Local Consultant: Baseline Assessment of the Project Strengthening Midwifery Practice in Tanzania

Tanzania

UNFPA Tanzania Call for a Consultant: Baseline Assessment Midwifrey Project. Please download the relevant document at the top of this post: TOR and RFQ

Supervisory and Administrative Arrangements

The consultant(s) will work under the overall guidance of the UNFPA Deputy Country Representative and will be directly supervised by the Project Manager. The monitoring and Evaluation Specialist will be the focal person for day-to-day technical support. Selected members of the midwifery consortium and implementing partners will constitute the reference group and will be responsible for quality assurance and approval of the inception report and final report. The consultants will work closely with the UNFPA Operations unit for administrative and contractual matters.

Scope of the Assessment 

The consultant will be provided with a refined results framework with indicators that will be applied to benchmark. The selected consultants are expected to conduct interviews with key informants from selected training institutions, health care workers, the Ministry of Health, PORALG, local government officials from selected districts and health facilities, Community Health Workers, as well as community structures representatives; and conduct facility assessments through direct observation. The consultants will gather secondary data from the selected districts as well as at the national level as necessary. Focus group discussions with community members, particularly community leaders, women, men, first-time young mothers, and male and female adolescents/youth, will be conducted.

The consultants are expected to propose approaches and methodologies to achieve the objectives mentioned in the project proposal.

Ethical Clearance. 

The selected consultant will be required to apply for the expedited ethical clearance to the National Institute for Medical Research and seek fieldwork permission to the relevant authorities.

Expected Deliverables

1. Inception report containing a detailed work plan for the entire duration of the consultancy, data collection tools, sampling frame and final baseline report outline to be submitted and presented in a week’s time following the signing of the agreement.
2. Draft baseline report validated with key stakeholders.
3. Final baseline report in electronic and a standard outline format, and
4. Dataset in Excel format and transcribed qualitative information in a word format.

Consultants Roles:

The baseline assessment will be conducted by an institution or a firm. The institution must have a good track record and extensive experience in planning and conducting evaluations, particularly in the health field, focusing on RMNCAH services and HRH. The composition of the proposed assessment team should be gender balanced and include a team leader and team members.

The team leader:

Will be responsible for the overall assessment process and the deliverables production, designing of the data collection tools, methodologies for collecting required information. The team leader will ensure the designed and final baseline reports are prepared and shared as per agreed timeline. She/He will lead and coordinate the assessment team’s work during all phases of the assessment and be responsible for the quality assurance of all deliverables. She/He will liaise with the UNFPA project manager and reference group to ensure the interest of the project is well addressed.

Team Members:

Will support the team leader in data collection, contribute to data analysis and design and final report writing and provide expertise in midwifery workforce education and training in line with international and national standards.

Qualifications.

Team Leader’s qualification and experience.

• Must hold at least a master’s degree in one or more of the disciplines relevant to the following areas: Public health, Midwifery, and other health-related academic qualifications.
• At least ten (10) years of recognized experience in conducting or managing/leading evaluations or reviews of development programmes and experience as team leader of the evaluation team and as the main writer of evaluation reports.
• Extensive experience with Tanzania’s health systems and exposure to working in or with the health sector, including developing prime policy documents and evaluation.
• Experience in the evaluation of similar projects and should share at least one recent report.
• Expertise in quantitative and qualitative evaluation/research methods.
• Experience and familiarity with midwifery and or nursing associations, regulation and education practices, guidelines, and policies governing practice in Tanzania.
• Familiarity with analysis of human rights and gender-related factors and other social determinants that affect the performance of midwives and RMNCAH service utilization.
• Excellent analysis skills in writing evaluation reports with constructive and practical recommendations.
• Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of Kiswahili will be an asset.

Team Member(s)’s qualifications and experience.

• An advanced degree in Midwifery, Master of Public Health, or equivalent qualification.  5 years’ experience in the Tanzania health sector, particularly in midwifery and or nursing education and training.
• Substantive experience and expertise in developing/designing and implementing midwifery education and training programs.
• Experience and familiarity with the Midwifery and or Nursing Association, Regulation and Education practices, guidelines and policies governing practice in Tanzania.
• Experience in research and teaching.
• Good knowledge of the national development context.
• Excellent data analysis skills in qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Excellent analytical, writing and communication skills.

Permission and Legal Requirements

The selected consultancy firm shall be responsible for applying to legal permission and administrative approvals to undertake assessments from the relevant authorities, including expedited ethical clearance as may be required.

Duration of the consultancy

The duration of the consultancy is scheduled to last no more than 30 working days to be completed within a period of three months. The study is expected to take off in early July 2024. For further information, please download the relevant document at the top of this post: TOR and RFQ