Consultancy to Coordinate the Regional Survey for the HIV and SRHR Knows No Borders Project

Title: Consultancy to Coordinate the Regional Survey for the HIV and SRHR Knows No Borders Project, Pretoria, South Africa

Position Information

Organization: IOM Regional Office

Duty Station: Remotely with travels to Pretoria and Project countries, as required.

Duration: 3 months (May – July 2021)

Contract Type: Individual Consultant (IC)

Reference: KNBII/CONSULT/2021/01

Submission Deadline: May 20, 2021

1. Nature of the consultancy: Consultant to manage the Baseline Survey for the second phase of the SRHR-HIV Knows No Borders (KNB) Project – IOM Regional office for Southern Africa.**
2. Objective: To manage the design, coordination, implementation, reporting and support the dissemination of the Baseline Survey for the KNB Phase II project (2021-2026). The baseline survey will focus on the collection of data/information for a set of performance indicators outlined in the project tentative results matrix (see Appendix I). The baseline survey will form the basis for the final evaluation other than setting the baseline for phase II and helps to set targets for project indicators for Phase II. Consequently, it is vital to consider the impact and outcomes of the project in this baseline survey. The baseline study will enable project indicators at output and goal/outcome levels to be measured and tracked over time.

Context: The IOM’s Regional HIV and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and HIV Knows No Borders (KNB) project for which a baseline survey is required is implemented in six countries of Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, and Mozambique. The project aims at improving quality of life and HIV-SRH outcomes among vulnerable youth, migrants and sex workers in Southern Africa. The first phase of the project ended in December 2020 and the second phase commenced in January 2021. The program will have an emphasis on policy advocacy and changing of social norms, migrant and youth participation and empowerment, demand creation for SRH-HIV services, knowledge generation and learning and tackling the root causes of poor SRHR and HIV outcomes among the migrants, sex workers and young people within transport, migration corridors and cross-border settings in Southern Africa. **

The KNB programme will enhance:

· the demand side for SRH and HIV information and services;

· the supply side of youth friendly SRH-HIV services and skills training; and

· the enabling environment to generate more respect for the SRHR of young vulnerable people, migrants and sex workers and facilitate the implementation of regional (e.g. SADC) and national policy agreements to the local context.

The KNB programme has a strong community health promotion component which delivers SRH and HIV services and information at the community level through a network of Community-based health promotion peer-educators, called Change Agents (CAs). The baseline survey will focus on the collection of data/information for a set of performance indicators outlined in the project tentative results matrix (to be shared with consultant). The baseline survey will form the basis for the final evaluation and helps to set targets for project indicators for Phase II. Consequently, it is vital to consider the impact and outcomes of the project in this baseline survey.

1. Scope of Work: In 2018, a comprehensive baseline assessment for the KNB Phase I was conducted. IOM do not foresee to repeat this assessment, although for specific indicators at specific programme sites, we might need to do a limited study. It is appropriate that an additional baseline assessment will focus on new outcome and impact indicators. Further, while baseline studies were done at the start of phase 1, we envisage some undesirable changes to be happening at the community level due to the COVID-19 health crisis. For example, with schools closed, there is an increased number of child marriages in Malawi happening and it is feared that there will be a spike in teenage pregnancies as well. As result of COVID19, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence cases has been reported to increase in most countries. Also, the inclusion of new indicators for Phase II requires fresh baseline values to guide project targeting and implementation. Therefore, the baseline study will cover a sample of project sites in the six countries to collect data from project beneficiaries and key stakeholders including UN agencies, government agencies such as Ministries of Health, National AIDS Councils, Home Affairs, Basic Education and Gate keepers (community, faith and traditional leaders), Local Community Organisations. The targeted direct beneficiary sample sizes for the survey may vary from 800 to1200 subjects per country.
2. Target: The Baseline survey will cover six countries, namely Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia. **
3. Project to which the Consultancy is contributing: SRHR and HIV Knows No Borders is situated within the of the Migration Health Division of the IOM Southern Africa regional office.
4. Tasks to be performed under this assignment.

Under the overall supervision of the Regional Director IOM Southern Africa and the direct supervision of the HIV-SRHR Programme Regional Coordinator and in close collaboration with IOM and SCI, the consultant will provide:

1. Overall management and coordination and leadership for the preparation, planning, implementation, and completion of the survey.
2. Strategic advice and technical guidance to the country teams and regional office survey steering group or partnership management team.
3. Technical oversight to the finalization of the Survey methodology, tools and support six national firms who will be responsible for data collection/fieldwork.
4. While IOM and national firms will lead and coordinate the training of the enumerators and data collection, data transcription, the consultant will guide and monitor data collection management cycle and lead on the analysis and reporting of survey findings.

