Remote - Consultant, Surveys to improve beneficiary counting

BACKGROUND:

Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work today in around 30 countries, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The Syria crisis is often described as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the end of the Cold War. Inside Syria, 7.6 people are internally displaced and 12.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. There are more than 4 million Syrian refugees, many of whom are living in neighbouring countries. This is no short- term humanitarian episode. The devastating human consequences to huge numbers of people will endure for decades. The destruction of relationships, communities, livelihoods, homes and infrastructure will take years to repair. The IRC is offering a robust humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. With an annual budget in excess of $100 million and a rapidly expanding portfolio, supported by nearly 1000 staff, IRC is undertaking programs in Syria and the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan in the fields of health, child protection, education, women’s protection and empowerment, NFI and food distribution, cash assistance, water and sanitation, and livelihood programming.

IRC’S monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in the Syria Response Region (SRR) have mostly been set up on a program-by-program basis. Since September 2014 significant investments have been made in improving the way we keep track of the number of people served (beneficiaries) consistently across the region and all its programming parts. In January 2015 a Beneficiary Counting Guide was published that establishes the minimum expected standards, and an internal process was instituted to report beneficiary numbers in a standardized way. While country programs make continual improvements to their M&E systems to adhere to these standards, some common challenges have emerged which warrants further regional investment, particularly around coming to terms with individual people benefiting from multiple services within the same and across different sector programs.

OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF WORK:

The objectives of this consultancy are:

<>1.To verify (or otherwise identify) the most appropriate approaches to address multiple counting of unique beneficiaries within and between sector programs, balancing concerns of methodological rigor with practical feasibility

<>2.To design the one-off survey instruments (or other data collection methods) with sampling methods, the results of which will address multiple counting of unique beneficiaries

<>3.To technically support country programs in the implementation of the one-off surveys/other data collection methods 

Based on learning from all country programs during the first quarter of 2015 (since new standards and procedures have been instituted), the proposed approach to rectify instances of multiple counting of the same unique beneficiaries is to conduct one-off surveys of beneficiaries to establish their patterns of use of IRC interventions, and use the results to establish factors/formulas to apply to beneficiary count data which is known to include multiple counting.

The following sectors have been identified as priority sectors which, due largely to the nature of the programming approaches, are most susceptible to significant degrees of multiple counting. While the sector issues are similar across country programs, the precise programming is different enough to expect that bespoke surveys will be necessary for each case; however many commonalities can still be drawn upon by the consultant.

<>-Women’s Protection and Empowerment – multiple activities provided within a women’s centers, e.g. case management, counseling and drop-in psychosocial/recreational activities. This pertains to SY/TR and IQ country programs[1].

<>-Economic Recovery and Development (ERD) – NFI and cash/voucher distributions have been tracked on a grant-by-grant basis with no way to determine if some receipients were the same, which will require in principle the same  one-off survey approach, but one that is dovetailed with existing eligibility assessments and/or post-distribution monitoring processes. This pertains to SY/TR, SY/JO, SY/IQ and IQ country programs.

<>-Health – health facilities run by partners do not differentiate between total numbers of consultations, numbers of new consultations, and numbers of unique beneficiaries. A solution with methods have already been developed to address this, so the consultant will only be required to support its implementation by country programs. This pertains to SY/TR, SY/JO and IQ country programs.

Regarding multiple counting of beneficiaries between sector programs, LB, IQ and SY/IQ are the highest priorities for this consultancy. The surveys to some degree could be combined with the sector-specific ones above, depending on geographic areas of overlap between sectors. 

The specific steps required of the consultant will emerge as the work gets underway, but is expected to include the following:

<>·Fine tune these terms of reference in collaboration with the Regional M&E Coordinator and develop a plan of action for the consultancy

<>·Review current beneficiary counting guidance, reports and practices 

<>·Complete the picture of sectoral and geographic IRC service provision across country programs, if necessary. It is anticipated that a “mapping” of sector services in geographic areas will be provided by the regional office to the consultant upon starting the consultancy, however some clarifications may be necessary with country program staff.

<>·Obtain from country programs any further information required to determine the overall approach and methodology 

<>·Determine the overall approach and specificities for each sector and country program to address multiple counting issues

<>·Design survey or other data collection instruments 

<>·Determine sampling strategy in each location and calculate the samples

<>·Write methodological guidance for implementation of the surveys/data collection by country programs

<>·Provide tailored advice to country programs in preparing to implement the surveys/data collection processes. It is unknown at this stage if this will require in-country support or could be done at a distance.

<>·Develop the downstream data management processes, including data input, storage (it is anticipated that most data collection would be electronic using smartphones) and analysis.

<>·Determine the calculations of factors/formulas to be applied to beneficiary count data, ready for post-consultancy input of survey findings 

Deliverables of the consultancy will be:

• Agreed plan of action for the consultancy
• Survey/data collection instruments in user-ready and electronic forms
• Written guidance for implementation of surveys/data collection
• Database structure ready to receive data from resultant surveys/data collection
• Documented calculations of factors/formulas to be applied to beneficiary count data, ready for post-consultancy input of survey findings

REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:

• Undergraduate or graduate university degree in the relevant social science or science disciplines that use statistics, metrics, actuarial, quantitative or similar analytics
• Experience in surveying and sampling design and implementation, preferably in an NGO and/or humanitarian context and using technology
• Understanding of beneficiary tracking principles
• Excellent data management and database skills
• Fluent in English, written and oral. The ability to communicate in Arabic is an added advantage.

REQUIRED PERSONAL SKILLS:

• Ability to listen and understand others’ needs and contextualize them
• Good judgement and the ability to balance scientific/methodological rigor with practical considerations
• Proactive and self-motivated approach to work

Note: List of responsibilities, professional and personal skills are considered indicative and not exhaustive; actual duties may differ or change depending on office and agency priorities at the time.

***Please note that this is a telecommuting position***