Save the Children International is Currently Recruiting in Zambia: Consultancy

Terms of Reference for the “End of Project Assessment for the HIV Linkages Activity” in Kitwe

1. Introduction and context

The goal of USAID’s five-year Systems for Better Health (SBH) activity is to improve health outcomes for Zambians by strengthening systems that underpin the delivery of high quality health services. The program also seeks to increase the utilization of high impact health interventions including strengthening linkages between the community and facility for key health interventions. SBH has three Tasks: Task 1 relates to national-level health system strengthening HSS activities, Task 2 relates to activities at the provincial and district levels, and Task 3 focuses on the community level. SBH Task 3 is to provide technical and financial assistance to the GRZ and community-based organizations to increase the quality, availability, and use of priority health services at the community level in targeted districts. Sub-task 3.2 is to strengthen linkages between the community and facility for key health interventions. Under sub-task 3.2, SBH partner, Save the Children is implementing a package of interventions in Kitwe district, Copperbelt province, to reduce loss-to-follow-up of HIV-exposed infants (HEI), children and adolescents by improving access to comprehensive quality HIV care, treatment and support and other social services through strong linkages between the health facility and the community.
The activity commenced in 2017 and will end in December 2018. To this end, Save the Children plans to conduct an end-of-project assessment of achievements and lessons learned. Save the Children will engage a consultant to support this end-of-project assessment effort.

1.1 Overall and specific objectives of the HIV Linkages Activity

The overall objective of the activity is to improve health outcomes of HIV-exposed infants and HIV positive infants, children, and adolescents, by improving access to HIV clinical care and social support services among these populations.

The specific objectives of the HIV Linkages activity are:

• To enhance HIV testing for children 0-10 years of HIV positive index cases
• To ensure that HIV-exposed babies/infants (HEI) receive diagnostic tests and results
  at 12 and 18 months of age
• To ensure that HIV-exposed babies, children, and adolescents who test positive for
• HIV initiate antiretroviral therapy
• To improve retention in treatment for HIV positive infants, children, and adolescents
• To ensure that the HIV positive infants, children, and adolescents in treatment
  receive bi-annual viral load tests
• To mitigate the social factors which adversely affect HIV health outcomes by linking
  infants, children, adolescents, and their guardians to social support services

1.2 Intervention Strategies

SBH is implementing the t HIV Linkages Activity in five health facilities in Kitwe district, and is currently in the process of expanding to an additional six facilities. The activity involves establishing a 2-way functional referral system between the health facility and the community structures for comprehensive case management, through:

1. The placement of a special cadre of case workers at the health facility in Kitwe district
2. Implementation of PedTrack patient appointment scheduler and SMS reminder
   system
3. Strengthening coordination and linkages of health facility-community stakeholders in
   HIV care
4. Strengthening linkages to social support services

3. End-of-Project Assessment Objectives

The objectives of the end-of-project assessment are to:

1. Determine the extent to which the activity accomplished its objectives
2. Describe key factors that contributed to what worked or did not work well
3. Document lessons learnt during the implementation of the project
4. Describe how these results were obtained

4. Scope and methodology of the End of Project documentation

The consultant, in close collaboration with the Save the Children and SBH teams, will be expected to develop a detailed methodology for undertaking the study, which should be anchored in qualitative methods for developing the End of Activity report. Data collection will be driven by the consultant, working closely with the HIV Linkages team, and may involve other stakeholders as required.

Data collection is expected to take place in eleven health facilities where SBH is implementing the HIV Linkages activity and will be done from November to December 2018. Data analysis and report writing will be done from January to March 2019 The consultant will be expected to come up with a concise plan for data analysis and ensure that the report is completed within the agreed timeframes. Abt and SCT will lead the dissemination of the report with support from the consultant

We expect three major phases for the assessment:

Desk Review:

The selected consultant will conduct a desk review of all project-related documentation, which will be provided by SBH, including: Baseline Report, Baseline Data Collection Tools, Activity M&E Conceptual framework, M&E Monthly Data Tracking Tool, Activity Monthly Reports, Success Stories etc. Based on the desk study the consultant will propose a final methodology and develop tools, needed to collect the necessary data and that are to be used before and during the field visit.

Protocol development:

Based on the desk review, the objectives of the assessment, and consultations with Save the Children and SBH, the consultant will develop a study protocol which will clearly articulate:

• Detailed study methodology
• Data collection and analysis methods
• Data collection tools
• Work-plan
• Detailed budget

Before finalizing the protocol, the consultant will submit a draft to Save the Children and SBH for review and comments.

