s Background:

• The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.  At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. IRC has been present in Nigeria since 2012 when it responded to flooding in Kogi state.  In early 2014, IRC opened a field office in Mubi town of Adamawa state in Northeast Nigeria followed by offices in Yola (Adamawa state) in November 2014 and Maiduguri (Borno state) in October 2015. 
• The EUTF health system strengthening project is a three-year project, the IRC worked in partnership with the State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) and gradually strengthened health systems at the LGA level. As the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are cooperating to respond to the current crisis, this is also the time to look beyond short-term life-saving interventions and think of how the health systems can be strengthened in each LGA in the long run. The IRC and SPHCDA are committed to building them back better and making them more resilient to overcome future crises. The project focused efforts and funding on health systems strengthening that support sustainable restoration of health services in the state. This initiative called for a WASH component as well, given the necessity to improve water, and sanitation infrastructure, and hygiene practices to prevent and control infections and water-borne disease outbreaks. Hence, the project captured the specific Objective #1: Restore basic Health, Nutrition and WASH services”.

Expected Impact and Outcomes:
The specific outcomes of the project are:

• Outcome 1. Strengthening of local governments' healthcare systems in the delivery of healthcare services
• Outcome 2. Improve four local governments’ preparedness and capacity to respond to urgent and massive health needs. 
• Outcome 3. Increase community participation in and ownership of health and health care services.

Objective of the Evaluation
Overall Objective:

• The overall objective of the evaluation is to assess the IRC’s performance and delivery of the project results. The end line evaluation report will help the IRC to improve its future projects through lessons learned and best practices generated from the project. 

The Scope of the Evaluation 

• The end line evaluation process will be structured around OECD DAC criteria, with suggested evaluation questions as below. However, the consultants shall be encouraged to review the project documents and modify evaluation questions to provide detailed synthesis of the project performance.

Below are the evaluation questions proposed against each criteria:
Evaluation Criteria & Questions:
Relevance:

• Does the project align with humanitarian priority concerns?
• How relevant was the project to target groups, needs and priorities?
• Did the project interventions effectively reach the most vulnerable individuals?    

Effectiveness:    

• Were the planned objectives and outcomes in the project achieved as planned?
• Were the monitoring mechanisms effective in providing timely data to inform management decisions?
• To what extent did the project meet its targets and deliver outputs?    

Impact:

• What difference has the project made to the lives of targeted beneficiaries?
• To what extent did this project achieve the intended outcomes?
• What is the performance against stated indicators?
• Are there any unplanned outcomes as a result of this project?

Efficiency:

• What evidence is available on cost effectiveness of the interventions?
• How do intervention costs compare with other modalities in similar context?
• Were adequate human and financial resources applied to delivering project outcomes? Were outputs delivered in a timely fashion?
• Was technology deployed to improve efficiency?

Sustainability:

• To what extent did the project utilize established institutions/mechanisms to ensure sustainability at the end of project?
• To what extend are project results (impact if any, and outcomes) likely to continue after the project?
• Are there elements of exit strategy to ensure sustainability?

The Scope of the Evaluation
The audiences of the final evaluation findings are:

• GIZ, as the coordinator for the EU project,
• Partners collaborating with the IRC on the EU project.
• Sector leads, Grants, Finance, field staff and SMT
• Target groups (most marginalized people identified in all areas of implementation),
• Other relevant stakeholders.

See ‘Deliverables’ section for further details about the format of the products to be delivered by the consultant. Upon signature of the contract, the consultant will have access to the Communication Plan for the EU Final Evaluation.

Main Evaluation Team Tasks

• Refine evaluation primary questions in consultation with the IRC’s M&E coordinator, Snr. M&E Manager and the regional measurement coordinator.
• Conduct secondary data collection and review including using the IRC’s existing project monitoring data, to identify gaps in data coverage and knowledge.
• Conduct primary data collection to establish and quantify the IRC’s performance against project indicators and criteria outlined.
• Provide a draft report to country management that will be incorporated into ongoing program planning and evaluation, as well as recommendations for maximizing social impact.
• While in country, facilitate a workshop to validate findings of the evaluation with IRC and partner staff and stakeholders.
• Incorporate IRC feedback into a draft report and prepare a final report. The final report should both describe the results of the evaluation in detail and provide actionable recommendations for improving the IRC’s program work in Northeast Nigeria.

Proposed Methodologies

• The IRC recommends a mixed methods approach that can quantify and qualify project results and achievements of overtime. Consultants are advised to recommend the most appropriate approach for the assignment. Nevertheless, the final methodology will be agreed with the IRC country M&E team and will be contingent upon the listed tasks.

Data Collection and Management:

• The IRC expects a balanced use of both quantitative and qualitative methods to better understand the program performance in addressing community needs. Quantitative data should be rigorously analysed and representative of project locations within reasonable limits. Qualitative data should also be carefully analysed and should focus on developing deeper understanding of the relevance of the project results and providing recommendations for improving and /or strengthening effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the results. Both direct and indirect beneficiary perspectives should be considered, examining any positive or negative spillover effects.

