****Development of Guidance Document ‘Integration of Nutrition in VAA’****
****Terms of reference****
1. Background
The SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) Programme was established in 2005 with an aim to “strengthen national and regional vulnerability analysis systems in order to inform policy formulation, development programmes, and emergency interventions that lead to a reduction in vulnerability in the SADC region”. National Vulnerability Assessment Committees (NVACs) have been established in all Member States.
At present, governments and other stakeholders in Southern Africa have made consistent use of various vulnerability assessment methodologies, executed by the Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) system to understand the food security situation and identify the population likely to be at risk of food insecurity during a specified consumption period since 2002. This information is used to support decision making for impact mitigation and where necessary targeted humanitarian responses, saving lives and protecting livelihoods. While several approaches of joint nutrition and food security assessment and analysis have been utilized in the region, there is no consensus on a standardized approach that ensure utmost quality for both nutrition and food security indicators and this has contributed to the relative absence of useful nutrition information within Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (VAA).
In order to further enhance the quality and capacity of the VAC to effectively analyse and respond to vulnerabilities to food insecurity, a Technical Working Group was established under SADC RVAC during the Quarterly RVAC meeting in October 2013, to guide and support the process of integration of nutrition in VAA. The technical experts of the Group have started the review of international technical publications, best practices and reports on integration food security and nutrition assessments and have been working on a “position paper” clarifying the opportunities and challenges for nutrition integration in VAA. However, the services of an expert consultant are required to take this review forward and further develop guidance material for trial implementation of nutrition indicator integration, in consultation with the TWG members and VACS.
2. Objective of the consultancy
The objective of the consultancy is to:
Develop a harmonised guidance framework for integration of quality nutrition information in vulnerability assessment and analysis (VAA) adaptable to specific country contexts to enhance the understanding, interpretation and use of vulnerability information across the southern Africa region.
3. Scope of work
The consultant will:
- Participate in a half day teleconference briefing by the TWG core team on the parameters for the accomplishment of the consultancy task and deliverables
- Consult with international and national technical experts on specific technical niche areas, TWG members, Lesotho nutrition integration trial consultant and country counterparts on current practices and technical substantiated and feasible methodologies, throughout the consultancy.
- Review regional and global documents, guidance and experiences of integration of nutrition, HIV and gender information into VAA (process, methodology, results, outcomes and quality), documented in a “Good Practice Analysis” paper.
- Perform country visits to five countries (DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) to:
- Review current practices of nutrition, HIV and gender integration, including current institutional mandates and levels of data collection and analysis, capturing lessons learned and leading to a synthesis of options for integrated analysis and needs and potential proposals, mechanisms and/or tools to ensure necessary data availability.
- Research how VACs currently make use of nutrition data, the concrete practices and procedures of the VACs in their annual assessment, including the duration and operational constraints, and how nutrition can be integrated effectively in these circumstances.
- Develop a Guidance Paper for integration of nutrition, gender and HIV in the southern Africa region informed by the review of member states practices, regional and global good practice analysis, and through consultation with selected key actors (draft prior to TWG consultative meeting). The development process will include:
- A review of how nutrition can be integrated into the proposed four standardised assessment modalities (Household Economy Approach, Household Survey, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, and use of secondary data – monitoring/surveillance information – in addition to other approaches)
- A review of the available and proposed minimum set of indicators
- Development of a sampling guide, assessment tools and analysis framework for each of the four standardised methodologies
- Share draft Guidance Paper with the Technical Working Group members by email for review and feedback
- Facilitate a three-day TWG consultative meeting to give feedback on regional and global good practice analysis; findings and observations from the country visits; and the draft guidance paper to build a common understanding of the best options for the four standardised assessment modalities
- Finalise the Guidance Paper and tools with consolidated inputs from the TWG
- Present and defend the final Guidance document and tools at the AOM during a one-day Nutrition Integration lessons learned and proposed guidance session for all NVACs in the region to prepare for utilisation in national implementation in 2015.
4. Deliverables
The expected deliverables resulting from this exercise include the following:
- Guidance Paper for integration of nutrition, gender and HIV in VAA in southern Africa
- Good Practice Analysis Paperreviewing briefly international publications, guidelines and reports on integrated Food Security and Nutrition, gender and HIV vulnerability assessments and analyses.
- Synthesis Reportof findings from country reviews
- Facilitation of a TWG consultative meeting on integrated Food Security and Nutrition gender and HIV vulnerability assessments and analyses
- Participation in RVAC Annual Organization Meeting (AOM) during a one day presentation of the Guidance document and related tools on Nutrition integration lessons learned and guidance
5. Timeline
The exercise will be conducted in 41 working days over a period of four months (August 1st till December 15th 2014), taking into consideration time required by SADC RVAC, TWG members and other stakeholder colleagues to review and provide feedback on intermediate products as per proposed timeline.
