Data Collector at Malaria Consortium

Organizational Background

• Malaria Consortium (MC) is one of the world's leading non-profit organizations dedicated to improving health and saving lives in communities affected by malaria and related inequities in Africa and Southeast Asia.
• With over 20 years of proven impact, the organization works with governments, academic institutions, local and international organizations to deliver scalable, locally led health solutions grounded in research and evidence to strengthen health systems, inform policy and derive sustainable impact through strategic partnerships and organizational excellence.
• Malaria Consortium, in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and state malaria elimination programmes (SMEPs), will support the 2026 insecticide-treated net (ITN) mass distribution campaigns in Borno, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kogi, and Abia, introducing pyrethroid-chlorfenapyr dual-active-ingredient ITNs for the first time in these states.
• To evaluate the implementation and impact of the campaigns, a series of cross-sectional household surveys. The surveys will verify ITN receipt immediately after distribution and assess household ITN ownership, utilisation, physical durability, and functional survival at baseline, one month, and 12, 24, and 36 months post-campaign.
• Findings from these surveys will generate evidence to inform malaria vector control policy and strengthen ITN programme implementation in Nigeria.

Purpose of the assignment

• The purpose of this terms of reference (TOR) is to engage research personnel who will carry out a baseline household survey before the campaign (survey B1), an immediate verification survey (survey B2) after the net distribution, and a one-month post-campaign evaluation survey (B3) in Borno State.

Scope

• The survey will be used to gather baseline and post-campaign data on coverage, ITN ownership and use rates and associated factors, physical conditions of the ITNs, malaria prevention in pregnancy, treatment-seeking behaviour, and other relevant variables, and also validate the ITN campaign data using an immediate post-distribution verification survey.

Methods

• Borno SMEP and Malaria Consortium will jointly implement B1 and B3 surveys, covering 60 wards/clusters and 720 households per survey round. During each survey, each partner will be responsible for half of the wards/clusters and households.
• For the ITN immediate verification (B2) survey, SMEP will cover 15 wards (540 households), while Malaria Consortium will cover 30 wards (1,080 households), to be conducted within two weeks of the campaign. SMEP will engage community health workers, while Malaria Consortium will recruit consultants.
• All survey personnel should meet the same eligibility criteria and receive standardised training prior to field deployment to ensure harmonised implementation, data quality, and consistency across survey teams.
• The wards will be selected based on population proportional to size (PPS) sampling strategy.
• The survey includes household enumeration to sample households in each ward (cluster) randomly and administering interviews involving household heads (and in the case of B1 and B3 surveys, also women 15–49 years old), using mobile devices with the SurveyCTO software.
• There will be back-checks in 50% of the wards selected randomly and 20% of the households in selected wards, in which a subset of the questionnaires will be administered for the purpose of data collection verification.
• After each survey in selected wards, new teams are assigned to conduct back checks to administer the additional interviews in a subset of the sampled households.

Specific Tasks
Field Data Collector:

• Will be required to attend training prior to survey.
• Enumerates households in each selected settlement in each ward for B1 and B3 surveys.
• Carries out data collection in sampled households, including obtaining written consent, administering interviews with heads of households and women 15–49 years old, and collecting ITN physical integrity data by collecting data on each net owned by the household during B1 and B3 surveys.
• Carries out back-check interviews in assigned wards selected for data collection quality verification.
• Takes good care of the mobile device issued for data collection and ensures the device’s battery is kept charged.
• Uploads the data to the server at the required frequency according to relevant guidelines.
• Ensures confidentiality of respondents’ personal data during and after interviews.
• Reports to the team leader any issues and helps to solve problems.

Deliverables
Field Data Collector:

• Complete interview data from all assigned households collected and uploaded to the SurveyCTO server daily: four households per day during B1 and B3 surveys, and six households per day during the B2 survey.
• Written informed consent obtained and documented from all respondents prior to interview.
• Back-check interview data from assigned households in wards selected for data quality verification, uploaded to the SurveyCTO server.

Qualifications and Experience
Field Data Collector:

• Possess a B.Sc or HND in health-related discipline and social sciences with 1 - 2 years’ experience in conducting household surveys
• Experience in electronic data collection systems such as Survey CTO or ODK.
• Good knowledge of the English language.
• Ability to give attention to detail.
• Excellent proficiency of Hausa and / or Kanuri and / or Fulani languages in the study communities.