Consultancy Service for Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) Survey of Earthquake Response

Terms of Reference 

Context

In the afternoon of 3 October 2023, an earthquake of 5.3 magnitude shook Far-Western province followed by many aftershocks. The epicentre was located in Bajhang District and was felt across neighbouring six districts[1]. An aftershock of 6.3 magnitude was reported on 4 October 2023 which has major impact on houses, schools, etc. According to the data of NRCS EOC, a little more than 17,000 houses have been impacted by the earthquake. The affected population spend their initial days in the open in fear of the aftershocks.

Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) was on the ground from day one to provided key humanitarian support to the impacted population in coordination with the local, provincial and Federal Government. A Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) of CHF. 172,176 was launched on 13 October 2023 to support the 7,500 most affected population of Bajhang, Bajura and Achham Districts. The DREF funding is focused on providing key support related to replenishment of the non-food relief items (NFRI), construction of transitional shelter together with the toilet construction and water storage tank, health and hygiene promotion incorporating the protection component together with the community engagement and accountability towards the people in need. In-country members namely IFRC/American Red Cross, IFRC/British Red Cross and IFRC/Danish Red Cross are also providing bilateral support to meet the shelter, WASH and health needs of the most affected and vulnerable population.

As of 9 January 2023, NRCS has reached out to 7,015 people of 1,403 households with NFRI, 564 households have received multi-purpose cash grant of NRP. 15,000 as per the minimum economic basket (MEB), 115 households received transitional shelter support of NPR. 71,000 to construct the transitional shelter together with toilet construction and installing the water storage tanks. People living in temporary shelters made from Tarpaulin in camp setting are still in need for longer-term shelter support and government of Nepal through local government is trying to provide additional support for these families in the long run.

NRCS deployed total 58 including 12 trained volunteers on the ground to provide various immediate response like carrying out assessment in Bajhang, Bajura and Achham districts, search and rescue, first aid, evacuation and immediate relief as needed. NRCS delivered and distributed relief assistance (in-kind) in the disaster affected families. The NFRIs were distributed right after the earthquake through warehouses located at affected districts or adjoining districts. NRCS District Chapters worked together with local authorities to carry out assessment and relief distribution along with supporting communities to be safe in the future.

Purpose

The overall purpose to conduct the post distribution monitoring (PDM) survey is to capture the evidence of support received by the affected families, level of satisfaction, effectiveness of the distribution and feedback of the beneficiaries and draw the recommendations for future relief operations in Nepal and elsewhere.

The objective of this consultancy is to collect quantitative and qualitative data, conduct timeline analysis and analyse the data from the beneficiaries/stakeholders by using KOBO and prepare analytical PDM report.

Scope

 The consultant will carry out the following tasks:

·  Develop questionnaire for household survey, key informant interview (KII) and focus group discussion (FGD) to collect information from beneficiaries and other stakeholders in consultation with IFRC, its members and NRCS project team.

·     Develop methodologies, tools and templates for field survey, timeline analysis and gathering of qualitative information in close coordination with operation team of NRCS, IFRC and members.

·    Analyse the utilization and effectiveness of the community engagement process and the approach in response planning and implementation.

·     Deploy field team leaders and carry out field survey and timeline analysis mobilizing NRCS volunteers who was not part of the operation as enumerators in the districts.

·     Analyse the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the field to assess timeliness of response activities, comparing with standard response chain and timeline outlined in NRCS Response System/Manual.

·      Analyse the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the field to assess relevancy of NRCS relief assistances as well as relief items provided.

·       Analyse the effectiveness of different cash delivery mechanism used in response operation.

·     Make a short presentation on key findings of PDM during the lesson learnt workshop. The findings should include household survey findings, timeline analysis, etc.

·     Submit final version of report, analysis sheet and work completion report when the report is approved by the management of IFRC Nepal Country Delegation.

The contact focal for the consultant will be the IFRC PMER focal point which will be coordinating with the response teams of        NRCS and IFRC Members for this consultancy.    

 Methodology:

The methodology for this task includes the inception report showcasing the purpose, scope of work, methodology and quality assurance of the final product. Secondly the consultant will collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data, as the consultant will be taking lead on the household survey for quantitative and qualitative data collection by mobilizing NRCS volunteers who were not part of the operation in coordination with NRCS HQs and District Chapters.

In addition to this, the consultation will conduct data collection orientation to the enumerators in the districts and will conduct workshop for the timeline analysis with district team and other concerned stakeholders. Finally, consultant will prepare report based upon analysis of quantitative, qualitative data and timeline analysis with key recommendations for the future references. Detail methodologies will be finalized by the consultant together with the IFRC, its members and NRCS team but will be drawn upon the following primary methods:

1.     Inception report: The consultant will produce an inception report highlighting the purpose, scope of work, methodologies and quality assurance of the final product. The IFRC/members/NRCS will review the inception report and assign the work once inception report is approved. 

2.    Document Review: IFRC PMER and response operation team will collect necessary documents, mainly project plan, periodic progress report and checklists/tools used in relief services which will serve as references to for consultancy task. 

3.   Data Collection: The consultant, in consultation with NRCS and IFRC and its member PMER team, will develop questionnaire for household survey, timeline analysisis,. KII and FGD which will be overseen by the operations team in the NRCS and IFRC. The consultant will use the mobile based data collection application for data collection purpose. The data collection will be led by the consultant where as the enumerators will be finalized by the NRCS District Chapters prferably will be the ones who were not involved directly in the oepration so that the survey is not biased and responses are not skewed. The detailed methodology will be provided by the consultant in their inception report. 

In addition, the team leaders and enumeraters will carry out timeline exercise as one day workshop with District Chapters, Sub-Chapter, the municipality offices in Bajhang, Bajura and Achham districts to assess whether standard timeline has been followed while rendering response services to the affected families. The detail mthodology for the timeline analysis will be provided by the consultant  during inception report. 

4.    Data Analysis: For the data analysis, the consultant will develop/use data tabulation template to establish effective analysis of the data. The consultant will engage in extracting raw data from KOBO, cleaning and analysing data to prepare a final report. 

5.    Reporting: Based on final data analysis sheet, the consultant will prepare draft report of PDM in close consultation with IFRC, its members and NRCS PMER focal persons which will follow a through reivew process from the oepration teams and will be finalized afterwards. The consultant will submit final version of report, final version of data analysis sheets and work completion report to IFRC when Committee of Contract approve the report.

NRCS will organize lessons learnt workshop, when the consultant will present key findings of PDM and collect feedback and recommendation and addressed these accordingly. 

In order to have a triangulation of various data and information, the following quantitative and qualitative data will be provided for further analysis and reference:

·       Beneficiary verification data

·       Distribution reports

       Other CEA related secondary data 

Deliverables: 

Timeframe and schedule

Management of the consultant

      Management of the consultant will fall under existing rules and regulations of IFRC Nepal Country Delegation.  IFRC HR focal person will provide necessary support to organize signing of contract, any mandatory briefings etc.

       For day-to-day work, the IFRC PMER Focal will be the primary contact point together with the IFRC DRM Manager and representatives from the IFRC/American, British and Danish Red Cross.  

       Field movement is required for this reporting purpose.

Ethical consideration: 

It is also expected that the consultant will respect the seven Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent: 1) humanity, 2) impartiality, 3) neutrality, 4) independence, 5) voluntary service, 6) unity, and 7) universality. Further information can be obtained about these Principles at:

The following ethical considerations will be observed throughout planning and execution of the evaluation and during documentation and presentation of the findings:

·   The process at any point will ensure ‘Do No Harm’ principle. This will not only relate to physical consideration but also emotional and contextual considerations that might affect the well-being or social position of the participating individuals.

·     Information at all levels will be confidential in nature and the analysis will be done based on blinding of the characters and context; as much as possible.

·    Each person involved and the participating stakeholders will be completely briefed about the purpose of the process and the expected end products, with all the mediums to be used for documentation and presentation of the same.

·   Any photograph and contextual information (name, household information, history, locality name, municipality, ward name etc.) will only be published if all the participating members endorse the process and allow publication of the same in totality.

·     Any health or social status of the interviewed individuals will not be revealed with his/ her real name on it and without consent.

·   The data and information collected will be triangulated in totality before publishing and the same will be done for all the secondary information received.

·     In case of the case study and monographs, the consultant will use caution to present the cases with dignity and without any personal judgment and bias.

·    The findings, case studies, photographs, process highlights, and recommendations will be shared with the NRCS and IFRC Nepal CD and its members at Kathmandu, before finalizing the document for publication.

·      The consultant will not have any personal and patent rights over the raw and refined data and the end-product of this process.

·    In case the author wishes to use the unpublished datasets or information, from this assessment; (s)he/they must seek principal approval from IFRC.

·    The consultant is not authorized to promise a service or provide solution for any expressed problems. Though (s)he may document the same and make it available to the NRCS and IFRC.

·     Complete orientation of the government laws and policies will be pivotal and at any point the consultant must respect and adhere to the local laws and policies. 

Qualifications

a.   Prior experience of data processing, analysis and reporting with demonstrable experience in preparing reviews and reports on post-distribution monitoring of humanitarian programs responding to Disaster Risk Reduction and Response operations with experience of cash and voucher assistance.  

b. Strong analytical skills and ability to clearly synthesize and present findings, draw practical conclusions, make recommendations and to prepare well-written reports in a timely manner.

c.      Knowledge and experience working with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement 

d.     Demonstrated capacity to work both independently and as part of a team.

e.     Excellent English writing skills, with relevant writing samples of similar reports.

f.      Immediate availability for the period indicated in time frame section. 

Application procedures 

Interested applicants should submit their expression of interest to the following email: aliza.baidya@ifrc.org, by 04 February 2024. Applicant must submit following documents:

1. Curriculum Vitae (CV)
2. Cover letter clearly summarizing your experience as mentioned above
3. Narrative and financial proposal
4. Sample Report- Please provide a copy of previous written report (Similar type of report submitted to any organization in the past)

Application material are non-returnable, and we thank you in advance for understanding that only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the next step in the application process. Please take note that incomplete application will be rejected.

Notes:

The consultant will be paid as per the IFRC rules and regulations for the consultant within the country. The consultant will be responsible to manage field travel arrangements, logistics, basic equipment like laptop and other equipment required for their team members with their own, except for NRCS volunteers. IFRC/ NRCS will pay logistic cost and per-diem of NRCS volunteers.