****Activity****Indicative time requirement (total: 41) ****Deliverables**** Teleconference briefing with TWG core-team incl. RVAC-PMU 1 day (August 1) Note for Record and updated implementation plan Review of existing documents on integrated assessment and analysis and drafting of review paper 5days Good Practice Analysis Paper draft Five country visits for practice review and “situation analysis” 23 days (August-September)
(5*4 days + 3 days travel)Synthesis Report of observations and findings Development of integration Guidance Paper, based on country reviews and good practice analysis, including indicator selection, assessment tool, methodology, sampling, and analysis and reporting framework.*5 days* Draft documents
- Guidance Paper Framework
- Minimum Indicator List
- Sampling Guidance
- Analysis and reporting Framework TWG and stakeholder Consultation meeting to agree on methodological and analysis framework (location: TBD) 3days
(plus 2 days travel) Agreed upon minimum set of indicators and methodology of nutrition, HIV and gender integration, guidance and tools including analysis framework Finalize Guidance paper and other documents 2 dayFinalised documents:
- Guidance Paper including minimum list of indicators, sampling guidance, and analysis framework and reporting framework
- Good Practice Analysis Paper
- Synthesis Report of Country Reviews Prepare for Lessons Learned workshop 1 day Workshop plan and materials Lessons learned and nutrition integration guidance dissemination workshop 1 day (plus 2 days travel)Common agreement on Nutrition Integration implementation harmonised methodology
The above indicative number of days represents ‘man/woman days’
Requirements for papers: # of pages, format and style will be discussed during consultation meetings
6. Responsibility of the Consultant
- The consultant will work under the supervision of the TWG core team, headed by the WFP and SADC co-chairs, while maintaining regular consultation with the SADC RVAC_PMU.
- The consultant will explore and review sources and contact stakeholders over and above those provided by SADC RVAC/TWG – as relevant to the subject matter.
- The consultant will submit intermediary products on time, for review and consultation with SADC RVAC/TWG colleagues and other stakeholders, and will take into consideration suggestions and requests made by them in the further elaboration of the final products. The consultant will be available for direct consultation on agreed dates and will explicitly request additional backstopping and/or consultation if so required.
- Any documents produced as a result of this exercise shall remain property of the SADC RVAC and therefore the consultant is obliged to utilize this information solely for the purpose of the exercise and not otherwise unless permission is granted by SADC RVAC TWG.
7. Responsibility of SADC RVAC/TWG
- SADC RVAC will be responsible for contracting and payment of related fees and reimbursements. Payments will be made based on deliverables after approval by the TWG core team.
- SADC RVAC will ensure that involved TWG colleagues will make themselves available at the agreed upon dates for review of intermediary product submissions, provision of written feedback and telephone consultation. Additional consultation and backstopping may be provided upon request from the consultant.
8. Consultant competency and conduct
The consultant will have recognized expertise in project coordination and development of guidance materials. Individual applicants for the assignment will have the following additional qualifications and experience:
- Conversant with qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
- Experience in monitoring, evaluation and assessing nutrition and/or HIV programs, and
- Knowledge of latest methodological developments in nutrition, food consumption, and food security assessments (e.g. HEA[1] and livelihood approaches, SMART[2], SQUEAC[3], CSAS[4], etc)
- Experience in implementing – large scale - integrated food security and nutrition assessments and studies implementation, including sampling methodologies, data management and statistical analysis, and reporting
- Familiarity with community level food and nutrition security assessment approaches
- Proven ability to work with and remotely lead inter-disciplinary, multi-cultural teams
- Demonstrated results-orientation, team-building and leadership skills.
- Demonstrated cognitive and analytical capacity to synthesis experiences and findings and formulate relevant and cohesive recommendations
- Excellent writing skills in English; knowledge and conversational fluency in French is desirable.
- Ability to produce deliverables within the agreed deadline.
9. Recruitment process and contacts
Interested candidates should submit their applications with a proposal on how the consultancy will be undertaken complete with a budget to Ms Monique Beun at monique.beun@wfp.org with a copy to mmaphage@sadc.intby COB July 10th, 2014
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews
[1] Household Economy Approach
[2]Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions
[3] Semi-Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage
[4]Centric Systematic Area Sampling
How to apply:
Interested candidates should submit their applications with a proposal on how the consultancy will be undertaken complete with a budget to Ms Monique Beun at monique.beun@wfp.org with a copy to mmaphage@sadc.intby COB July 10th, 2014
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews
