Survey on Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices (IYCF) Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP)

Trócaire is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland and works with some of the world’s poorest people, supporting communities and delivering long-term change to people’s lives. Established in 1973 by the Bishops of Ireland, today Trócaire works in over 20 countries on issues including livelihoods, human rights, gender equality, HIV, climate change and emergency relief. In Ireland, we raise awareness about the causes of poverty through our outreach programmes in the education sector, through parish networks, and through our public campaigns and advocacy work. Trócaire was established to express the concern of the Irish Catholic Church for any form of human need, but particularly for the needs and problems of under-developed communities by the relief of poverty and the advancement of education. More information about Trócaire can be found on http://www.trocaire.org/.

Context of Work

Trocaire has been working in Gedo region, Somalia since 1992 providing comprehensive primary health and nutrition care services to the population, these services includes clinical services, nutrition, and community health which is inclusive of health infrastructure development. Since 2013, Irish Aid through the Emergency Humanitarian Fund (HPP) is supporting the implementation of nutrition interventions in Gedo. While Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) has been the key intervention, Trocaire also focuses on strengthening nutrition behaviour change communication (BCC) using Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) sensitization and hygiene promotion interventions through health education, Mother to Mother Support Group (MTMSG) sessions and one on one IYCF counselling. The communities targeted by the project are diverse and include IDP’s, rural and urban host communities, and marginalised groups including riverine communities in remote hard to reach areas.

Scope of Work

Overall Objective

The main objective of this survey is to determine knowledge, attitude and practices of infant and young child feeding practices in selected districts of Belet Hawa, Dollow and Luuq, The study will also identify an implementation strategy that is feasible in terms of program quality and community involvement to scale up the most effective approach to promote better child feeding practices.

Specific Objectives

A baseline study was conducted for Trocaire in 2018, and hence this current study shall be making comparisons with the 2018 findings throughout and more so to determine the changes or outcomes that have taken place between 2018 and now. The specific objectives shall include:

§ To assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practices on infant and young child feeding among the target population living in the Gedo region of Somalia – guided by WHO’s core Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) indicators.

§ To determine the knowledge, attitude and practices on health seeking and treatment during illness and establish the community perception on child’s health in relation to IYCF

§ To determine key challenges i.e. Knowledge gaps, beliefs and practices to appropriate IYCF practices and make suggestions on how these can be overcome

§ To assess the effects of culture on optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices

§ To assess progress on previous recommendations and further recommend feasible interventions/strategies to complement the on-going efforts in promoting appropriate IYCF practices in the targeted communities

§ To identify knowledge gaps, cultural beliefs, or behavioural patterns and practices that create barriers to infant and young child feeding and care practices and design appropriate behaviour change communication and provide sustainable recommendations to strengthen the nutrition activities based on the survey findings.

Proposed Methodology

The survey will be conducted in Gedo region, Somalia in Luuq, Dollow and Beled Hawa districts. The respondents shall be members of households supported by the project. The survey will employ both qualitative and quantitative methodologies including document review, in-depth survey with households in the targeted communities, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and observation. A mixed method approach is adopted to ensure adequate data triangulation while gathering information from beneficiaries and relevant stakeholders.

The survey shall employ various sampling approaches to select respondents within the targeted communities. The survey questionnaire will adopt a two-stage cluster sampling approach. The first stage will select the cluster with the village defined as the smallest administrative unit. The second stage sampling will select the households with children aged between 0 and 23 months from the sampled villages/clusters; and will use the sampling framework from the 2018 KAP survey as a reference point. The margin of error shall aim to be 5% but should not exceed 10%. A 95% confidence interval should be used.

The KII and FGD should adopt a purposive sampling approach based on pre-agreed criteria. Key informants interviewees should be selected jointly with Trócaire and will include (but not limited to) programme staff, health workers, community workers, District Health Board (DHB) staff and members, community leaders, women leaders, religious leaders, local/ regional administration and other sector implementing partners such as donors, INGOs and LNGOs. FGDs should include but not limited to primary caregivers (mothers, fathers, grandparents) who are beneficiaries of the project and community members.

