BACKGROUND

The Government of Ethiopia has a history of receiving and providing refuge to individuals from neighbouring countries who have fled as a result of political conflicts. As of August 2018, a total of 905,831 refugees have been registered with about 70% resident in the Gambella and Melkadida camps.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the government refugee agency ARRA coordinate the humanitarian assistance along with many other partners to ensure protection of all these refugees. UNHCR has been supporting refugees to meet their key basic needs and essential services, which include but not limited to food security, primary healthcare, nutrition wellbeing, and supply of potable water, structures and materials for personal and environmental sanitation and shelter.

The Food security situation of refugees primarily depends on the monthly cyclical food ration assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) and distributed by the government refugee agency (ARRA). However, since November 2015, varied levels of ration reductions have been implemented, leading to the provision of less energy and nutrients than the sphere standards (2100 Kcal/p/p/d).

Despite the threat to household food security, the prevalence of GAM appears to have shown a levelling off and a stability has been established across most of the camps in Ethiopia however in 2019 the situation in Melkadida has deteriorated with reported increasing negative coping strategies utilized by households.

Partner organizations

ARRA, IMC, GOAL, AAH and CWW implement nutrition programmes in 7 camps of Gambella namely; Jewi, Kule, Pugnido 1 Pugnido 2, Tierkidi, Ngunyel and Okugo. In Melkadida, IMC and ARRA implement nutrition programmes in the 5 camps of Buramino, Hilaweyn, Kobe, Melkadida and Bokolmanyo. The La Caixa foundation has been supporting some of the nutrition activities in Gambella and Dollo Ado and have requested the current review.

Programme Overview

The nutrition programme focuses mainly on the vulnerable individuals within the camps to ensure that they maintain a good nutrition status: children aged 0-6 months through their mothers /caretakers; children aged 6-59 months and women who are pregnant or lactating (with children 0-6 months). Both curative, community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and preventive packages including infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF) are implemented for each category. The CMAM program comprises: identification of children with faltering growth; subsequent referral to the therapeutic programs for management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) from in-patient or out-patient centres, and management of moderate acute malnutrition. The preventive programme is run alongside the curative programme and comprises: 1) provision of blanket supplementary food (BSFP) to both children aged 6-59 months and PLWs; 2) the IYCF programme promoting appropriate infant and young children feeding and linkages to other nutrition–sensitive sectors. In addition, blanket supplementary feeding is provided for clients on treatment for Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Purpose of the Assignment: (concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators (what qualitative and quantitative results would be achieved upon completion of consultancy), performance indicators (time lines, value of the service rendered in relation to the cost, timeliness) and work plan.):

The main purpose of the assignment is to explore how the various elements of the Nutrition programming and the integration of Nutrition into other sectors have affected Nutrition Status and IYCF indicators (SENS surveys available) and how the activities and focus on nutrition has contributed to the lives and skills of mothers and families and communities who have benefited from the programmes and how it has contributed to the capacity building, awareness and skills of health workers and the understanding of nutrition amongst other multisectoral actors.

The review serves to describe the pathways of change of the, “IYCF practices in Gambella and Dollo Ado, and CMAM and activities such as Mother to Mother Support Groups (MtMSG), Baby Friendly Spaces, Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS), Backyard gardening, cooking demonstrations, e-vouchers and initiatives to tackle anaemia”.

In the targeted refugee camps in both Gambella and Dollo Ado, the relevance, extent of implementation, results achieved and lessons learnt during the three years of implementation (2016 to 2019) will be assessed with regards to the objective and outcomes.

The findings of the review will be used to inform programme decisions about promising practices to improve the approaches to the prevention and treatment of malnutrition in refugee operations.

Duties and responsibilities

Preparations and secondary data analysis

Ensure that the Terms of Reference for the review are agreed and finalised;

Plan the review process – develop detailed timeline and work plan;

In coordination with the sector experts and other members of the team write the review report;

Liaise with regional bureau/HQ for technical support if necessary;

Conduct and assist the secondary data review:

Support the sector experts and feed into the secondary data review with the data provided by the country teams;

In collaboration with sector experts conduct interviews with various groups concerned by the review e.g. Mothers, families, communities, health workers, other sectoral experts.

Develop 2 case studies to highlight the changes or impact of the programme according to the review findings.

Field visit preparations

Develop qualitative data collection tools (information checklists, key informant interview questions, focus group discussion guidelines), debriefing format and analysis plan;

Lead/facilitate the review team preparation and training sessions; and

Finalise field visit itinerary and logistics arrangements (with the support of UNHCR and partner teams).

During field visits

Supervise the field visit team, logistics/administration support personnel;

Support teams to develop appropriate analysis based findings during daily debriefings and analysis sessions;

Liaise with UNHCR security officers to ensure that security regulations are adhered to during the field visit ; and

To ensure that key findings are recorded and incorporated into the report.

Analysis, finalisation of REVIEW report

To ensure finalisation of report and development of further recommendations.

Organise and facilitate the presentation of key findings of the review to senior management;

Organise the donor/partner debriefing.

DELIVERABLES

A final review report including recommendations on actions to address the situation is to be submitted at the end of the consultancy.

REPORTING

The consultant will report on regular basis to the UNHCR focal points in the country operation and seek technical support and guidance, and in case of need from the senior regional / HQ nutrition and food security focal points of UNHCR.

TIME FRAME

The consultancy is for the duration of one and half month (45 days) with a starting date as of 1st August – 2019.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Graduate or post-graduate degree in anthropology, public health, nutrition, social sciences or other relevant qualifications. 5 - 9 years of relevant experience.

Previous experience and demonstrated skills in applied research in particular qualitative research, writing and analytical skills.

Broad knowledge and experience of nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive principles and programming.

Be fluent in English with excellent communication, interpersonal, writing and presentation skills.

Familiarity with UN agencies and acceptance of UN principles.

Flexible to travel and be ready to stay and work in the field locations.

Interested candidates should send an e-mail to hqphn@unhcr.org with an updated CV or UNHCR personal history form available here https://www.unhcr.org/how-to-apply.html?query=personal%20history%20form.

Deadline for applications 14th July 2019.