Jhpiego is an international, non-profit health organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University. For 40 years and in over 155 countries, Jhpiego has worked to prevent the needless deaths of women and their families.
Jhpiego Corporation in Ghana has been providing technical support to the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service for the past 40 years in a variety of technical areas including cervical cancer treatment and prevention, community health, HIV and AIDS, maternal and newborn health, health workforce capacity development (both pre-service and in-service), family planning, malaria, and IPC/WASH.
POSITION: Consultant, MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership Project
Job Description
- Subject of Service Contract: Technical and operational assistance to implement formative research
- Location of focus Ghana
- Duration of assignment 4 months (approximate)
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership (MCGL) is a five-year USAID-funded global award that works with country governments and local non-governmental organizations to provide targeted technical and capacity development assistance.
MCGL builds upon existing evidence and best practices and catalyzes innovations that enable government-led partnerships to deliver high-quality, evidence-based interventions that accelerate reductions in maternal, newborn, and child mortality and morbidity at scale. The project also contributes to global technical leadership, learning, and USAID’s policy dialogue to achieve global maternal, newborn, and child health, voluntary family planning, and reproductive health (MNCH/FP/RH) goals by supporting globally endorsed initiatives, strategies, frameworks, guidelines, and action plans.
MCGL plans to conduct two formative assessments in Ghana in 2021/2022 and is recruiting consultant(s) or data collection agency(cies) with an active Federalwide Assurance to provide technical and operational expertise to lead the implementation. The two assessments will take place in the same six, purposely sampled facilities in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.
OBJECTIVE OF THE ACTIVITY
Summaries of both assessments follow:
Intrapartum Nutrition Assessment:
- MCGL project will collaborate with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and USAID to conduct a participatory, formative assessment on intrapartum nutrition-related practices in five, purposely sampled secondary and tertiary facilities.
- Using quantitative and qualitative methods including a desk review, cross-sectional surveys, key informant interviews (KII), and in-depth interviews (IDI), MCGL will examine current practices and barriers, as well as the feasibility of implementing the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommended fluid and food intake for low-risk women during the intrapartum period, from health providers’ and mothers’ perspectives.
- The study, including data collection, will take place in one tertiary facility in Accra, and four secondary facilities in the Greater Accra region.
- MCGL will use the findings of the formative assessment to develop recommendations for health providers attending deliveries to improve counseling and provide appropriate support for nutrition of mothers in labor.
Small, Sick Newborn (SSNB) Feeding Assessment:
- MCGL project will collaborate with the GHS and USAID to investigate the current practices, barriers and facilitators (structural, social and behavioral) of quality and family-centered, nutritional care for SSNBs – including post-discharge follow-up care from the perspectives of health providers, mothers, families and communities.
- MCGL will assess whether health providers offer customized nutrition counseling and support that is responsive to the individual needs of mothers of SSNBs, whilst engaging families and communities to support appropriate nutrition care whilst inpatient (Neonatal Intensive Care Units / Special Newborn Care Units) and at home, post-discharge.
- The assessment will apply qualitative methods, including semi-structured KIIs and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). It will take place in the same one tertiary facility in Accra, and five secondary facilities in the Greater Accra region.
- The findings will be used to address bottlenecks and identify appropriate, contextualized strategies and approaches to engage health providers, families and communities in supporting mothers and providing family-centered nutrition care for SSNBs.
SCOPE OF THE WORK AND METHODOLOGY
The consultant will be expected to:
- Provide prompt responses to any forthcoming GHS ERC comments/requests on both protocols and tools, and make necessary edits, circulating final drafts to the support team.
- Work with facility in-charges to secure monthly data detailing numbers of neonatal inpatient care unit (NICU) / special inpatient care units (SNCU) admissions, delivery volume, and post-delivery discharge practices to confirm the participation of each facility included for consideration in the study (priority action).
- Translate information sheets and consent forms – and data collection tools if deemed necessary – for mothers, family and community members to local language and back-translate to English (priority action).
- Coordinate study activity implementation, as per the direction of the Principal Investigator (PI).
