End-line KPC and SQUEAC Survey Consultant

Terms of Reference

Position: Consultant for Program Evaluation through a Cross Sectional Survey

Consultancy Title: End-line KPC and SQUEAC Survey Consultant

Responsible To: Country Health Director

Location: Islamabad, Pakistan and the Related Project Sites in KPK-

Provinces

Time Frame: 45 Days

Start date: 10th Nov- 2014

End date: 25th Dec- 2014

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer this post before the closing date.

Please note that this is an unaccompanied position.

Merlin International Profile

Undaunted and determined, Merlin saves lives. We deliver medical expertise to the toughest places. And we stay to help build lasting health care.

Our mission is to end the needless loss of life in the poorest countries caused by a lack of effective health care. We help communities set up medical services for the long term including hospitals, clinics, surgeries and training for nurses and other health workers.

We do whatever it takes and we stay for as long as it takes.

Background, Context and Project Summary

Pakistan is a developing country with a large population (180 million) facing the double burden of communicable diseases and increasing levels of non-communicable diseases. Despite the extensive health infrastructure and a mixed healthcare delivery system comprising of both state and non-state providers, the people of Pakistan are facing several major health problems and the country is lagging behind the majority of states in the South Asia region in terms of maternal, new-born and child health. Unmet health needs in Pakistan can be broadly classified into four categories 1) High burden of communicable diseases; 2) unacceptable levels of access to and coverage of reproductive health (RH) and child health services; 3) widespread and unaddressed malnutrition; and 4) an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases. The situation is further complicated by the scale and impact of frequent natural and manmade disasters, and a variety of health systems development challenges. Deficiencies within the health system stretch across all the major health system building blocks, especially in relation to human resources for health, stewardship, service delivery and health financing. A good proportion of the existing health infrastructure is inappropriately located, with a major urban focus and is inadequately resourced / maintained, which further limits the effectiveness of the system.

Over the last many years Merlin has been implementing integrated health and nutrition program with support of ECHO at community, primary and secondary levels of care. The program impact areas include the targeted locations of district Peshawar, Nowshera and Jalozai IDP Camp in KPK. Over the years, Merlin on a rolling on system expanded geographically its program in the mentioned program impact areas and has been implementing the services in a few locations of KPK for 3 or more than 3 years whilst in in other areas of Sindh province for around 3 years.

Over these years, Merlin has established a standardized and integrated health and nutrition services package with linkages and synergies with sector-wide programming and cross-cutting themes. The Merlin’s program key thematic areas include:

· Child Healthcare: focusing on childhood immunization, micronutrient supplementation and improved sick child management with a focus on Acute Respiratory Tract Infection (ARI) and Control of Diarrheal Diseases (CDD)

· Reproductive Health (RH): focusing on safe motherhood (maternal and new born care), family planning, Post-abortion care and EmOC

· Nutrition Services, based on CMAM approach: with focus on a) Screening/community mobilization, b) OTP, c) SFP, d) SC and referral to SC, e) Promote optimal infant and young child feeding practices in emergencies (IYCF)

· Communicable Diseases and Surveillance: focusing on tracking outbreaks through early warning and response system ( DEWS), implementing a state-of-the-art HIS and strengthening malaria case management and control measures

· Non-communicable disease: Provide care of non-communicable diseases for elderly people.

· General clinical services (curative services): Outpatient and transient in-patient care before referral

· Referral care: linkages and referral of patients to the secondary and tertiary level hospitals including care and referral for elderly

· Health promotion: focusing on community-education and raising community awareness

Overall Objective

The study aims to establish a province level coverage status of knowledge and practices of the priority and key interventions per Merlin’s program requirements. Over the years, the Merlin program impact areas have been added up at different points in time through a rolling on basis in KPK. Thus the study will serve as an end-line assessment in a few locations where Merlin will either scale down or close its program activities. On the other hand, in locations where Merlin aims to continue services, the study will provides Merlin with an opportunity to inform program design to take corrective measures to best fit program needs and set future program priorities.

