Consultant - End of Project Narrative Documentation for Anchor Advocacy Project at Save The Children

Background

• With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Save the Children Nigeria was commissioned in 2015 to influence and inform policy changes, as well as mobilize communities towards the support for and uptake of Routine Immunization, Nutrition, and Reproductive Maternal, New-born and Child Health (RMNCH) services.
• The Anchor Grant Advocacy is a 3-year project for the purpose creating, promoting and sustaining enabled environment, that will ensure Nigeria is progressing in efforts around maternal and child survival. Advocacy efforts are focused on Post-2015, Action/2015 and the RMNCH continuum of care, specifically, RMNCH and Nutrition. The duration of the project is 2015 to 2017.
• In Nigeria the project is implemented at the national level, and in 4 states (Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara).
• Save the Children’s advocacy was focused on getting political and public commitments to end preventable child and maternal deaths; increase and sustain health financing and health workforce; promote funding for nutrition activities and mitigate challenges around effective RI coverage  at the national level and in focal project states.
• Through the project Save the Children has recorded some ‘big wins’ in influencing policy and legislation, undertaken budget advocacy, pushed for the most vulnerable children, and have elevated maternal, newborn and child survival issues. Save the Children has employed a number of tactics to achieve these feats including the generation and use of evidence, public mobilization, coalition and partnership building, and influencing and policy engagement.
• The International Save the Children Alliance defines Advocacy as “a set of organized activities designed to influence the policies and actions of others to achieve positive changes for children’s lives based on the experience and knowledge of working directly with children, their families and communities.”

Primary Outcomes

• Nigeria requests RMNCH services, ambitious targets (ending all preventable MNC deaths under 5) and indicators, linked to ending all preventable child deaths, are enshrined in post-2015 global development framework (particularly around immunization, family planning and nutrition
• Global post-2015 goals/targets relating to maternal and child survival are translated into Nigeria's national and sub-national targets/strategies/plans/manifestos for 2015 and beyond
• Commitments made by the Nigerian government as part of Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) initiative, A Promise Renewed and the Every Newborn Action Plan are honoured
• RMNCH services to all children and mothers, particularly marginalised and underserved communities, are prioritized around achieving equity
• Commitments on women's rights and equity (particularly those made at the London Family Planning Summit) are honoured and increasingly respected, costed plans are in place and delivered by the Nigerian government.
• Allocative efficiency of health workforce maintained
• Costed plans developed and implemented by relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies at National and State levels
• International Code on the Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes fully implemented by Nigeria
• Domestic resources for nutrition and approval for specific budget lines at national and state levels secured. In particular, at least two Federal MDAs and two state governments budget and expend for Nutrition sensitive and specific interventions
• New Routine Immunization Strategic Plan (NRISP 2016+), based on lessons learnt from 2013-15 NRISP, developed, costed and implemented with a strong focus on equity and excluded groups
• Implementation framework for the National Health Act developed and a specific percentage of the Basic Health Care fund is agreed and ring-fenced for Immunization services
• Functional Cold Chain Equipment made available in every ward in project states
• Planned Preventive Maintenance and Repair System for cold chain Equipment developed and institutionalized in each project state
• Functional Cold Chain Equipment made available in every ward in project states
• Planned Preventive Maintenance and Repair System for cold chain Equipment developed and institutionalized in each project state

Objective of the Assignment

• Save the Children plans to carry out a thorough and comprehensive fact taking exercise in a form of narrative documentation to capture what has transpired in over the past three (3) years tenure of the project. The documentation exercise will specifically be looking at achievements (‘big wins’) and key change areas that have occurred include but not limited to (i.) expected achievements, (ii.) lessons, and (iii.) challenges.
• As part of the requirements involved for the exiting the Anchor Advocacy Grant, Save the Children intends to engage skilled and experienced consultant to conduct the project documentation exercise.

The major objective of the consultancy for project documentation is for knowledge documentation, sharing and management purpose. We aim to document and corroborate evidence in the Anchor Advocacy Project reports for reference. In this regard the consultancy will focus on the following:

• Collect and produce evidence in the form of a compelling narrative on the project ‘big wins’
• Determine what role Save the Children played in the results
• Indicate clearly what the impact of the advocacy intervention has been

Scope of Work/ Key Tasks

• Desk review of appropriate project documents/materials for a clear understanding of the achievements, lessons and challenges: materials to proposal and log frame, project implementation reports and other relevant documents/materials;
• Plan the documentation work basing on the project context in collaboration with Save the Children Advocacy staff. Design a feasible documentation sampling in collaboration with Save the Children and project partners (determine sampling frame). These will be discussed and agreed with the Save the Children Advocacy Program team;
• To aid the collection of relevant information, the consultant will talk to key targets including line government officials and partners. This may involve conducting Focus Group Discussions and key informant interviews
• Collation, presentation and analysis of findings
• Drafting, review and submission of narrative report  with case studies

Geographical focus:

• The documentation will be conducted at the national level and the focal states of Save the Children’s advocacy engagement on the Anchor Grant (Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara).

Deliverable:

• A finalized detailed field work plan
• Final narrative documentation report of project achievement
• Case studies
• PowerPoint presentation of key achievements
• Final consultancy report

Time commitment (20 days):

• Review of the work plan including developing study instruments and data gathering tools and sharing with Save the Children study reference team for the approval before commencement of the assignment (1 day)
• Literature review of reports, assessments and strategic documents and review of the context (3 days)
• Participatory reviews and information collection: identify and collect secondary information from different project documents. Involving field visits to collect primary information through observations, one-on-one interviews, FGDs (10 days)
• Participatory and independent analysis and report & case studies’ writing and debriefing with Save the Children team (3 days)
• Feedback sessions for input and feedback on findings and recommendations (1 day)
• Production of the final documentation report and final consultancy report and submission (2 days)

Selection Criteria

• An award will be made to consultant on: Methodology (30 Points), Quality of demonstrated past performance (30 points), Best Price (30 points), contract duration (5 points) and start date to contract (5 points)

Supervision:

• The consultancy will work under the overall supervision of the Advocacy and Policy Advisor with support from the Advocacy and Campaign Manager and the Director, Advocacy and Campaign

Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years demonstrated experience in progressively responsible positions in advocacy and campaigns
• Proven experience in successfully developing and implementing advocacy and campaign strategies
• Proven experience in on-site documentation of project activities
• Experience in producing reports, project documentation, and/or knowledge management (skills)

Technical and Financial Proposal:

• Qualified candidates should send a detailed CV, indicating key qualifications, professional achievements, detailed activity plan of the tasks mentioned in this TOR and a detailed budget/financial proposal indicating the tasks to be carried out and the payment to be made.