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

IFRC Nepal is looking for consultancy service to conduct Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) Survey of Karnali Earthquake Response

Interested applicant should submit their expression of interest along with the documents mentioned in ToR to Ms. Aliza Baidya at aliza.baidya@ifrc.org  by 25 February 2024

Terms of Reference

Context

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Jajarkot District on 3 November 2023 at 11:47 local time. The epicentre was located in Ramidanda in Jajarkot district claiming lives of 154 people of Jajarkot (101) and Rukum West (53) district and injuring 366 people. According to the National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre at least 483 aftershocks have been recorded since then with the most powerful one measuring 5.8 magnitude on 6 November 2023. According to the data of the Ministry of Home Affairs around 62,000 houses in 11 districts of three provinces namely Karnali, Sudur Paschim, and Lumbini were affected by the earthquake and its aftershocks. Out of which Jajarkot, Rukum West, and Salyan Districts were worst affected with reported death cases and loss of physical properties including private houses worth millions of Nepalese Rupees. Apart from this, the winter has aggravated the hardship for the affected people still living under the tarpaulin with their family members including elderly, children etc.

As of 31 January 2024, NRCS delivered emergency assistance to 4,965 families (24,325 people including 12,406 females) supported through the emergency appeal and other support. 600 families supported through cash and voucher assistance (CVA) of NPR.87,000 (approximate of CHF. 620) for transitional shelter construction (NPR.50,000) together with toilet construction (NPR. 15,000), water storage tank (NPR. 7,000) and multipurpose cash (MPC) grant support (NPR. 15,000). This is an integrated support to the most affected 600 families of Jajarkot, Rukum West and Salyan District. Similarly, 2,778 households from Jajarkot (1,273 households), Rukum West (1,202) and Salyan (303 households) reached with MPC reaching the targeted households in first two districts. It is expected that the transfer for the remaining 135 households in Salyan District will be transferred soon. Cash was transferred to beneficiaries’ back account which was followed by SMS to inform them that the cash has been credited with the purpose of cash transfer and also door to door visits by NRCS volunteers to update selected beneficiaries about the bank transfer and its purpose.

Another 2,462 people (including 1,206 females) were provided with mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services through community based MHPSS interventions focused on household visits. NRCS conducted a Red Cross emergency clinic (RCEC) in Jajarkot and Rukum West reaching out to 3,195 people including 2,155 females. Similarly, NRCS has distributed 7,677 dignity kits to women of reproductive age, 4,500 kishori kits  distributed to adolescent girls, and 580 solar lamps distributed to the affected people with support from the IFRC appeal and UN agencies. A total of 392 volunteers are being mobilized for the support.

The Government of Nepal entrusted NRCS to conduct a detailed household assessment to cover all rural/municipalities of Jajarkot districts, two rural municipalities of Rukum West, and one rural municipality of Salyan District. NRCS trained and orientated 246 volunteers who were mobilized to conduct details assessments in the affected districts. The detailed assessment is not completed where NRCS has surveyed more than 51,000 households despite the challenges of tough terrain and remote areas. The findings of the assessment are published in an online dashboard. Prior to this, an Initial Rapid Assistance was completed with the support of seven RT members and two MHPSS-trained volunteers.

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, identifying complexities faced, and coordination conducted in the first three months of the operation while distributing relief items and cash transfers and other activities identified by the Appeal document and Operation Strategies and feedback of the beneficiaries followed by drawing recommendations for future relief operations in Nepal and elsewhere.

The objective of this consultancy is to collect quantitative and qualitative data and analyse the data received from the field (beneficiaries and other stakeholders) by using KOBO and prepare an 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 key stakeholders in consultation with IFRC, its members and NRCS EOC team.
• Develop methodologies, tools and templates for field survey, and gathering of qualitative information in close coordination with operation team of NRCS, IFRC and members.
• Analyse the complexities and coordination conducted from NRCS in response planning and implementation.
• Deploy field team leaders and carry out field survey for quantitative and qualitative data collection 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 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 final presentation of the PDM survey. The findings should include household survey findings, qualitative data 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 who will be coordinating with the EOC 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 with district team and other concerned stakeholders. Finally, consultant will prepare report based upon analysis of quantitative, qualitative data 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.

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.

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 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, Canadian, Danish, and Swiss Red Cross .  
• Field movement is required for this 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: www.ifrc.org/what/values/principles/index.asp

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

• 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.   
• 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. 
• Knowledge and experience working with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement  
• Demonstrated capacity to work both independently and as part of a team. 
• Excellent English writing skills, with relevant writing samples of similar reports.
• Immediate availability for the period indicated in the time frame section.  

Application procedures

Interested applicants should submit their expression of interest to the following email: aliza.baidya@ifrc.org, by 25 February 2024. Applicant must submit the 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 a previous written report (A similar type of report submitted to any organization in the past)

Application materials 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 applications 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.