Final Evaluation of Nutrition Intervention in Aweil West, South Sudan Consultancy

Background

Concern Worldwide (Concern), has been implementing community nutrition interventions supported by World Food Programme (WFP), under a 5-year project (June 1, 2017 – December 31, 2021), in Aweil West County of Northern Bahr el Ghazal (NBeG), South Sudan. The Strengthening Preventive Approaches against Malnutrition project was a pilot, to demonstrate the impact of targeted malnutrition preventive interventions on sustainable reduction of malnutrition in a conflict-recovery context.

Programme Overview

Title: Strengthening the Preventive Approach against Malnutrition

Impact: Reduced malnutrition among children under 2 years

Specific objectives:

• To provide Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) at community level to improve skills knowledge and practices on infant and young child feeding.
• To build the capacity of Boma Health Committees as a community governance structure to increase their participation in strengthening preventive approaches to malnutrition.

Indicators:

• Proportion of the children 6-23 months and PLW who participate in the programme (target > 70%)
• Proportion of children 6-23 months and PLW who participate in adequate number of distributions ( target > 60%)
• Proportion of children 0-5 months old who are exclusively breastfed
• Proportion of children 6-23 months who consume a minimum acceptable diet (MAD)
• Prevalence of acute malnutrition among children U5 (target <15%)
• Number of Mother Care Groups established and active
• Number of beneficiaries reached with IYCF messages
• Proportion of Boma Health Committees participating in planning, adapting or monitoring of community nutrition interventions

Linkage to other programmes: This show case pilot will be aligned to Concern’s integrated programme funded by Irish Aid. It will build on achievements of Concern’s Nutrition Programmes implemented in Aweil West.

Location: Aweil West covering all Payams

Duration: 1st January 2017 – 31st December 2021

Target beneficiaries:

Direct:

1. 35,444 Children under the age of 5 years
2. 15,752 Pregnant and Lactating Women
3. 154 Community leaders and 1,154 Men through capacity building activities with male role models, and Boma Health Committees

Indirect:

The entire population of target households

Purpose of the Consultancy

Specific objective: To conduct an end of project evaluation for the above mentioned project using the DAC^[1] criteria of development evaluation, i.e. Relevance, Coherence, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Impact and Sustainability.

[1] Evaluation Criteria – OECD

Research questions:

Relevance:

• To what extent is the intervention responsive to context and needs of the target population?
• Were the approaches used, specifically the Mother Care Group (MCG) and Male Change Agent (MCA) approaches, socially and culturally appropriate in the NBeG context and suitable to address malnutrition?

Coherence:

• Did the project leverage Concern’s other nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive projects and contribute to a collective impact?
• Did the project take into account relevant national policies/guidelines and interventions by other partners that likely influenced project design, implementation and results?

Effectiveness:

• Have attitudes and practices on maternal, infant and young child nutrition changed as a result of the intervention and to what degree? Where this is not the case are there justifications provided explaining potential reasons?
• Were adaptations made to take into consideration issues of accountability to affected populations, inequality and conflict sensitivity to ensure the most marginalised were reached and unintended negative consequences were reduced? How effective were these efforts?

Efficiency:

• To what extent did the scale and coverage of MCG and MCA approaches provide value for money?

Impact:

• What indications are there of significant changes taking place in Aweil West County, to which the project may have contributed (both positive and negative)?

Sustainability:

• Are the results sustainable? Will the outputs and outcomes lead to benefits beyond the life of the existing programme/project (specifically examining Boma health committees and county health department engagement for exit strategy of the preventive approaches)?

Specific Tasks

Planning:

• Develop a technical proposal/inception report for the evaluation detailing methodology, data collection and analysis plan, activity timeline, presentation of findings and final report.

Field work:

• Conduct desk review of project documents, assessments and existing data, specifically the endline data that will be collected prior to the start of the consultancy. Conduct where necessary interviews, KIIs and FGDs and document the constraints of the evaluation process, for learning.

Data analysis and report writing:

• Analyse and interpret findings and prepare a short preliminary report for debriefing.
• Complete reports and all other activities timely as per the agreed schedule.
• Conduct a debriefing workshop to share preliminary findings with Concern.
• Submit the draft report and review according to comments /feedback from preliminary debriefing session.

Outputs

• Evaluation technical proposal/inception report
• Survey tools: FGD guides, KII guides, Templates for DAC scoring, etc
• Debrief workshop to share preliminary findings with Concern
• Report (25 pages without appendices) containing the following;

a. Executive Summary

b. Introduction and Programme/Project Overview

c. Methodology and Limitations

d. Findings and Discussion on the specific research questions under the relevant DAC criteria including a score under each criteria (see scoring scale below)

5 = Outstanding Performance
4 = Very good overall performance with few shortcomings
3 = Good overall performance but with some minor shortcomings
2 = Generally acceptable performance but with some major shortcomings
1 = Barely acceptable performance with many major shortcomings
0 = Totally unacceptable performance or insufficient data to make an assessment

e. Conclusions and Lessons Learned

f. Recommendations and Management Responses

g. Report Annexes

h. Updated results framework/ logframe with endline values and analysis

i. Evaluation schedule including lists of site visits/discussions

j. Final Terms of Reference

Present three copies of signed hard copies, soft copy and a power point presentation of findings.

Lines of Communication

The consultant will report to the Project Manager – Community Nutrition, based in NBeG.

Working Arrangements

• Consultant will work and reside at the Concern compound in Nyamlel, when in NBeG as per agreed work plan, and Concern will provide transport during the work activities. Consultant will use their laptop.
• The consultant must sign and adhere to Concern’s Code of Conduct and associated policies during the assignment.
• The consultant must adhere to Concern’s procedures, notably on security and transport.
• Concern will cover the cost of international travel to Juba and internally in South Sudan. Per diems for travel in line with Concern’s standard procedures will be provided. Any expenses incurred that qualify for reimbursement (with the exception of per diems) will require receipts to be submitted to Concern. Please note visa and insurance costs will not be provided by Concern.

Timeframe

Planning phase (5 days), desk review (2 days), data collection (12 days), data analysis and final report writing (5 days), presentation of preliminary findings (1 day). 25 contract days; from 22^nd November to 29^th December 2021.2

Essential and Desirable Experience/Qualifications

Academic qualifications: Master’s Degree in Nutrition/Public Health or Humanitarian Action with relevant technical knowledge in, M&E, survey methodologies, research methods, etc.

Necessary experience: Extensive experience (4 – 7 years) in designing and implementing programme evaluations, assessments or baseline surveys including qualitative and quantitative data collection.

Other necessary/desirable skills/qualifications:

• Experience in designing and implementation of mid-term or end of program evaluations with selection of appropriate methodology, in compliance with international evaluation standards
• Skilled in organising and conducting data collection and analysis including secondary data, and use of participatory methodologies, in fragile environments (conflict-affected, food insecure)
• Ability to identify impact of project implementation strategies, budget management, HR and management, and make context appropriate actionable recommendations for improvement
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, in English.
• Experience in working in South Sudan or similar contexts

*Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a consultancy opportunity with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their consultancy contract. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the* Associated Policies *and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, being engaged as a consultant with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.*