Consultant - To conduct PDM survey

IFRC Nepal is looking for the consultancy services to conduct the Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) survey of 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

latest by 26 March 2023

Terms of Reference

Context

A magnitude of 6.6 earthquake shook western Nepal on Wednesday 9 November 2022 early morning local time. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in Khaptad Chhana Rural Municipality of Doti district. The tremor was felt in neighbouring districts (Bajhang, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Rukum west) as well as in parts of India including New Delhi. On 12 November 2022, another shock was felt in Bajhang District. Total of 6 persons died and 8 others were injured in Purbichauki Rural Municipality of Doti District, due to collapsed houses. Due to earthquake and multiple aftershocks, 7,175 families were affected. As per the data received from the affected District Chapters, 1,882 houses were fully destroyed in Achham, Bajhang, Bajura and Doti districts and 6,181 houses are partially affected. 

On 24 January 2023, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake again hit with an epicenter in the Himali Rural Municipality of Bajura district from Sudurpaschim province at 2.43 PM, according to National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre. According to Nepal Government authorities, one person was reported dead, three others injured and up to 42 households were damaged after an earthquake struck. In addition, the shock of the earthquake was felt more in the hilly districts of the region which damaged 11 households in the adjoining Bajhang district.

The local government and NRCS along with other agencies intensively engaged in rendering relief services through the provision of shelter items, hygiene items, and health, WASH, unconditional cash assistance and PGI related activities. There are still significant needs for temporary shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and risk communication, community engagement and accountability. Majority of families displaced by earthquake are working for constructing temporary shelters who lost their settlements. 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 300 including 20 trained volunteers on the ground to provide various immediate response like carrying out assessment in 3 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. Non-food relief items (NFRI) sets were distributed promptly during emergencies through warehouses located at affected districts of country. The 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. NRCS has also been working together with the government, Movement partners and other organizations in COVID-19 preparedness and response operation. 

Considering the scale of disaster and its impact, IFRC allocated CHF 495,735 from DREF to support NRCS to provide immediate relief services such as distribution of shelter relief items (Tarpaulin, Blanket, Mattress), dignity kit, transitional shelter, WASH facilities and multi-purpose cash in these three districts. In addition, American Red Cross and Danish Red Cross provided support as well. Most of the activities targeted for the community have been completed.

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 survey and analyse the data from the beneficiaries/stakeholders by using KOBO and prepare analytic 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 PMER focal of IFRC, its members and NRCS.
• 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 by the team leaders with involvement of NRCS volunteers 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 in close coordination with PMER focal of IFRC, its members and NRCS.
• Analyse the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the field to assess relevancy of NRCS relief assistances as well as relief items provided to beneficiaries in close coordination with PMER focal of IFRC, its members and NRCS.
• Select relevant photo with appropriate caption and credit and best capture the essence of the report and express the best intentions of the operation. Photographs will include IFRC and NRCS branding where possible. This will be done with the support of the IFRC, its members and NRCS communications focal points. 
• 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 which is expected to be organized in May, 2023. 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 consultant will work mainly with the IFRC PMER focal in close coordination response team including IFRC and its member PMER focal and NRCS PMER unit.

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 quantitative survey and the interviews by mobilizing field mobilizers in coordination with NRCS. The volunteers required for the qualitative and quantitative survey will be provided in the district chapters which will be coordinated by the NRCS response team in the headquarter. 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 the 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 consultation together with the IFRC, its members and NRCS team but will draw upon the following primary methods:

1. Inception report: The consultant will produce an inception report five working days after the signing of the contract and will share among the response team of NRCS and IFRC. The report should highlight 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 consltancy task.

3. Data Collection: The consultant, in consultation with NRCS and IFRC and its member PMER team, will develop questionnaire for household survey, KII and FGD which will be overseen by the operations team in the NRCS and IFRC. The consultant will  upload questionnaires in KoBo. The consultant will provide team leaders where as NRCS will deploy  volunteers as enumeraters who will work with the team leaders for conducting household survey, timeline analysis, KII and FGD. The team leaders and volunteers will collect data household survey data which will be uploaded in KoBo accordingly.

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 all 4 districts to assess whether standard timeline has been followed while rendering response services to the affected families. The detail mythodology for the timeline analysis will be provided by the consultant  during inception report.

4. Data Analysis: The consultant, in close coordination with IFRC, its members and NRCS PMER focal person, will collect data from KoBo where as 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. IFRC, its members and NRCS focal person will consult with operation team, collect additional information and provide to the consultant as per need.

5. Reporting: The consultant, inconsultation with IFRC PMER focal person, will develop and agree on standard template to be used for final reporting including the timelines analysis of 4 districts as annex. 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. The consultant will submit draft report to NRCS and IFRC management through IFRC focal person for review. NRCS will organize lessons learnt workshop, tentatively in May 2023, the consultant will present key findings of PDM in the lessons learnt workshop and collect feedback and recommendation. The consultant will refine PDM report adjusting feedback received from lessons learning workshop as well as concern persons from IFRC/members/NRCS. 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 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 line manager will be the IFRC PMER Focal with the technical support from IFRC, its members and DRM manager. 

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: 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 time frame section.  

Application procedures

Interested applicants should submit their expression of interest to the following email: aliza.baidya@ifrc.org, by 26 March 2023. 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.