Country: South Sudan
Closing date: 14 Jan 2016
Position: Nutrition Survey Consultant
Location: South Sudan - Longechuk and Maban Counties, Upper Nile State
About RI: Established in 1990, Relief International (RI) is a leading global humanitarian organization that transforms adversity into renewal for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Innovatively, RI bridges the gap between immediate relief and long-term community development.
Position Summary:
South Sudan is still recovering from the violence that erupted in December 2013, which displaced tens of thousands of people, disrupted agricultural production, and exacerbated food security concerns. According to the South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan 2015 Mid-Year Update, Longechuk and Maban are classified as highly vulnerable due to critical unmet needs and access constraints. Both counties have reported emergency levels of global acute malnutrition (GAM), and high mortality and morbidity rates.
To further assess needs and gaps, the consultant will conduct a post-harvest nutrition survey using SMART methodology. The overall objective of the SMART survey is to collect updated information on the nutritional and health status of children and women in Maban and Longechuk in order to inform program managers and stakeholders on priority issues/strategies for future planning. Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for:
- Measuring the prevalence of underweight and stunting in children aged 6-59 months;
- Calculating the prevalence of acute malnutrition (moderate and severe) and crude / under-five mortality rates in the population;
- Determining the coverage of measles vaccination and vitamin A supplementation among children aged 6-59 months;
- Assessing childhood morbidity (diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, fever, and general illness over the last two weeks);
- Investigating IYCF practices, including the frequency of the early initiation of breastfeeding, among children aged 0-23 months;
- Determining the extent to which negative strategies to cope with food insecurity are used by households;
- Assessing household dietary diversity and copying mechanisms;
- Determining the population’s access to, and use of, improved water, sanitation and hygiene facilities and any direct linkages between nutrition and health outcomes.
Technical support will be available from RI in-country programs staff as well as from UNICEF’s Nutrition Cluster team.
Key Responsibilities:
The nutrition consultant will:
- Develop and finalize the SMART survey questionnaire, sampling procedures, and data collection timelines
- Ensure questionnaires are translated and back translated (if appropriate) and field tested
- Recruit required survey personnel (e.g. enumerators) in respective field locations
- Lead and facilitate the training of survey enumerators, supervisors, and monitors on protocols and use of materials
- Conduct and administer standardization tests for measurers
- Manage data entry at the field and country levels to ensure data quality
- Manage supervision of data collection teams and ensure implementation of quality control measures during data collection and data entry at all levels
- Lead data analysis and report writing process in consultation with RI nutrition staff
- Produce updated anthropometry, health, IYCF, food security and WASH-related indicators for each respective county
Specific Deliverables and Technical Requirements:
Upon completion of the survey, the consultant will be required to submit:
- A final assessment report and PowerPoint presentation, including recommendations to address the situation;
- Details on data cleaning exercises and data quality assurance checks (as per the Nutrition Cluster standard reporting template);
- Standardized tables as presented in the SMART methodology guidelines for IDP and host community populations (including confidence intervals of all results);
- Final, cleaned data sets used to calculate the survey results.
In addition, the report must conform to the CRED survey completeness checklist. Anthropometric indicators must also be generated using ENA or Epi/ENA software. Prior to the administering the survey, the consultant’s proposed methodology should be reviewed by RI, UNICEF, and the Nutrition Cluster.
Duration of Assignment:
The consultancy will last approximately one month, starting from 15 January to 15 February 2016
We would like to share Relief International's Values with you:
We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities. We value:
- Inclusiveness
- Transparency and Accountability
- Agility and Innovation
- Collaboration
- Sustainability
How to apply:
Please visit: http://chc.tbe.taleo.net/chc01/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=RI&cws=4&rid=742