The consultant shall be required to develop a detailed methodology, sampling framework and all the tools required for the survey, FGDs and KIIs.

Deliverables

The consultant shall be expected to provide an inception report to guide the survey, develop and finalize all required data collection tools, digitize data collection tools, collect and analyze the data using appropriate software and develop a comprehensive report including the findings and recommendations. The consultant‘s specific deliverables will include:

  1. An inception meeting with the programme staff to review the project and kick off the assignment
  2. Desk review of key project documents
  3. Development of an inception report which should include a summary of the desk review, the methodology, tools, sampling framework, work plan , ethical considerations and a quality management plan for the assignment.
  4. Development of all tools required for the study
  5. Development of a sampling framework for both quantitative and qualitative processes
  6. Recruitment and training of enumerators
  7. Uploading of data collection tools on a secure and credible data collection platform
  8. Data collection in the field using the data collection software (all data shall be collected in person in Gedo)
  9. Data cleaning and analysis using reliable and credible software
  10. Development of a draft report
  11. General oversight and coordination of the survey
  12. Incorporation of feedback from Trocaire on the draft report
  13. Submission of a final report in the format below:

§ Executive Summary

§ Context

§ Project Overview

§ Introduction to the Study

§ Description of Methodology

§ Main findings

§ Conclusions

§ Actionable Recommendations

  1. A PowerPoint presentation on the KAP survey to Trocaire management and programme team that will include the survey methodology, key findings and recommendations to take forward.
  2. Overall quality management of the whole survey

The consultant shall be required to provide all data sets, electronic version of the final report and electronic version of the final PowerPoint presentation to Trocaire.

Trocaire shall be responsible for mobilization of all respondents and provision of transport, accommodation and meals during fieldwork.

The study is expected to commence in September and take 30 working days.

Ethical considerations

The consultant is required to uphold the 7 GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) principles throughout the study; these include lawfulness, fairness and transparency; purpose limitation; data minimisation; accuracy; storage limitation; integrity and confidentiality (security); and accountability.

The consultant should:

§ Take all reasonable steps to ensure that the survey is designed and conducted to respect and protect the rights and welfare of the people and communities involved.

§ Ensure that the evaluation is accurate and reliable, is conducted in a transparent and impartial manner and contributes to organizational learning and accountability.

§ Commit to adhering to Trócaire’s Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct.

All products arising from this evaluation will be owned by Trocaire. The evaluators will not be allowed without prior authorization in writing to present any of the analytical results as his or her own to make use of the evaluation results for publication purposes.

Required Competencies

  1. Minimum 5 years’ experience in conducting evaluations/ surveys/ assessments (Experience in Somalia context is desirable).
  2. Demonstrated experience in humanitarian programmes preferably in Health and Nutrition thematic area (experience of a similar assignment in Somalia will be an advantage).
  3. Proven strong skills in community participatory approaches.
  4. Mandatory skills in data collection and analysis software and report development.
  5. Strong spoken and written English language skills (report should be written in English). Knowledge of Somali language is an added advantage.
  6. Ability to make clear presentations and disseminate findings to both technical and non-technical audience.

Application Process

Interested candidates should present the following:

· Technical proposal detailing the consultant/s profile, evidence of similar assignments, understanding of the tasks as stipulated in the TOR, proposed methodology, tools, sampling framework and proposed work plan of survey execution.

· A financial proposal with a detailed budget considering the details and timelines in this ToR. The consultant is expected to provide an itemized budget breakdown for every component required based on the deliverables.

T

How to apply

he application should be submitted to procurement-som@trocaire.org indicating ‘Trocaire Somalia, KAP Survey’ as the subject.

Deadline for submission is 30th August COB.

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