- Liase among MCGL and GHS regarding studies’ implementation, and facilitate communication among study stakeholders and PI and co-PIs.
- Develop a detailed implementation plan (DIP) in consultation with Save the Children, Jhpiego and the GHS
- Hire, train, and manage two teams of data collectors (one team per study) to use the MCGL tools to interview survey participants, as described in the two data collection summary tables (below)
- Pre-test each set of study tools using both data collection teams in a facility not included in the study sample
- Amend tools as necessary following the pre-test and facilitate IRB re-submission for approval if required
- Travel to data collection sites and lead the two study teams in data collection activities, ensuring correct and proper implementation of the tools and verifying notes and interview transcriptions.
- Be responsible for data cleaning, quality and analysis using data analysis plan and guidance from MCGL/Washington to include:
- Translating data collected in local language discussions into English;
- Entering all collected data into the format that will be provided by MCGL;
- Providing report on quality assurance checks.
- Develop report and PowerPoint presentation slides, using MCGL template, to summarize key findings.
- Consult with various stakeholders, including the MoH, Jhpiego and maternal and newborn health and nutrition stakeholders to review findings.
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Data Collection Summary Table for SSNB Feeding Assessment:
| Methods | Sample Size |
| Key Informant Interviews:
Health Service Providers (3 per facility, from 6 facilities; to include 1 nurse, 1 midwife and 1 doctor [preferably neonatologist]) |
Total: 18 respondents |
| Key Informant Interviews:
Caregivers/Parents who have been inpatient for >3 days (from 6 facilities) (2-3 caregivers/parents per facility, from 6 facilities) |
Total: 12-18 respondents |
| Key Informant Interviews:
Post discharge caregivers/mothers (from 6 facilities) (3 per facility, from 6 facilities) |
Total: 18 participants |
| Focus Group Discussions:
Family Members/Community Influencers 3 x facilities: 1 FGD per facility with just family members 2 x facilities: 1 FGD per facility with community influencers (CHWs, TBAs, mothers support groups) |
1 FGD of 7-10 participants per 5 facilities* (35-50 FGD participants total)
*excluding the Accra tertiary facility |
| TOTAL | 48-54 KII respondents
35-50 FGD respondents |
Data Collection Summary Table for Intrapartum Nutrition Assessment:
| Methods | Sample size |
| Desk review | N/A |
| KII with province/district officers and facility clinical staff (e.g., maternity heads) involved in quality improvement activities at the facility | N = 11 individuals
(3 individuals at 1 hospital plus 8 individuals at 4 health centers [2 people * 4 facilities]) |
| KAP survey with maternity health providers (doctors, nurses, and midwives) | N = 12 individuals
(4 individuals at 1 hospital plus 8 individuals at 4 health centers [2 people *4 facilities]) |
| Client survey with inpatient postpartum women | N = 56 individuals
(16 individuals at 1 hospital plus 40 individuals at 4 health centers [10 people per health center]) |
| Participant survey with support network members | N = 44 individuals
(12 individuals at 1 hospital plus 32 individuals at 4 health centers [8 people per health facilities]) |
| IDI with maternity health providers (same as those engaged under Obj. 2) | N = 12 individuals
(4 at 1 hospital plus 8 at 4 health centers [2 people * 4 facilities]) |
DELIVERABLES
The following deliverables will be expected from the Consultant for each assessment. Both sets of deliverables will require approval before sign off:
SSNB Feeding Assessment:
- Draft detailed implementation plan (DIP) and activity budget
- Cleaned, accurate datasets for each assessment, including data quality check report
- Final report of key findings incorporating MCGL technical team feedback
- PowerPoint Slides summarizing the research and presenting key research findings
Intrapartum Nutrition Assessment:
- DIP and activity budget
- Cleaned, accurate datasets for each assessment, including data quality check report
- Final report of key findings incorporating MCGL technical team feedback
- PowerPoint Slides summarizing the research and presenting key research findings
PROPOSED TIMELINES
The amount of time allocated for this assignment is approximately 4 months starting from the date of signing the contract. The period of engagment includes briefings by the teams (Jhpiego country offices and MCGL/Washington), budget and DIP design, enumerator recruitment and training, pre-testing and adaptation of tools, travel to study sites, data collection, data cleaning, data analysis, report writing, presentation of findings as appropriate).
