Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) is a leading indigenous not-for-profit, non-governmental organization established in Nigeria in 1989 in response to the health and social needs of the disadvantaged groups in rural and urban communities. ARFH is committed to improving the quality of the life of the people in Nigeria and elsewhere in sub-Sahara Africa. Since its inception, ARFH has consistently responded to the public health challenges including HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria, maternal mortality and morbidity and sexual and reproductive health problems in Nigeria.

ARFH has been awarded a USAID grant to implement a 5- year (2014-2019) family-centered Local Partners for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (LOPIN) Project in selected states in the country, including Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Rivers States. The project aims at providing and expanding access to sustainable care and support services to 300,000 OVCs and 60,000 households over 5 years. One of these support services is the economic strengthening of the vulnerable households to enable them provide economic support to the orphans and vulnerable children

ARFH is inviting applications from consultancy groups/firms to carry out a comprehensive economic assessment of already enrolled 18,000 vulnerable households in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, on a short term basis.
 

POSITION : Household Economic Assessment Consultancy


Duration of assignment: 18 working days spread out between February and March 2016

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to conduct a Household Economic assessment survey for the project in order to identify socioeconomic needs of households and OVC in the 8 selected Local Government Areas across Akwa Ibom and Rivers state.
This is to establish a clear starting point for the LOPIN-REGION 1 project on Household Economic Intervention.

Methodology for Household Economic Assessment:

A quantitative approach using structured questionnaires will be used to gather key data on economic needs of each in order to inform program implementation. And any other methodologies proposed by the consultant and approved by ARFH.

The Aim and Objectives of the Household Economic Assessment Survey:

The Household Economic Assessment Survey would provide strategic information; on the current economic situation of identified vulnerable households in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states.
The Baseline Household Economic Survey will also provide data for the project as benchmarks for performance that can be monitored and used to evaluate the impact of the project at regular intervals and end of the project.
The information from the survey will be used to determine the economic capabilities of enrolled OVC households and categorizing them into three: namely households in destitution, households struggling to make ends meet and households prepared to grow. This will enable us determine the most suitable strategy to be used for each households.
Data from the Household Economic survey will be used for developing feasible economic interventions, training modules, and particularly for identifying market driven income generating enterprises.

Scope of Assignment and specific tasks (Consultants' Role)

The consultant working with Director Monitoring and Evaluation of the LOPIN-REGION 1 project will be responsible for the following:
Development of the data gathering instrument
Training of community volunteers on data collection tools
Develop data entry template
Analyze and provide a written report of the findings of the survey.
Identify preferred business or skill acquisition needs of OVCs and Household heads
Recommend most vulnerable families and older OVC for HES service support
Produce a directory of all vulnerable households indicating basic personal variables for identification, current source of income, suggested economic enterprise and estimated cost in order to inform the development of the intervention program.

Duration & Deadlines (Tentatively)
The duration of the contract will be a total period of 18 working days starting from February 2016, with approximately 5 working days in field, and will be spread out until March 2016:

First draft of assessment report due by 26th February, 2016.
Final receipt of all deliverables due by March 2016.

Qualifications
Only consultants located in Nigeria are prioritised for this assignment as ARFH will not cover international travel costs for external consultants. The following qualifications and skills will guide selection of the consultants for this assignment:

Interested persons must have cognate experience in development, implementation and assessment of public health interventions with evident capacity in conducting economic assessments, market enterprise surveys on health-related projects for economic empowerment using qualitative and quantitative methods.
The consultant should be a Senior Social Scientist with Post Graduate Degree in Economics, Sociology, Statistics or other relevant disciplines and substantial work experience in conducting similar studies/research work in Nigeria.
Prospective Consultants are expected to possess a minimum of”
Master's Degree in Social or Health Sciences, Statistics or other related fields.
Minimum of seven (7) years of relevant experience in designing and analysing quantitative surveys.
An excellent analytical and research skills with demonstrated technical report writing skill
Knowledge of OVC data collection and analysis
Relevant work experience in Households Economic strengthening to alleviate poverty, monitoring and evaluation of donor-funded OVC programs will be an added advantage.

How To Apply
Interested and qualified Consultants/Consultancy firm should send in a complete application comprising of a technical proposal and a detailed budget. All Applications should be submitted by email to: programs@arfh-ng.org and as a mail package and addressed to:
The Chief of Party, 
LOPIN-REGION 1,
ARFH HOUSE, 
Plot 815A, Army Officers' Mess Road, 
Near Ikolaba Grammar School,
Agodi G.R.A., 
Ikolaba, Ibadan

P.O. Box 30259 
Secretariat, Ibadan,
Oyo State, 
Nigeria.

Note

Applicant organizations must indicate on the Subject of the mail (LOPIN-REGION 1 Akwa-Ibom and Rivers Household Economic Assessment Consultancy).
Only the short-listed candidates will be contacted.