Consultant - Baseline Survey for Integrated Reproductive Health and Nutrition Intervention Project

Project Background

Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality and malnutrition in the world. Some of the major contributors to these are low use of health services for births and maternal care (including due to lack of transport), poorly equipped health facilities, undertrained health staff, low community level health knowledge, and poor nutritional intakes, particularly for children under five.

The overall goal of this project is to strengthen the capacity of sub-national and community health systems to lead sustainable, inclusive, accessible, and quality reproductive health and nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women, parents and caregivers, children under 5, and young people. It will focus on addressing the occurring issues of malnutrition, with special focus on children under five, pregnant and lactating women; maternal and child health (MCH) focusing on improving pregnancy care, post-natal care, child illness management; and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) targeting adolescent/youth of 15 – 24 years old.

Furthermore, the project will  address capacity issues of the local health system, in order for them to lead the implementation of nutrition, maternal and child health and adolescent/youth SRH interventions, such as health workers capacity in the implementation of the community outreach services and the training and ongoing support to Community health volunteers (PSF) and Mother Support Groups (MSG). It will also focus on strengthening the capacity of health staff and health volunteers through training delivery, prioritizing topics such as Gender and Inclusion to improve an inclusive and quality access to health services. It further will address the issues of early or unwanted pregnancies and the limited knowledge of adolescent/youth (15-24) on sexual and reproductive health, socio-cultural taboos around talking about sex, pressure to marry early and have children. It will also aim to increase their knowledge on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and their ability to identify the signs and symptoms of different STIs, identify at least five actions of preventing early pregnancy, understanding of different contraceptive methods, and improved access to inclusive and quality health services. Additionally, it will also reinforce men/father’s involvement in MCH and nutrition, shared responsibilities in the household including caregiving, and decision makings on family planning and contraceptive use.

The project will be implemented in the following 10 villages in Manatuto Municipality: Fatuwaque, Aubeon, Barique, Manehat, Uma Boco, Sikone-Diloli, Fatumaquerec, Funar, Manelima and Sananain; and 10 villages in Lautem Municipality: Afabubu, Baricafa, Cotamuto, Lacawa, Luro, Wairoque, , Baduro, Euquisi, Ililai, Serelau.

Outcome 1 Pregnant & lactating women and male & female caregivers have improved knowledge, adaptive behaviors & practice on maternal and child health, and sustainable nutritional practices for children under five.

• Training of PSF and MSG on MCH, Nutrition and Gender and Inclusion topics in line with MoH guideline led by local health professionals and technical support from project team
• Conduct Positive Deviance Inquiry (PDI) and Nutrition Education Rehabilitation Session (NERS). This will involve training of PSF and MSG member on PDI process, and work through them to implement PDI/NERS
• Conduct health/nutrition education sessions, incorporating cooking demonstration with parents and caregivers
• Training of PSF and MSG on ECCD topics to facilitate play group activities to allow children to play in meaningful way
• Training of fathers on maternal and childcare, positive child discipline and provision of practical and caring prenatal and postpartum support to new mothers based on MenCares’s Program P manual
• Conduct baseline survey, mid-year project assessment and end-line survey and share reports with government and relevant NGOs.

Outcome 2 Health service providers (CHC and HP's) and community leaders have improved capacity, attitude & resource allocation to lead the implementation of nutrition, maternal and child health and adolescent/youth reproductive interventions.

• Training of health professionals at CHC and HP on technical reproductive, maternal and child health/nutrition topics
• Conduct meetings attended by Municipal Health Service (including CHC and HP staff), community leaders, PSF and MSG members to as a platform for learning exchange on progress, challenges, lessons learnt.
• Conduct follow-up monitoring and supervision to health professionals at CHC and HP level with national and Municipal level technical staff

Outcome 3 Adolescents/youth have improved their knowledge on SRH, respectful relationships, and are able to make their own decisions about their relationship

• Training of selected health professionals on adolescent/youth sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and respectful relationships topics
• Assessment of youth CSO to work together with them on implementation of adolescent/youth sexual and reproductive health to other adolescent/youth in target communities
• Training of selected youth peer educators from youth CSO on adolescent/youth sexual and reproductive health, gender, and inclusion topics
• Conduct youth peer-to-peers learning and sharing session on SRH at community and in selected schools
• Awareness raising and discussion sessions with community leaders to improve their knowledge and understanding about adolescent/youth SRH, and support messaging on gender equality and respectful relationships.

