Conducting An Evaluation For World Vision’S Mother And Child Health And Nutrition Program

Conducting an Evaluation for World Vision’s Mother and Child Health and Nutrition Program   BACKGROUND   In Fiscal Year 08, World Vision Lebanon (WVL) completed a health assessment to identify gaps and align the health programming with the unmet needs. The results of the assessment revealed the following unsatisfactory results: Unhealthy and unsafe lifestyles are exacerbated by the environment making unhealthy behaviours an accepted norm, yet the healthy lifestyle promotion is not addressed much, especially for children, adolescents and youth No national guidelines in regards to the services/  consultations that should be provided to pregnant women or children Weak health services and partnerships which are causes and effects of poor maternal and child health and nutrition With the absence of proper Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) support, mothers seek advice from non-public healthcare sources; mostly from informal networks of women who share experiences and provide advice. The information that women retain and transmit about nutrition patterns, reproductive health, and child conditions are suboptimal, a matter which is reflected in the unhealthy practices they adopt. The indicators are especially worrisome when it comes to the health and nutrition of children aged 0-3. National MCHN figures confirm the latter; an assessment conducted by WVL in 2010 revealed the following: Under 5 Child Mortality: 13/1,000 Maternal Mortality Rate: 150/100,000 Anemia (<5): 28% Maternal IDA: 25% Stunting (<5): 15.6% Wasting (<5): 6.6% Breastfeeding rate: 27%   Based on the previous results, the Health program in WVL has been working on Mother and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN). The 3-level approach adopted by WVL included building the capacity of the staff in order to deliver good quality MCHN interventions. In addition, community groups were mobilized (Mother Action Groups (MAGs) in Bekaa, North, South and Beirut), and they received capacity building to improve their MCHN knowledge and improve their skills in conducting outreach activities for their communities. Finally, on the national level WVL has built a partnership with national health sector stakeholders (i.e. Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), and World Health Organization (WHO) and is an established member of a coalition working on a Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, and on Infant and Young Child Feeding practices.     THE PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION   The primary purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether Mother and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN)’s program’s objectives were reached by assessing the MCHN status in Lebanon and also more specifically in our Bekaa, North, South and Beirut programs.   The evaluation will be conducted using tools that meet the requirements for assessment from both WV Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DME) guidelines and the MCHN/7 – 11 (World Vision model) indicators. The assessment will be used to gather the data required for WVL and the communities and partners it works with to be able to assess the success of the MCHN project and compare it with the initial assessment results.   Tentatively, the evaluation will be looking at: The status of the indicators set out in the design of the MCHN program, which were measured during the initial assessment Capacity assessment of the Mother Action Groups and the partnering Primary Health care Centers In- depth analysis of the re-activated policies and its implementation and sustainability   ASSESSMENT METHOD   The assessment methods should be a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection with the relevant Health program’s stakeholders. It should be aligned with WV’s guidelines and standards for ensuring good quality evaluation process. Data collection methods may include but are not limited to secondary data information, general observations, interviewing key stakeholders, surveys, and focus group discussions.   In the preparation of the final report, the consultant is requested to provide the reader with, as much as possible, accurate sources of its information and conclusions.  In fact, all findings and statements must be backed by existing data and/or data based on approved methodology for sampling, data collection, and analysis.   The consultant is expected to perform the following tasks:   Prepare the sampling methodology Development of tools based on WVL’s standards and aligned with the tools used during the initial assessment Pilot testing of the tools Complete quantitative data collection Household survey with mothers of children under 2 in the areas where WV’s health program was implemented Household survey with pregnant women in the areas where WV’s health program was implemented Complete qualitative data collection to validate the results of the quantitative data collection Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with beneficiaries from the different communities where WV’s health program was implemented FGD and/or Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with partnering health care facilities (hospitals, primary health care centers) FGD and/or KIIs with the partnering nurseries FGD with the national partners part of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Complete data entry Complete data analysis and tabulation Provide weekly feedback to WVL team Present main findings of the evaluation to WVL team Support WVL team in validating the results with mothers and partners Draft the Evaluation report   CONSULTANT QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED   The Consultant should have the following competencies and experiences:   Advanced degree in relevant field (Nutrition and Dietetics, Public Health, Community Nutrition, etc.) Proven knowledge and experience in conducting large scale evaluations Proven knowledge in quantitative data management Proven knowledge in qualitative data management Good understanding of national MCHN policies and processes Good analytical thinking Excellent spoken and written Arabic Excellent written English skills    EXPECTED OUTPUTS Validated and tested data collection tools Thematic analysis of qualitative data Tabulation of results including descriptive analysis and associations Final Evaluation report Power Point presentation of the findings   TIMELINE WITH DELIVERABLES Approximate start date: April 1st Expected end date: July 31st