Presentation and Documentation:

This consultancy takes place after end of the grant, starting from October 1, 2021. The final report is expected to be submitted not later than October 31, 2021. The report findings should be shared with IRC in the following formats:

• A workshop with IRC staff to present and validate preliminary findings.
• Highlights of field findings, lessons and best practices that can be incorporated into relevant sector programming.
• Recommendations to inform and/or improve IRC Nigeria programs, with clear action points.
• Reflections on outcomes and impact based on the field findings.
• Draft Evaluation Report submitted to Deputy Director - Programs and M&E Coordinator within two weeks after completion of field work for comments and input.

Final Evaluation Report- The report should be clear and concise (max. 30 pages). and at minimum should include:

• Executive Summary,
• Project background information
• Evaluation methodology,
• Findings: Analysis of findings and conclusions,
• Recommendations and actions points,

Annexes: ToRs, a timeline of response, a list of individuals interviewed, statistical outputs, templates of data collection tools used, a description of the methods employed, a summary of survey results (if appropriate) and any other relevant materials. 

Ethics considerations
Informed Consent:

• IRC is committed to complying with privacy and data protection laws including the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The IRC’s Data Protection Policy sets out the principles that IRC applies when handling individual’s personal information. Any consultants offered a contract with the IRC is expected to be GDPR compliant when handling individuals’ personal information.
• Consent is gathered for the purpose of gaining permission to capture someone’s story or image, and document how the image and story can and cannot be used. The IRC has Consent Guidelines and documentation which must be used when gathering any content which may later be used.

Safeguarding and Code of Conduct:

• In addition, The IRC has a Safeguarding Framework that includes Staff Code of Conduct and a Child Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants and to clarify the responsibilities of The IRC staff, visitors to the programme and partner organisations, and the standards of behaviour expected of them.
• We have the responsibility to ensure that any persons hired or consulted during the process are made familiar with the policies and commit to abide by them during the execution of this work.
• Any consultants offered a contract with The IRC will be expected to sign Code of Conduct and Child Protection Policy as an appendix to their contract. By doing so, consultants acknowledge that they have understood the contents of policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.

Key Deliverables

• Presentation of draft findings to IRC senior program team.
• Detailed evaluation report.

Qualifications
Profile of Consultant(s):

• To the greatest extent possible, the evaluation team should consist of diverse backgrounds and experience in multi-sectoral programs. The project is an integrated project covering; nutrition, primary health, reproductive health and WASH. Consultants should have good programming understanding in the listed sectors. 
• The IRC welcomes expressions of interest from seasoned consultants, individuals or firms in academia, social research, or humanitarian evaluation with a background in humanitarian aid, research methods, WASH, development economics, agricultural economics, development studies, or other related fields.
• The lead consultants should possess.
• Master’s Degree or higher in development, international relations or humanitarian work.
• Extensive experience in conducting evaluations along OECD evaluation criteria, ideally leading an evaluation team and experience of designing evaluation methodology / tools and data analysis.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible work experience in research and or evaluations covering nutrition, environmental health, economic recovery and development programs.
• Experience of working or evaluating projects in insecure humanitarian environment.
• In-depth knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Excellent analytical, presentation and writing skills in English. 

General Conditions:

• The consultant will be based in Maiduguri Borno state, with field trips to program locations in Gwoza and Magumeri LGAs (where security conditions allow)
• While in the field, the consultant will be required to abide by IRC security protocols and guidelines.
• While in the field, the consultant will be provided with security briefings by field security focal person. 
• The consultant will conduct his/her work using his/her own computer equipment.
• Terms of payment will be negotiated upon acceptance of the consultancy. 
• The total budget for the consultancy will include VAT as/if required by national regulations.
• Final payment of consultant will be remitted upon satisfactory submission of agreed deliverables.

Proposal Details and Submission Time Frame

• This consultancy assignment is anticipated to start September 30th, 2021. The entire exercise will last between 20-30 days including final report submission. The deadline for submission of the technical and financial proposals and accompanying documents is October 30th, 2021.

 

 

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to:
Human Resource Coordinator,
The IRC Nigeria Country Program,
Plot 902, Olu Awotesu Street, Jabi, Abuja.
Or
Sent to: Joan Wuya [email protected] or Aamir Fida [email protected]

Click here to apply

Expression of interest applications should include:

• Technical proposal with clear understanding and interpretation of the ToR, including detailed tasks, recommended methodology summary and proposed schedule, relevant experience, how you meet the profile required and details of time required (maximum 5 pages)
• Financial proposal, including daily professional fee and any other associated costs for the assignment. The consultant should itemize all costs for the duration of assignment, lumped up costs will not be accepted in the financial proposal. IRC will only cover field related costs while in-country. All costs need to be clearly stated in the bid submission.
• CVs of prospective consultants.

Note: Applications lacking any of the above requirements will not be considered.

Application Deadline: 18th August, 2021.

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