Job Vacancy at UNHCR: Consultant

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a (SENS) Standardized Expanded Nutrition Survey Consultancy within the Tanzania Operation duty station Field Office Kasulu.

The Consultant is expected to conduct UNHCR SENS and produce updated Anthropometry, Health, Anaemia, IYCF, Food Security, WASH, and Mosquito net coverage indicators for Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps and determine rightful coverage in accordance with UNHCR minimum standards.

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UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

Title: Standardized Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) Consultancy
Duty Station: Kasulu, Tanzania
Duration: 10 Weeks
Contract Type: Consultant
Closing date: 05 August 2021
Start date: 01 September 2021

Organisational context

As of February 29, 2021, the Kigoma Region, located in the north west of the Tanzania is hosting a total of 224,835 refugees. Nyarugusu is the largest camp, which is hosting about 78,504 Congolese and 54,082 Burundians, followed by Nduta camp which hosts about 65,635 Burundian refugee and lastly, Mtendeli camp with about 26,614 Burundian refugee population.

The last standardized expanded nutrition survey (SENS) was conducted in September 2019 and result showed the overall GAM prevalence of 1.9% across all the camps. The camp specific results showed that Nyarugusu old population (mainly Congolese) had GAM prevalence of 1.2% (0.6 – 2.4 C.I.), Nyarugusu new population (mainly Burundians) with GAM prevalence of 1.8% (0.9 – 3.4 C.I.), Nduta camp with GAM prevalence of 3.0% (2.1 – 4.4 C.I.) and Mtendeli camp with GAM prevalence of 1.3% (0.6 – 2.9 C.I.). Comparing to 2018 SENS results prevalence of GAM had reduced in two camps of Nyarugusu and Mtendeli while a slight 2 increase from 2.3% in 2018 to 3.0% was noted in Nduta camp according to 2019 SENS.

Anaemia prevalence in children (6 – 59 months) has reduced according to the last SENS which was done in 2019. Across all the three camps the Anaemia prevalence reported was below 40% of public health significance. In Nyarugusu, the Anaemia prevalence among the old caseload (Congolese) was 31.2% [24.2-38.3], Burundian caseload the prevalence was 32.9% [26.2-39.7], in Nduta camp the prevalence reported was 19.1% [14.8-23.4] while Mtendeli was 20.7% [15.6%-25.7%]. The cited possible contribution was the ongoing micronutrient powder distribution to children 24 – 59 month, the kitchen gardening activities and provision of fortified maize flour during through General food distribution.

For the past four years since 2016 the prevalence of Stunting among refugee children aged 6- 59 months continue to be the major Public health concern across all the three camps and above the 30% Critical or very high level. Looking at the last SENS the stunting prevalence reported was 42.7% (37.9-47.6) for the Congolese population, 47.7% (43.4-52.1) for the Burundian aside in Nyarugusu camp, 52.1% (47.3-56.9) in Nduta camp and 51.9% (47.1-56.8) in Mtendeli camp for Burundian population. The critical or very high prevalence of stunting could have been contributed by several factors including disease burden, lack of food dietary diversity, poor access to services including family planning, supplementary feeding etc.

In particular as regards to refugee camps in Tanzania, in the past two years there have been some important changes that might have negatively impacted on the refugee wellbeing, among them includes closure of markets leading to declining livelihoods opportunities and limited diversity of food consumed hence affected nutrition security, food ration reduction which may have caused poor or negative coping mechanism. The COVID-19 situation and resilience since April 2020 may have affected the use of food provided to family members, poor access to health and nutrition services, suspension of community education and screening which could have led to delay malnutrition cases detection and referrals. All these have been contributed to poor health, nutrition and food security situation of the population. There is need for close monitoring of the situation which is expected to deteriorate further in the near future.

Conducting an annual SENS is crucial in shaping programmes in refugee contexts, also SENS is used by operational and implementing partners for preparations of annual plans and subsequent implementations.

