International Consultant - National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS) 2019-2020 Survey Coordinator at UNICEF

Job Number: 527226
Location: Abuja
Work Type: Consultancy

Background
The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), National Population Commission (NPopC) with technical support from UNICEF have been conducting NNHS since 2014, with requests from the Federal Government. NNHS has been planned for 2019-2020 to monitor the nutrition and health situation among children under 5 and women 15-49 years in the country. Findings from the survey will aid in tracking the progress of key health and nutrition indicators and inform policy makers and program managers on priority issues/strategies for program adjustment.
The objectives of the NNHS 2019 is to measure key nutrition and health indices in the Nigerian population; specifically, children aged 0-59 months and women 15-49 years. The following are the specific indicators to be included in the survey:

Nutrition:

• Acute malnutrition; underweight, chronic malnutrition and overweight among children aged 0-59 months; and acute malnutrition among women aged 15-49 years.

Infant and young child feeding practice:

• Ever breastfed, early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, minimum meal frequency, minimum dietary diversity and minimum acceptable diet among children aged 0-23 months.

Child health and immunization:

• Penta3 and measles immunization coverage among children aged 12-23 months; proportion of children under five with fever, Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) and diarrhoea who received an ACT, antibiotics, and ORS and zinc respectively.

Malaria:

• Household mosquito net ownership, universal coverage of mosquito net and utilization of mosquito net by under-five children and intermittent preventive treatment.

Reproductive Health:

• Skilled birth attendance, Antenatal Care (ANC) coverage and contraceptive prevalence rate and use of iron supplementation during pregnancy among women aged 15-49 years.

HIV:

• HIV testing during Antenatal Care (ANC).
• Maternal Neonatal and Child Health Week (MNCHW)
• MNCHW coverage and, Vitamin A and deworming coverage among children aged 6-59 and 12-59 months respectively.

Justification purpose of assignment

• In the context of the stated background, UNICEF has been tasked to provide the requisite technical support to the government in conducting the survey. Working closely with the officials of the government of Nigeria specifically NBS and NPoPC, under the direct supervision of the Chief of Nutrition in UNICEF Abuja CO, the consultant is expected train, manage and monitor data collection teams in the field to ensure that they adhere to survey protocol and standards and also support the NBS with the NNHS data analysis and report writing.

Major Tasks to be accomplished:
The consultant, in collaboration with the NBS and Saving One Million Lives and with support from UNICEF Nutrition team is expected to:

• Provide primary technical guidance and advice to NBS in conducting a nationwide Nutrition and Health Survey using SMART methodology
• Co-lead the training of survey enumerators, supervisors, and monitors on survey protocols and use of anthropometric and other survey equipment
• Manage supervision of data collection teams and ensure implementation of daily quality control measures during data collection and data entry at all levels
• Support data analysis and report writing process

Qualifications or Specialized Knowledge/Experience required

• Advanced University Degree in Public Health, Epidemiology or Statistics, along with relevant technical knowledge and experience in survey methodologies, research methods etc.
• At least 5 years experience in coordinating and managing surveys using SMART methodology
• Experience in managing a national-level surveys
• Language skills: Fluency in English is required
• Ability to conduct data analyses using statistical software (ENA/SMART, Stata, R, SPSS, etc.)
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Documented supervisory, staff management, coordination and organization skills
• Proven problem-solving skills; to assess situations, identify needs, and respond with recommendations to address supply, human resources and survey implementation issues
• Willingness to travel and work in tough field environments