Purpose of the Baseline Survey

The selected consultant will undertake summative baseline survey of ChildFund’s new Integrated Reproductive Health and Nutrition Intervention in Lautem and Manatuto Municipalities. The report should clearly indicate findings from each Municipalities.

The baseline survey will be conducted at this point of time because of the following reasons:

• this will be considered as the initial measurement of information collected prior to the start of the intervention of the project and
• the results of this survey will serve as a point of reference for the evaluation of the project and will help determine what progress has been made.

The objective of this survey:

• to capture the situations of nutrition, maternal and child health and adolescent reproductive health of children, pregnant and lactating women, young people and their families and communities in the targeted villages.
• To measure the baseline value of knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, and practices of nutrition, maternal and child health including family planning, birth preparedness and pregnancy care, feeding practices, health seeking behaviours, hygiene, and sanitation, in all target villages.
• to measure the baseline values of knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, and practices of adolescent sexual and reproductive health including prevention of early pregnancy, STIs, healthy decision makings and access to health services.
• to capture community leaders and health professional’s attitudes and understanding about positive social norms around gender equality and disability inclusion related to maternal & child health, nutrition, sexual and reproductive health and their capacity to lead the implementation of suggested project interventions.

The results of the survey will be used for:

• assessing the effect of the project interventions (comparing what happened before and after the project has been implemented)and providing baseline values for the project indicators.
• provide further information to be used during activity implementation and
• this will inform the mid-term evaluation, end-line survey and end-of project evaluation.

Scope of the Baseline Survey

The baseline survey will take place in August 2022, which is in the first quarter of the first year (FY 2022-2023) of this 3-year long project (July 2022-June 2025). The survey will be conducted in all target Villages in both Lautem and Manatuto Municipalities, however the consultant should suggest an appropriate sampling methodology to reduce sample size and be representative of the target areas.

Selection Criteria for Consultant

At the minimum, the lead consultant must possess the following:

Required experience:

• Degree in the field of Public Health, Medicine, Social Sciences, Statistics, or any other related fields.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in community health programming including evidence of leading research and/or project evaluations.
• Demonstrated experience using both quantitative and qualitative methods, including design and analysis.
• Proven experience in data analysis, presentation methods and report writing.
• Good spoken and written communication skills in English and/or Tetum.
• Experience working in development projects in Timor Leste or Asia Pacific region.
• Experience developing program strategies in maternal and child health.
• Knowledge of community mobilization and development principles.

Desirable:

• Knowledge on maternal and child health programs, approaches and polices in Timor Leste.
• Previous experience working in or evaluating community-based maternal and child health or adolescent/youth SRH projects, especially in rural areas.
• Previous experience working for international organizations.
• Understanding of the local context and dialect.

The Consultant must be available for distance (skype, zoom or MS Teams) and face-to-face meetings, as necessary, and in accordance with any COVID-19 restrictions.

The Expression of Interest should include:

• Resume/CV
• Referees or sample of past work
• A proposal indicating competence for the required work, professional fee, brief outline of approaches/methodologies and timeline based on the Terms of Reference.

Please find more information about this position ToR by Click Here

How to apply:

Please click on the Apply for This Job button on the right-hand side of your screen above to submit your application not later than 23rd August 2022  For questions or clarifications, please contact Manuel Marques at  mmarques@childfund.org.au

ChildFund is an equal opportunities employer and has a strict child safeguarding policy and background checks will be under taken prior to any offer of employment.

ChildFund is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and strongly encourage people from all backgrounds, abilities, and identities to apply for any vacancies.