Field Researcher at Nigerian Red Cross Society

The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) was established through an Act of the Parliament in 1960 to complement public authorities in humanitarian interventions with the mandate to prevent and alleviate human suffering at times of peace or conflict, and to support individuals and communities to respond effectively to emergencies, without any form of discrimination as to class, gender, race, political opinions or religion.

• Job Position: Field Researcher
• Job Locations: Benue and Cross River

Job Location

• The quest for self-determination by the Anglophone regions of the Republic of Cameroon has created a humanitarian crisis leading to the movement of several persons in that region across the border to neighbouring communities in Nigeria. As at 31st January 2021, a total of 63,235 refugees were biometrically verified. These consisted of 54.4% females, 45.6% Males, The Cameroon refugees are predominantly in the Nigerian border states of Cross River (37,558/59.4%), Taraba (14,501/22.9%) and Benue (9,945/15.7%). A total of 8,507 (13.5%) are under-fives, and 13,658 (29.6%) women of reproductive age.
• The UNHCR has developed 4 settlements which are hosting 33,050 (52.3%) of the refugees. The Adagom, Okende and Adagom3 settlements in Ogoja LGA of Cross River are hosting 23,114 refugees while the Ikyogen settlement in Kwande LGA of Benue State is hosting 9,935 refugees. The refugee settlements are near the respective host communities and share essential services. The remaining refugees live in the various host communities predominantly in rural communities.
• While seeking durable solutions to the refugee situation, the UNHCR through the Nigerian Red Cross Society is currently supporting the refugees through several interventions to guarantee access to health, education and livelihood opportunities at the same level as the host communities. The UNHCR is also providing cash grants for food in the settlement (Cash based intervention)
• The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) is a recipient of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) funds to implement ‘Delivering Health and Nutrition Assistance to Cameroon Refugees’ Project. ‘Delivering Health and Nutrition Assistance to Cameroon Refugees’ intervention strategy is focused on integrating refugees and asylum seekers’ healthcare into the Nigerian health and insurance systems, create simultaneous access to livelihood so refugees can be self-reliant and gradually de-escalate health support. The project is focused on strengthening the health care systems in refugees host communities across three states (Benue, Cross River and Taraba) without creating parallel systems.

Problems and Operational Context

• The UNHCR gives priority to ensuring good nutrition outcomes in refugee settings. Since the beginning of the Cameroon refugee situation, there is yet to be a detailed nutrition assessment.
• The Nigeria Nutrition and Health survey conducted in 2018 (NNHS 2018) report did not capture the refugee population who are more vulnerable. Rapid anthropometric surveys and facility data however suggests a high population of chronic malnutrition (stunting) and moderate acute malnutrition among the refugees and host communities.
• As part of the NRCS refugee project deliverables, a strong need for a detailed nutrition survey such as the Standardised Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) * as an opportunity to collect nutrition and other key data needed for programme planning and improvement.
• The new Standardised Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) guidelines provide partners with practical, step-by-step guidance on how to collect nutrition data to establish a standardised data collection procedure that also uses cutting-edge, streamlined mobile technologies. The data collected using SENS will then inform future programme direction and interventions. The SENS guidelines in field operations will promote improved monitoring of nutrition indexes, as nutrition continues to be a concern in most refugee contexts.
• NRCS will ensure deployment of SENS tool for continuous measurement of refugees’ nutrition levels, including anaemia, so as to react in a timely manner to problems and support assessment and programme planning in other sectors http://sens.unhcr.org/

Project Locations:
There are four refugee settlement established by UNHCR in Benue and Cross River States. The settlements are full to capacity.

State – LGAs:

• Benue – Ikyogen settlement in Adikpo
• Cross River – Adagom, Okende and Adagom 3 settlements in Ogoja LGA

Overall Purpose and Scope of Assignment

• The survey will be developed using the SMART methodology and UNHCR Standardised Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) guidelines for refugee populations (Version 3, 2019). Anthropometric indicators will be generated using ENA for SMART software.
• The Researcher will lead and oversee the UNHCR/NRCS SENS process in the four settlements (Ikyogen, Adagom 1&2, Adagom 3 and Ukende) and settlement host communities from planning to training, implementation of data collection, data quality checks, data analysis, report writing and publications. The research team shall use all the SENS modules to gather nutrition and other key data. These modules include Demography, Anthropometry and health, Anaemia, Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF), Food security, Mosquito net coverage, and Water sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

The Researcher will ensure that:

• Survey protocol, time line, and sampling procedure is elaborated and ratified by UNHCR/NRCS.
• Obtain ethics approval
• Appropriate survey personnel are recruited
• Sufficient training is given to the survey teams
• Standardisation tests are undertaken for measurers
• SENS Questionnaires are adapted in collaboration with partners, and field tested
• Materials are tested for accuracy on a regular basis throughout the survey
• Quality of data collection and data entry is appropriate through proper supervision
• The data is analysed according to the UNHCR SENS guidelines

Job Responsibilities

• A nutrition survey report is produced according to the UNHCR SENS guidelines
• Raw Data is shared with UNHCR/NRCS.
• A presentation of the preliminary SENS findings is made to all partners involved to discuss the recommendations.
• A final SENS report complying to UNHCR SENS standards, including recommendations on actions to address the situation is to be submitted at the end of the Consultancy.
• Relevant journal articles published in high impact journal with UNHCR and NRCS as contributing authors.

Time frame:

• The survey will last approximately 2 months starting from June 3, 2021.

Job Requirements
The research team will:

• Have a critical mass of researchers with advanced education in nutrition, with a specific competency in humanitarian context.
• 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 SENS, SMART survey methodology and ENA for SMART, Epi Info software.
• Be familiar with analysing nutrition surveys with multiple indicators, beyond the basic anthropometric (SMART) indicators.
• Prior experience with conducting SENS surveys in refugee contexts is an asset.
• Must be affiliated to an institution of higher academic training such as university or teaching hospital.

Level of responsibilities required:

• 5 – 9 years of Experience

Evaluation and Award Process:
The research proposals shall be evaluated by an evaluation committee using the following weights:

• Technical and Management Approach – 20
• Qualifications – 20
• Research Publications on nutrition – 10
• Past Experience – 20
• Cost – 30
• Total Possible – 100 points

NRCS reserves the right to award under this solicitation without further negotiations. Researchers are encouraged to offer their best terms and prices with the original submission.

Closing Date
5pm: 21st May, 2021.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates are required to submit the following items below as part of the grant proposal:

Application Requirements

• Personnel CV(s)
• Technical Proposal & Management Approach
• Past Experience Information/Capability Statement
• Past Performance Information and Reference Information (Contact/Program Name etc)
•  Relevant publications of team members on thematic area
•  Past Performance or Trade References; performance reviews
• Financial Proposal detailing costs to be incurred with respect of the deliverables to be accomplished. Details of costs should be provided: number of consultants, number of data collectors, daily rate/LOE, travel, accommodation, per diem, material, communication etc. No lump sum cost will be accepted.
• By submitting a proposal, potential suppliers are bound by UNHCR/NRCS code of conduct, terms and conditions.

All applications must be send through the following two channels:
Soft copies of the required documents send to: grant@redcrossnigeria.org using the “SENS Survey Grant” as the subject of the email.
Or
Submit Hard copies at:
The Secretary General,
Nigerian Red Cross Society, National Headquarters,
Plot 589, T.O.S. Benson Crescent Off Ngozi Okonjo Iweala Street,
Utako District, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.

Note

• Applications who do not follow this specification, will be disqualified.
• Only Short-listed researchers will be contacted.