Data Collector - Kaduna at Malaria Consortium

The Project

• The SARMAAN II Project, an acronym for Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin among Children 1-59 Months in Nigeria is a large-scale initiative aimed at evaluating the safety and impact of azithromycin mass drug administration (MDA) on antimicrobial resistance and child mortality.
• The project has both an intervention and a research component, which will be implemented across ten states in Nigeria: Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Jigawa, Zamfara, Bauchi, Gombe and Adamawa.
• The research component will be led by the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in collaboration with the Federal and State Ministries of Health, national agencies such as Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), and international partners, including the University of Washington, University of California San Francisco, and the Institute for Disease Modeling. This research component will focus on monitoring drug safety (Adverse Drug Reactions), antimicrobial resistance, and mortality trends.
• The intervention component will however involve a bi-annual (every 6 months) mass administration of azithromycin to children aged 1–59 months and will be implemented by Malaria Consortium alongside other key partners, including Sightsavers, eHealth Africa, African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), Mission to Save the Helpless (MiTOSATH), Solina Centre for International Development and Research, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and regulatory bodies such as NHREC and NAFDAC.
• Malaria Consortium is the directly implementing the SARMAAN II project in Kaduna, Kebbi, Jigawa, Gombe and Adamawa states, while providing oversight to AFENET and MiTOSATH to implement in Katsina, Zamfara, Yobe and Bauchi States. Malaria Consortium will explore integrating Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) services into AZM mass administration across implementing states. Where applicable and feasible, services such as MUAC screening, antenatal care (ANC) assessments, and Vitamin A supplementation will be researched and incorporated within the SARMAAN II project.
• The primary goal of SARMAAN II is to explore the potential of azithromycin in reducing under-five mortality in Nigeria, where the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) currently stands at 105 deaths per 1,000 live births, and the infant mortality rate (IMR) at 60 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• By addressing the leading causes of child mortality including respiratory infections, diarrhoea diseases, pneumonia, and malaria, the project aims to contribute to significant reductions in morbidity and hospitalization rates.
• To achieve measurable impact, the consortium is committed to reaching at least 80% coverage of eligible children across all implementing states during the MDA rounds.
• To assess the campaigns' impact, relevant indicators, including pneumonia incidence, diarrhea incidence, and malaria positivity rates among others will be routinely monitored.
• After the delivery of AZM in each round one of every new year rounds, an End-of-round (EoR) evaluation exercise will be conducted to obtain timely information about the implementation phase.
• The EoR evaluation will be conducted using the Lots Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) methodology which is designed primarily to identify lots (designated supervision areas) that are falling short of agreed quality standards and will offer the opportunity to also measure coverage of delivery.

Purpose of the Assignment

• The purpose of this ToR is to engage research personnel that will carry out data collection, analysis and interpretation for EoR evaluation based on LQAS approach.
• The consultant and the supervisor will train data collectors and oversee data collection processes while other personnel will carry out the actual data collection using an electronic platform.

Scope

• This ToR is to provide details for EoR evaluation that will be conducted in the states where Malaria Consortium is implementing MDA-AZM (Kaduna, Kebbi, Jigawa, Adamawa and Gombe).
• The process will involve identification, selection and training of supervisors at training of trainers (ToT) and subsequently, data collectors in the states. It will also involve data collection, analysis and report writing.

Methodology

• The aim of the EoR evaluation is to assess AZM (and other integrated assessments and interventions) coverage and adherence of community drug distributors (CDDs) to treatment protocol immediately and not more than 5 days after each round of treatment.
• The findings will be analyzed and any ward (lot) scoring less than 80% will be targeted for corrective measures around poor performance, for improvement in subsequent rounds.

Type of Personnel required for the Evaluation
Data Collectors/Research Assistants:

• The data collectors will be responsible for administering the questionnaire at household level according to the data collection protocol.
• They will undergo a 2-day physical training on MDA-AZM, data collection protocol/methodology, data collection instrument, art of data collection, inter-personal communication and the use of electronic platform.
• With support and guidance by the National Consultant, the training will be facilitated by the Country Office M&E team along with the state Senior M&E Officers with support from state NTD Coordinators and M&E Officers.

Specific Activities for the Data collectors:

• Participant in training on data collection and survey methods conducted by National Consultants.
• Conduct interviews in selected households using Kobocollect/SurveyCTO.
• Upload data on the Kobocollect/SurveyCTO platform to server.
• Address supervisor feedback promptly to correct errors or inconsistencies in data capture

Deliverables for Data Collectors:

• Attend and complete the two-day technical training on evaluation protocols, household interviewing techniques, electronic data entry, and ethical considerations.
• Administer household surveys strictly according to approved questionnaires and ethical standards (e.g., informed consent, confidentiality).
• Upload daily completed surveys to the SurveyCTO server, ensuring timeliness, accuracy, and completeness of entries.
• Address supervisor feedback promptly to correct errors or inconsistencies in data capture.
• Submit: Complete, verified household interview datasets uploaded to the centralized server within stipulated timelines.

Profile Requirements of Data Collectors

• A minimum Bachelor's Degree (B.Sc. Degree / HND) in Social Sciences and Health related discipline.
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience in conducting public health research, particularly data collection.
• Experience in the use of modern technology in research – use of phone for data collection.
• Previous experience doing LQAS surveys is an added advantage.
• Ability to speak local language (e.g. Hausa, Kanuri, etc.).
• Familiarity with and respect for the tradition and culture of the locality.
• Familiarity with terrain of the locality.
• Data Collector must be willing to work in remote areas within the state.
• Data Collector must be a resident of the state.
• Must be a female/mixed in selected states.
• Ability to give attention to details.
• Must not be a staff of Government at any level
• Must not be part of MDA-AZM personnel in whatever capacity (national, state, LGA, HFW, CHW, TA).
• Must not be blacklisted during the previous activities.