UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund,Nutrition Information Systems Consultant Jobs in Botswana

Closing date:
Thursday, 23 June 2016

Job
no:
496221

Work
type:
Consultancy

Location: Botswana

Categories: Nutrition

In
response to the current drought and building forward for future programming,
the Ministry of Health has expressed a need for nutrition data that fulfills
the following objectives

Improved
targeting of interventions, including geographic targeting as well as the
ability to predict changes in nutritional status in specific areas and
plan accordingly
Setting
of evidence-based thresholds to trigger different levels of response
interventions
Demonstration
of interventions effectiveness through observed changes in nutritional
status of children

The
specific objectives of the assignments are to

Assess
the reliability of routinely collected data for informing decision-making
Assess
the relationship between the different malnutrition indicators, making
inferences on interpretation of one indicator in the absence of the other.
E.g. Determining the relationship between weight-for-age and
weight-for-height to inform better interpretation of weight-for-age data
in the absence of weight-for-height data
Subject
to outcomes of the Phase I assessment (refer to Section 3 below),
undertake analysis of existing weight-for-age, weight-for-height,
height-for-age and MUAC data to fulfill general objectives listed above
Review
and develop an immediately implementable plan for strengthening existing
data collection and analysis system to improve quality, strengthen
utilization and incorporate WFH and MUAC in the routine data collection,
analysis and reporting.

The
plan must provide adequate specificity at each implementation step, draw
lessons from previous bottlenecks related to existing nutrition information
system reviews, and clearly outline alternative ways to resolve the barriers in
the short term.

CONSULTANT
SCOPE OF WORK

The
consultant will be supervised by the Health and Nutrition Specialist for UNICEF
Botswana in close collaboration with the Chief of Nutrition & Food Control
Division, Ministry of Health. The entirety of the consultant’s work will be
done in collaboration with the Nutrition Taskforce led by the Ministry of
Health with representation from UNCEF and Research Institutions as may be
deemed appropriate

The
consultancy will cover 3 work phases, with Phase I being a rapid field
assessment and data validation, phase II- analysis of existing routine data
covering a period of 12 months and all 28 Health Districts, and phase III-
review and strengthening of nutrition information systems to meet set data
utilization objectives.

Phases
I and II (described in Section 3 below) are critical rapid response steps to
the current drought, and are therefore particularly time-sensitive.

Phase
I: Rapid Field Assessment

Validation
of data for weight-for-height, weight-for-age and MUAC
Facilitate
planning and progress updates meetings for the taskforce
Develop
methodology and tools, including sampling, for the rapid field assessment
and validation exercise
In
collaboration with MoH-Nutrition Division, prepare submissions to the
Health Research Unit for expedited ethical clearance or waiver (as may be
deemed appropriate by the MoH based on assessment methodology)
Calibrate
anthropometric equipment to be used in the exercise
Train
the taskforce on anthropometric measurements, data collection and
recording, quality assurance, and data analysis using recognized data
analysis packages for the activity. By the end of the Consultancy, the
taskforce should have technical capacity to independently repeat the
exercise
Develop/modify
database for entry and analysis of Phase I data
Develop
data handling protocols as appropriate
Oversee
training of data collectors and quality assurance
Adequately
document the process, clearly showing steps at each stage, data and
process strengths and limitations
Test
the usability/dependability of routinely collected height measurements

Analyze
stage I data to answer, at a minimum, the following questions

What
is the prevalence of acute and chronic malnutrition (and underweight) in
these communities (disaggregating by severity)?
How
do weight-for-age data from this analysis compare to prevalence reported
to the MoH. How can the difference be factored-in when interpreting
routine data for decision-making?
What
is the relationship between Weight-for-Age, and Weight-for-Height to aid
interpretation of nutritional status changes seen in weight-for-age data
in the absence of weight-for-height data
What
is the relationship between MUAC and WFH in the Botswana context i.e. what
proportion of children with acute malnutrition will MUAC pick in the
absence of routine WFH measurements? This result will inform whether and
how MUAC is built into routine programme data collection and analysis
Write
a report from Phase I analysis and provide technical guidance to Phase II
approach based on Phase I results
Disseminate
the findings to key stakeholders