Field Visit:

The field visit will include trips to Kitwe to conduct interviews with District Health Office staff, facility staff, community members, volunteers, and key stakeholders to be selected during desk review. The consultant will also interview and representatives of SBH and Save the Children in Lusaka. The consultant will engage note taker with sound research background who should undergo data collection, research ethics, and child safe guarding trainings.

The field visits will be facilitated by SBH and Save the Children in coordination with support from the District Health Office and health facility in-charges.

Ethical considerations regarding data collection, including confidentiality, Do No Harm approaches and promotion of voluntary participation must be clearly highlighted in the methodology. Planning should take into consideration Ethical Checking Requirements in country. Should there be a need for ethics board review(s), the SBH team will work with the consultant to prepare the necessary documentation and facilitate the process.

Synthesis Phase:

During the synthesis phase, the consultant is expected to analyze the qualitative data he/she collects, in the context of the information reviewed during the desk review, and prepare the draft and final assessment report. Before the final report, the consultant is expected to circulate a draft for comments and observations to SBH and Save the Children and District Health Office. The comments and observations will be incorporated in the final report. Comments requesting methodological quality improvements should be taken into account, except where there is a demonstrated impossibility, in which case the consultant should provide justification. Comments on the substance of the report may be either accepted or rejected. In the latter instance, the consultant has to explain the reasons in writing.

5. Deliverables of the consultancy

The consultant will be responsible for developing and submitting the deliverables below according to the timeline. The HIV Linkages team will review and provide feedback to each deliverable, after which the consultant will finalize them.

• Study protocol (including items outlined above)
• Data collection tools
• Raw data collected in soft copy (whether in notes, recordings, both)
• Field visit report after the end of the data collection phase (report describing how the field visit went and what challenges were faced).
• Draft outline for End of Activity Report
• First draft of End of Activity Report
• Final draft of End of Activity Report Produced
• Summary brief
• Powerpoint presentation

Duration of contract/proposed timeline and budget

This consultancy is expected to be done from October 2018 to March 2019 (Data collection November to December 2018 and Data analysis and report writing from January to March 2019).). Check Annex 1 for more information.

6. Required profile of the consultant/team

The interested consultant should have seven or more years’ experience in qualitative and mixed methods data collection, analysis, documentation with required background and experience in carrying out different types of project evaluations and the ability to employ different type of methodologies/tools in the study. He/she must have the following skills and qualifications:

• Demonstrable experience of at least seven years of conducing evaluations in an international development context, particularly with USAID funded projects.
• Expertise in social sciences, public health, community health, medical or nursing field.
• Sound knowledge and practical experience in field of health, particularly HIV/AIDS, paediatric HIV, mobile health and Smart Care, and social welfare system.
• Proven ability to work with community members and understanding community dynamics
• Knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS policies, guidelines and treatment protocols
• Familiarity with Zambia’s health care and community systems
• Able to work independently and accomplish tasks within a short period of time
• Able to travel and work in Kitwe
• Proficiency in the local language which is Bemba, and English
  Ownership and Disclosure of Data/Information

All documents which includes project designs, drawings, data and information shall be treated as confidential and shall not without the written approval of Save the Children and its partners be made available to any third party. The utilization of the report is solely at the decision and discretion of Save the Children and its partners. All the documents containing both raw data/materials provided by Save the Children and final report, both soft and hard copies are to be returned to Save the Children upon completion of the assignment. All documentation and reports written as, and as a result of this consultancy or otherwise related to it, shall remain the property of Save the Children. No part of the report shall be reproduced except with the prior, expressed and specific written permission of Save the Children.

The consultant/team should read and sign the HIV Linkages Activity Non-disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement to ensure adherence to the ethical standard.

11. Procedures of application and documentation

Expressions of interest must include a CV of the applicant and CVs of Team, summary of relevant experience to the assignment, three referees with clear contact details (e-mail and cell phone), Concept paper (maximum 6 pages) with methodology, description of tools, method of analysis, work plan and budget in relation to the assignment. Applications should be delivered not later than 7th September, 2018 before 13:30 hours to the address below. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please note that applications should be submitted in hard copies, clearly marked in the subject “End of Project Assessment for the HIV Linkages Activity”.

The Human Resources & Administration Manager, Save the Children, Plot No. 16794, Diplomatic Centre, Mass Media, Post net 487, P/Bag E891, Lusaka, Zambia