CONSULTANCY
POSITION
SMART
Nutrition Survey Specialist
VACANCY#:
UNICEF/MLW/2015/028
1.BACKGROUND
In January 2015, the
Government of Malawi declared an emergency as a result of the floods
devastation that affected over 100,0
00 people in several districts, especially
in the southern parts of the country. A multi-sectoral response has been implemented
in the flood-affected areas, to mitigate the negative impact of the floods;
however as the areas affected have now moved to the recovery phase, the impact
of the floods on nutrition status needs to be fully understood. Given the
gravity of the destruction, it is not clear how various sector responses have
mitigated the risk to malnutrition as well as common childhood illnesses. It is
therefore crucial for the nutrition sector to undertake a nutrition survey to
inform the nutrition cluster and other relevant sectors’ plans that contribute
to optimal nutrition outcomes and to guide implementation of relevant nutrition
programmes. In addition to understanding the nutritional status of the
population after the flood. MVAC assessments conducted in April and November
and usually include the collection of nutrition indicators, will provide a
baseline for pre-crisis malnutrition levels. The MVAC surveys collect both
nutrition and food security information as part of food security and nutrition
regular surveillance. This information will be useful not only for the floods
recovery response but will also provide a baseline for the imminent food
insecurity emergency. Considering the above overall objectives, the Government
of Malawi, through the Directorate of Nutrition and the nutrition cluster will
conduct SMART five nutrition surveys in the flood affected areas and livelihood
zones. The surveys will be carried out in May/June 2015, and will collect
representative data on anthropometry, child morbidity, infant and young child
feeding practices, household dietary diversity and WASH.
The rationale of
conducting SMART surveys, is to investigate the nutritional situation of the
population in the flood affected parts of the country, to further understand
the impact of the floods on the nutrition status of the population and
thereafter plan appropriate interventions. To capture these differences,
nutrition surveys will be conducted in 5 livelihood zones as follows; Lake
Chirwa Phalombe Plains Livelihood Zone, Lower Shire Livelihood Zone, Thyolo
Mulanje Tea Estates Livelihood Zone, Rift Valley Escarpment Livelihood Zone and
Shire Highlands Livelihood zones. These zones represent the 15 flood affected
districts, the surveys will provide representative results by livelihood zone,
as has been presented in the previous MVAC surveys. These results will be used
to inform on the relevant programmes and interventions in the affected areas.
The preliminary results will be released in July 2015.
UNICEF is therefore
seeking to hire an individual consultant to assist in the SMART Nutrition
Survey and to determine the following objectives of the survey:-
• Prevalence of
chronic and acute malnutrition in children aged 6-59 months
• Minimal acceptable
diet in children 6-23 months
• Current
breastfeeding practices for children 0-23 months
• Morbidity patterns
in children 6-59 months in the two weeks preceding the survey
• Proportion of
children 6-59 months that have received vitamin A supplementation and measles
vaccination
• Household main
source of food
• Household dietary
diversity
• Households main
source of drinking water
• Households access
to sanitation facilities and hygiene practices
2.SCOPE OF WORK
- The
Consultant will work closely and provide technical support with the
Directorate of Nutrition and the national technical lead in surveys
LUANAR, to oversee the entire SMART nutrition survey process from
training, planning, data collection and preliminary analysis. - Ensure
the SMART survey methodology agreed upon by the technical team at national
level is implemented, and provide technical support in this process, e.g.
through supporting sample size calculation, cluster selection, developing
an efficient survey schedule etc. - Support
in the training of the survey teams and give technical support to the data
collection teams as required. - Support
LUANAR in quality assurance procedures, such as daily review of data
during data collection, ensuring field procedures and protocols are
observed, overall plausibility checks for data etc. - Provide
technical support in the supervision of data entry and assure data entry
quality. - Overseeing
data cleaning and analysis using anthropometric software (ENA) for the
core anthropometric and mortality data and others e.g. EPINFO, SPSS on the
other indicators. - Support
the national team in the preparation of a preliminary report, with all
nutrition key indicators - Prepare
and submit a data set and preliminary results within 10 days of the
completion of the survey data collection.
3.EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE
- Advanced
university degree in nutrition, public health or related sciences with
proven competency in humanitarian emergencies. - 5
experience in undertaking nutrition surveys (design and methodologies,
training, field supervision and data analysis/write up). - Be
familiar with the SMART survey methodology and ENA for SMART, Epi/ENA or
Epi Info software, preferably a SMART Master Trainer - Be
fluent in English with excellent writing and presentation skills
4.DURATION
6 weeks
5.METHOD OF APPLICATION
Qualified candidates
are requested to submit a cover letter, CV and Personal History Form (P-11
form) (which can be downloaded from our website at
http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_53129.html)
Please indicate your daily/monthly rate to undertake the terms of reference
above.
Applications should
be sent on or before 31
May 2015to
the following address:hrmalawi@unicef.org
NOTE:
· UNICEF is committed
to gender equality in its mandate and its staff. Well
qualified
candidates, particularly females are strongly encouraged to apply.
- Only
shortlisted applicants will be acknowledged. - Applications
sent through the post office or hand delivered is not accepted.
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