Specific responsibilities:

I. *Provide overall management and responsibility, coordination and leadership for the planning, implementation, and completion of the regional survey:**

· Ensure quality control of the survey and coordinate with national survey firms during the planning and implementation of the survey at the country level, **

· Ensure strategic coordination and effective scheduling and implementation of survey activities across all countries. **

· Conduct pooled analysis of data (including data cleaning) of both quantitative and qualitative data from all the six countries and drafting of the consolidated survey report as well as drafting individual country survey reports to support in-country stakeholder dissemination. **

II. *Provide strategic advice, technical guidance and overall responsibility for the planning, undertaking and completion of the regional survey:**

· Provide technical guidance to the six National survey firms in survey implementation, data management, data analysis and transcription of qualitative interviews (focus group discussions, key informant interviews and in-depth interviews).

· In close coordination and support of IOM country missions, support the finalization of the survey design, ethics approval processes, finalization and translation of the survey tools, training manuals and support pilot-testing of the questionnaires/tools,

· Ensure quality of supervision and adherence of survey procedures.

· Conduct monitoring and supervision of the national firms during data collection and data entry to ensure quality control.

· Lead the drafting of the consolidated regional survey report and country specific reports for purposes of reporting and dissemination at the country level.

1. Work, Duration and Payment Schedule with Deliverables

This is a home-based position with regular travels to Pretoria and Project sites as may be required. The total man-days for this assignment is 45 days distributed over a period of three months (May to July 2021). The table below shows the timelines and deliverables that are required:

Deliverables

Percentage

Deadline

1) Inception report outlining the survey sampling strategy, fieldwork plan, data analysis plan (based on the project results framework/indicators) and report format

20% payable upon submission and approval by IOM of deliverable 1

By May 28, 2021

2) Progress report on survey implementation in the six countries; and completion of data collection, data entry and cleaning complete (based on the project results framework/indicators)

40% payable upon submission and approval by IOM of deliverable 2 and 3

By July 9 2021

3) Draft survey report entailing the interim findings from the survey (maximum 25 pages excluding annexes).

4) Final Regional (Consolidated) Survey report (validated by stakeholders to finalize findings and recommendations) completed.

40% payable upon submission and approval by IOM of deliverables 4, 5 and 6

By July 23 2021

5) Review of Country Baseline Survey Reports (maximum 20 pages excluding annexes) for coherence with the Regional survey report.

6) Submission of raw and clean datasets (Quantitative and Qualitative) to the Regional office M&E Unit

1. Performance indicators for evaluation of results (value of services rendered in relation to their cost).

· Ability to work under pressure and deliver results within the tight deadlines.

· Ability to work within minimum supervision.

· Ability to work harmoniously and coordinate with the IOM staff at regional and country staff and partners.

· Ability to produce quality/ well written technical reports that require minimal copyediting.

· Ability to make powerful presentations and disseminate findings to various stakeholders.

· Ability to work within a multi-cultural environment and multi-disciplinary teams and diplomacy.

· Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with people from different backgrounds to deliver quality products within a short time frame.

· Be flexible, responsive to changes and demands and open to feedback.

1. Qualifications and job requirements
2. Post-graduate university degree or equivalent in research-oriented social sciences field with extensive knowledge of and experience in leading (designing, coordinating and undertaking) large scale quantitative social/health/economic surveys as well as qualitative research; extensive knowledge and experience with statistical data analysis, and demonstrated competency in using statistical software (Stata/SPSS and qualitative software for data analysis such as NVivo, ATLAS.ti, Quirkos, MAXQDA, Dedoose); proven experience with the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) methodology and protocols and relevant Technical Reports (examples of completed quantitative studies to be submitted with the application);
3. 7 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in SRH and HIV and migration programmes of national, regional, and global nature, including experience in advising the UN, academic and government institutions on similar surveys, including guiding research teams on survey methodology and implementation coordination.
4. Proven track record in systematic literature reviews, and application of quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and analysis and participatory approaches
5. Experience in developing, undertaking, and managing quantitative SRHR and HIV research essential.
6. Strong track record of technical leadership, and proven ability to produce demonstrable results.
7. Evidence of managing similar assignments preferably within the IOM, other UN agencies and Southern Africa region.
8. Strong verbal and written communications skills in English; knowledge of another UN language, an asset.