This
exercise will serve as a starting point for incorporation of WFH,
Height-for-Age and MUAC in routine data collection

Phase
II: Comprehensive analysis of routinely collected anthropometric data

Based
on findings from Phase I, provide technical leadership to the
comprehensive analysis of routinely collected data which has not been
routinely analyzed and utilized
Develop
a sampling framework for a statistically representative analysis of
routine anthropometric data from all 28 Health Districts, providing technical
guidance to the selection of health facilities and individual children
Train
data entry personnel on entry and handling of data for the previous 12
months, overseeing data cleaning and documenting data limitations as
appropriate
Train
the taskforce on all stages of Phase II analysis (it is expected that this
small group will include Nutritionists, Statisticians and other Nutrition
Researchers from different departments and institutions)
Develop/provide
a database for data entry and analysis. The database should be modifiable
and useable by the MoH and UNICEF beyond the duration of this consultancy,
to enable repeat analysis every 6 months.
Analyze
anthropometric data for all districts over a 12 month period to give an
indication pf prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting
(disaggregating by severity)
Write
a report from the Phase II data analysis, with simplified representation
of the data for incorporation in reports to the Rural Development Council
and other decision-makers
Drawing
from relationships between indicators as determined in Phase I, provide
guidance on interpretation of results from Phase II and beyond
Identify
and facilitate linkages of the analysis results to standard governmental
assessment processes relevant to nutrition, particularly, the Drought
Assessment process, and the Vulnerability Assessment process
Write
a policy brief for use as an advocacy tool with policy makers
Should
the height measurements from Phase I be deemed of poor quality and not
usable for the purposes of determining wasting prevalence:
Use
findings from Phase I to analyze weight-for-age data from the 12 months
period, facilitating interpretation and setting of intervention thresholds
and monitoring intervention effectiveness in the absence of weight-for-height
data
Provide
technical guidance on alternative ways to improve the quality of height
measurements

Phase
III: Incorporation of MUAC, weight-for-height assessments and other programme
indicators in the Botswana National Nutrition Surveillance System (or an
alternative)

Review
existing nutrition data collection systems/processes in Botswana
Based
on the extent of the relevance and dependability of MUAC to identify
acutely malnourished children in Botswana, incorporate MUAC into the
routine data collection, analysis and utilization
Review
the frequency of height data collection, analysis and utilization, and
incorporate weight-for-height into routine data collection and analysis
for monitoring of acute malnutrition (from first point of collection to
last point of utility)
Develop
implementation plan for the revised data processes in selected priority
districts (to be agreed with MoH)
Develop
a scale-up and monitoring plan for roll-out of the revised system
Propose
and define linkages of the improved routine data to standard governmental
assessment processes relevant to nutrition, particularly, the Drought
Assessment process, and the Vulnerability Assessment process
Train
selected Taskforce members in the implementation processes

4.
DELIVERABLES Deliverable

Proposed
submission/completion date

Submission
format

Inception
report, covering all 3 phases of the consultancy (in consultation with key
partners)

24th
June 2016

Electronic-
MS Word document

Feedback
and approval of inception report

1st
July 2016

Phase
1: Rapid Field Assessment

Assessment
methodology, data handling protocols and tools, including sample size and
selection criteria

6th
July

Electronic-
MS Word document

Ethical
clearance submissions to HRDC (if necessary)

Taskforce
trained on assessment design and data analysis

13th
July 2016

Data
collection/field work teams trained (national level)

20th
July 2016

n/a

Data
collection/field work teams trained (district level)

5th
August 2016

n/a

Data
collection

19th
August 2016

Data
analysis report, answering all the specified questions (at a minimum)

5th
September 2016

Electronic-
MS Word document (for comments)

PDF
format- final

Database
with the entered and cleaned data in a useable format for analysis beyond the
consultancy(e.g. csv format ready for export to statistical analysis packages)

5th
September 2016

To
be decided during Consultancy

Phase
II: Comprehensive data analysis

Sampling
framework and selection of individual children for phase II data analysis

9th
September 2016

Electronic-
MS Word document

Database
for Phase II analysis (developed or adapted)

16th
September 2016

Data
entry personnel trained

23rd
September 2016

Taskforce
trained on Phase II analysis

28th
September 2016