Call for Interest Consultant – Mid-Term Review (MTR) for Better Child Nutrition Project

Term of Reference

Project Overview:

Timor-Leste (TL) has one of the highest rates of undernutrition globally, with the sixth highest prevalence of childhood stunting: 47.1% in 2020. TL is commonly placed within the ten hungriest countries by the Global Hunger Index – in 2021 it was ranked 108 out of 116 and surrounded by Mozambique and Haiti. The most recent Food and Nutrition national survey conducted in 2020 showed that 47.1 percent of children under five were stunted, 8.6 percent were wasted, and 32.4 percent were underweight. The current status and severity of malnutrition in the community cannot be accurately determined due to the weakening of the community nutrition service system surrounding families, communities, and health facilities. (Delivery of health services) PSFs/FPs act as the closest health and nutrition service communicators to the community, but due to frequent leave and personnel changes, there is a shortage or absence of manpower to perform that role. As the Integrated Community Visits Health Services (SISCa) by the government was suspended due to the spread of COVID-19, the activities of PSFs/FPs were also inactivated so nutrition services were absent. (Health facilities and personnel) It was found that the knowledge and educational opportunities necessary for health personnel to perform nutrition services were insufficient, and the children’s body measurement equipment was outdated so it was found that it was urgent to improve the environment for providing basic nutrition services. (Low level of community awareness and knowledge on child malnutrition) Due to low awareness and knowledge about child nutrition management at the community level, there is no collective action at the community level to monitor nutritional status and provide proper nurturing and nutritional support for children. There are no communication channels and actions to prompt the resumption or improvement of the government’s nutrition health services.

PURPOSE & OBJECTIVES

The BENU project’s MTR is primarily a learning exercise, which aims to:

· Assess progress of the project against intended outcomes and supporting outputs;

· Use learning and lessons produced by the MTR exercise to increase the likelihood of achieving the project goal and supporting outcomes;

· Use the findings to consult and trigger a proper phase-out process or strategy.’

Scope of Work

The following activity plan, key deliverables, and due dates will be subject to negotiation and revision among WVTL and WVK.

Activities and Products

Develop the inception report with a detailed plan including methodology and sampling approach, review and finalizing the data collection tools for both caregivers, FGDs, and KII guide questions, – April 2024 by External Consultant

Training of enumerators, focus group leaders, and World Vision Timor–Leste staff, and data collection can be adjusted with the WVTL and WVK Product will be All data records whether in soft or hard copy e.g. transcripts, databases, spreadsheets, photographs: Photographs and audio data, by the last day of in-country work. Written and statistical documentation handed to the WV Timor-Leste Office – April 2024 by external consultant in collaboration with WVTL and WVK team.

Field Data Collection April 2024 by WVTL Team.

Data analysis and report writing – May 2024 by external consultant in collaboration with WVTL and WVK team.

Complete draft MTR report, incorporating initial feedback – May 2024 by External Consultant.

Final version MTR report in the prescribed format incorporating Final review feedback:

(Final version to include an executive summary that can stand alone as a self-contained summary report) – May 2024 by External Consultant.

Consultant (s) role and responsibilities:

• Provide an Inception Report/Detailed MTR plan that includes the sampling strategy, methodology, schedule, and tools for the collection of quantitative and qualitative data in Word as well as in digitalized format.
• Training of enumerators (workshop and field testing)
  • As the lead person for the MTR process
  • Prepare Inception report for the MTR
  • Check the methodology & approach in terms of the MTR including sample sizes and validity of confidence interval.
  • Regular (daily) share raw quantitative survey database in Excel and SPSS/STATA format including variable names and codes (if quantitative data is collected by the evaluation team)
• Clean evaluation survey database in Excel and SPSS/STATA format including variable names and codes (if quantitative data is collected by the evaluation team)
• Draft the narrative report for MTR including analysis of data collected, results, and suggestion

Appreciation Criteria:

• Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree in Nutrition, Food Science, Health Sciences, or other relevant sciences.
• Must possess extensive baseline/evaluation and midline experience using mixed methods in developing countries.
• Fluent in English. Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Adequate background and experience in nutrition and agriculture programming.
• Must possess prior experience/knowledge in both quantitative and qualitative approaches and survey design.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations, and prepare well-written reports on time.
• Demonstrated experience in digital data collection, including tablet syntax coding.
• Knowledge and prior experience of Timor-Leste.