The specific objectives of the study will be:

· To estimate and evaluate the results of planned program activities, outcomes and objectives through a concise set of quantifiable indicators collated through the cross sectional household survey

· To establish quantifiable household/community coverage of knowledge and practices of the priority and key thematic interventions with focus on maternal, new born & child health and communicable diseases

· To identify areas of low and high coverage and the reasons for coverage failure using routine programme data or easy-to-collect quantitative and qualitative data.

· To assess the services utilization levels and the related conditions through a quantifiable set of indicators related to knowledge and practices at household/community level

· To confirm the location of areas of high and low coverage and the reasons for coverage failure identified using small area surveys.

· To provide an estimate of overall programme coverage.

· Carry out small-area and wide-area surveys to support the findings of the investigation and estimate overall coverage

Responsibilities

The consultant in collaboration with Merlin program team will work through all the phases of the study such as a) Inception Phase, b) Study Implementation phase and c) Preliminary Finding Sharing, Dissemination and Report Write-up phase. The consultant is expected to undertake the following tasks:

· Carry out desk-review of relevant project documents, including project proposal, log-frame, Performance Monitoring Plan and other relevant documents.

· Develop the databases with support of Merlin HMIS coordinators for the quantifiable household survey

· Train the survey field staff (supervisors, interviewers, data entry personnel) who will be recruited by consultant as per JD developed by the consultant

· Consultant will develop the data collection tools (questionnaire) in English while Merlin will provide the necessary support to translate the questionnaires into local languages

· Conduct pre-testing of data collection tools and incorporate the required changes, ideally it should happen during the training of enumerators

· Conduct field study through the survey field team and the consultant will oversee/monitor the process of data collection and provide on the job mentoring and support

· Consultant will analyse the data using a suitable software

· Analyse and interpret the findings and share the preliminary findings of the study with Merlin program team for feedback

· Develop and submit the first draft of the study report and carry out a de-brief with Merlin Program team through a presentation to ignite further discussion and insight that will help the consultant to finalize the write-up

· Submit the final report to Merlin-Pakistan Country Director and Country Health Director

Consultant will design the study protocols inclusive of methodology, study tool-kits, training packages for enumerators and data entry personnel, field work plan schedule, data management plan etc. This will be developed and finalized in consultation with Merlin program team. The applicants are requested to submit the proposed methodology along with the application.

Tentatively, the evaluation should be planned during Nov and Dec-14 at the latest; allowing some weeks of planning between the consultant and Merlin which will be confirmed in consultation with the consultant and Merlin-Pakistan

Specific Outputs

· Final End-line KPC AND SQUEAC report

· Quantitative Data for future use

Person Specification

Essential

· Medical Doctor with Post-Graduate qualification in Public Health

· Significant previous experience of conducting in quantitative assessment in particular of KPC AND SQUEAC surveys

· Significant experience of Humanitarian work, particularly health programming in wider humanitarian responses and transitional phases

· Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Desirable

· Experience of working in South Asia, in particular Pakistan

· Knowledge of relevant local languages

To apply for this position

To apply for this job, please go to www.rozee.pk and apply using the online recruitment system. In order to apply for a job with Merlin online you will need to complete a short registration process and create an account – the online recruitment system explains how to do this. Once your account has been created, you will be able to save the information that you have entered in your application and re-visit it at any time before you submit it.

Candidates must also provide a brief proposal along with work plan and budget. The proposal should also include a brief overview of the consultant’s experience with a focus on similar assignments in the KPC AND SQUEAC with Barrier analysis & BCC framework. The budget estimation should include only the fee. Please either upload this information as a supporting statement, or alternatively email these supporting documents once you have applied online to *********

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

If you are unable to apply online for any reason please contact ********* and your query or issue will be addressed.

Data Protection

Please note that in accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act, Merlin will hold and use personal information that you have given for the purpose of recruitment and employment. This information can be stored in manual and/or electronic form. This information may also be disclosed to third parties in accordance with the Data Protection Act. In cases where a job offer is conditional on ensuring that potential employees’ names do not appear on counter terrorism lists generated by the United Nations, European Union or the United States due to donor funding requirements, Merlin will use the information that you have given for checking that your name does not appear on these lists.