The approximate activity breakdown for the period of engagement is as follows:
| Activity |
| Contract review and signing, meeting with Jhpiego team to discuss SOW understanding and expectations |
| Consultations to confirm proposed sites by reviewing monthly data on admissions to newborn facilities / in-facility delivery rates and discharge practices postpartum in the 6 proposed facilities |
| Work with Jhpiego country office to coordinate translation of consent forms/information sheets and tools as appropriate |
| Development of budget and DIP for each assessment (to include: plans for communications with GHS/USAID and regular updates with MCGL/Washington; hiring two data collection teams; training; pre-testing; tool review; data collection; analysis) |
| Hire 2 teams of enumerators (1 team per assessment) and provide tool training |
| Pre-test tools and review |
| Data collection |
| Data cleaning and analysis |
| Draft final report, incorporating feedback from MCGL and USAID reviews |
| Prepare presentation of key findings |
Required Skills or Experience
Qualifications of the Consultant
- Has active Federalwide Assurance
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in designing the data analysis plans for international non-profit organization or multilateral agency assessments with a preference for studies in newborn and maternal health and nutrition
- Advanced degree, with a minimum of a Master’s degree in public health, obstetrics and gynecology, health administration/management, international health, epidemiology or a related field
- Demonstrated experience in quantitative and qualitative data analysis, including supervision and transcription of Key Information Interviews, In-Depth Interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
- Sound knowledge of and experience using Kobo Toolbox and Nvivo software
- Experience working with the Ministry of Health and clear understanding of the Ghanaian health system, including demonstrable experience working with or in partnership with district governments and international NGOs
- Excellent interpersonal skills, integrity, sound judgment, and communication skills
- Passion and commitment to meeting agreed deadlines
- Proactive and able to work independently
- Fluency in English (written and spoken)
- Ability to produce high quality work under tight timeframes
- Excellent writing skills with strong experience in writing technical and programmatic reports
- Experience working on USG funded programs highly desirable
HOW TO APPLY
ADMINISTRATIVE AND LOGISTICAL SUPPORT
The duration of the assignment is approximately 4 months after signing of contract. The period of engagement is inclusive of travel, data collection and reporting. The assignment is expected to begin on or around January 10, 2022.
The Consultant will be required to work closely with the management team from MCGL/Washington DC, including nutrition techncal advisor, program manager, and monitoring and evaluaiton lead, and will receive additional support from the Jhpiego country office. MCGL will need to review/approve individual data collectors under management of consultant/firm.
The cost of hiring and training both sets of enumerators in inclusive of the daily rate, and not at additional cost to MCGL.
Payment Schedule
The Consultant fees will be paid upon satisfactory report of performance.
The payment schedule will be as follows:
- First payment: after submitting the DIP, budget and plan for each assessment (10%);
- Second payment: on completion of data collection, cleaning and analysis for both assessments (40%);
- Third payment: on submission of the final report of findings for each assessment, incorporating all feedback from MCGL and USAID, and presentation slides of findings (50%).
Application Package and Procedures
Applications for the consultancy must include following components:
- Detailed proposal, demonstrating a thorough understanding of this Scope of Work (SoW), including:
- Estimated number of days required to complete the deliverables for both assessments;
- Description of comparable experience coordinating and administering similar studies;
- Proposed steps for data analysis and report writing;
- A draft DIP (including a GANTT chart).
- A detailed breakdown of costs for the study including itemized consultancy fees/costs;
- Curriculum Vitae(s) of the lead consultant and support;
- Confirmation of active FWA;
- Names and contact details of two references;
- A copy of a previous, similar report on formative assessment;
- A Consulting Firm profile (if applicable).
Complete applications should be submitted electronically to email: GH-Recruitments@jhpiego.org, with the subject line of: Application for Nutrition Assessments Consultancy.
CLOSING DATE: By February 21, 2022