The position

We are seeking a dynamic and proactive team player, a consultant will lead and oversee the UNHCR SENS process from planning, training, implementation of data collection, data quality checks, data analysis, report writing and presentation of findings. S/he will produce updated Demographic, Anthropometry, Health, Anaemia, IYCF, Food Security, WASH, and mosquito net coverage indicators for Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps.

Duties and responsibilities

Primary Objective

To determine the demographic profile of the population.
To determine the age dependency ratio.
To measure the prevalence of acute malnutrition in children aged 6-59.
To measure the prevalence of stunting in children aged 6-59 months.

To determine the coverage of measles vaccination among children aged 9-59 months (or context-specific target group e.g. 9-23 months)

To determine the coverage of vitamin A supplementation in the last 6 months among children aged 6-59 months.
To determine the two-week period prevalence of diarrhoea among children aged 6- 59 months
To measure the prevalence of anaemia in children aged 6-59 months and in women of reproductive age between 15-49 years (non-pregnant).
To investigate IYCF practices among children aged 0-23 months
To determine the population’s overall ability to meet their food needs with assistance
To determine the extent to which negative coping strategies are used by households
To assess household food consumption (quantity and quality).
To determine the ownership of mosquito nets (all types and LLINs) in households.
To determine the utilization of mosquito nets (all types and LLINs) by the total population, children 0-59 months and pregnant women.
To determine the population’s access to, and use of, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities
To determine the population’s access to soap (see Module 7).
To establish recommendations on actions to be taken to address the situation in the three refugee camps.

Secondary Objective

To determine the enrolment into the targeted supplementary (TSFP) and therapeutic (OTP/SC) nutrition programmes for children aged 6-59 months
To determine the coverage of the blanket supplementary feeding programme for children aged 6-23 months and MNP programme to children aged 24-59 months
To determine the coverage of deworming (soil-transmitted helminth control) with mebendazole and/or albendazole in the last six months among young children aged 12-59 months.
To determine the coverage of the blanket supplementary feeding programme (BSFP) for pregnant women and lactating women
To determine enrolment into Antenatal Care clinic and coverage of iron-folic acid supplementation in pregnant women.
To determine the proportion of households in each of the targeting categories
To determine the population’s access to and use of cooking fuel.
To determine the household coverage of indoor residual spraying in the past 6 months/12 months 4
To determine the use of oral rehydration salt (ORS) and/or zinc during diarrhoea episodes in children aged 6-59 months
To determine the prevalence of MUAC malnutrition in women of reproductive age 15- 49 years

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

The candidate should:

Have a university degree or the equivalent, with advanced education in nutrition, with a specific competency in humanitarian emergencies.
Equivalent of a Bachelor degree and 8-12 years relevant experience. Equivalent of a Master degree and 6-10 years relevant experience.

Have significant experience in undertaking nutrition surveys (design and methodologies, staff recruitment and training, sample size calculation, sampling, field supervision and data analysis/write up).
Be familiar with the SMART survey methodology and ENA for SMART, Epi Info software.
Be familiar with analyzing nutrition surveys with multiple indicators, beyond the basic anthropometric (SMART) indicators.
Be fluent in English with excellent writing and presentation skills
Prior experience with conducting SENS surveys in refugee contexts is an asset.
Prior experience with conducting surveys using Open Data Kit Collect application and mobile technology is an asset.

Location

The successful candidate will be based with the team in Kasulu, Tanzania.

Conditions

The Consultancy is for 10 weeks and the start date is in 01 September 2021. It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00am to 5:00pm Monday to Thursday and Friday 8.00am to 2:00pm (40 hours per week).

How to apply

To learn more and apply, please visit https://bit.ly/3hYrPbq

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).

Closing date of applications: 5 August 2021

To apply
Interested applicants should submit their application to:-
The Senior Human Resources Officer
UNHCR Representation Office
Dar es Salaam
Email: tandava@unhcr.org

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