TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES

END OF PROJECT ASSESSMENT FOR THE LEARNING FOR LIFE II PROJECT

1. Introduction

1.1. About Amref Health Africa

Amref Health Africa (“Amref”) is the largest international health development organization based in Africa. Working with and through African communities, health systems and governments. Amref’s vision is lasting health change in Africa and is committed to improving the health of people in Africa by partnering with and empowering communities, and strengthening health systems. For more on Amref please visit www.amref.org.

Amref has had a presence in Zambia for a number of decades, starting with partnering with communities to improve health in Zambia in the 1970s. Since 2014, Amref Health Africa, through multiple partnerships, has been working across Zambia with a diverse range of communities and projects. One of these projects has been the Learning for Life project that promotes e of digital learning for the health workforce.

Amref now has a growing portfolio of projects in Zambia focusing on health systems strengthening, including community health, MNCH, and health workforce development. Innovations in digital health, including building capacity and deploying and scaling digital tools, have been key components of programs across these focus areas.

1.2. Project Context

Learning for Life (L4L) II is a project that has been implemented by Amref since January 2024. The aim of the project is to make it easy for the enrolled nurses to access training to remain relevant in the Zambia health system, while having minimum disruption to the already stretched health services. Working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Zambia (NMCZ), we have leveraged Amref’s Jibu digital learning solution to design, develop and implement a sustainable, blended learning programme to upgrade over 700 enrolled nurses to registered nursing in phase one in an effort to improve the quality of health services in Zambia. In phase II, the focus has been to support both the abridged and regular learners through the provision of the Learning Management System called Jibu as an enabler to their learning journey. The main objective is to assist 2000 abridged and regular learners to have ease of access to the training modules. Furthermore, Amref has supported the training of Nursing and Midwifery Educators in Essential New-born Care while providing partial scholarships to Abridged learners and Neonatal nurses covering tuition fees. This has happened with strong collaboration with Zambian learning institutions offering various nursing courses especially the abridged nursing course, but not exclusively.

As the project is nearing its closure, Amref Zambia wishes to conduct an End of Project Assessment to obtain feedback on the performance of the Learning for Life II Project with the view to document the impact and lessons that can be applied to future programming of similar projects.

1.3. Objectives of the assessment

The assessment will be conducted with the following objectives:

i. To evaluate the project activities against the project objectives and overall goal.
ii. To assess the sustainability of the results gained and ability for MoH/NMCZ to scale up.
iii. To identify major external factors that influenced or impacted on the implementation of the project and evaluate their implication on future interventions.
iv. To highlight lessons learned and best practices from the project and make recommendations for future strategies.

2. Consultancy Deliverables

The Consultant will be recruited to provide the following:

(i) Understand the endline requirements as proposed by the MEL country team and produce the inception report.
(ii) Take responsibility for recruiting and training qualified research assistants who possess the necessary experience and technical skills to conduct interviews by ethical procedures.
(iii) Oversee and coordinate data collection activities in adherence to the provided methodologies, ensuring effective surveys are conducted. This coordination will also involve collaboration with the MEL country team and L4L project implementation team.
(iv) Undertake the progressive transcription of audio recordings made by research assistants, submitting both audio recordings and transcripts to the Amref team on a daily, weekly basis or as will be agreed.
(v) Adhere to established data quality assurance checks and ethical procedures, including the submission of raw data and signed consent forms.
(vi) Analyze information at the country office level and generate the necessary information and reports as per the country office’s requirements.

3. Implementation Schedule

The timelines below indicate the total amount of time that passes from the beginning of the activity to its end (elapsed time), excluding holiday and other non-working days consumed or required in completing  that activity. In total, the activity is expected to take 25 days.

4. Methodology

4.1. Overall Objective

The overall purpose of the assignment is to undertake the end of project assessment in selected Amref supported nurse training Institutions and facilities. Currently Amref is supporting 40 training institutions across 10 provinces and the assessment will be conducted in 10 provinces (North-Western, Northern, Central, Muchinga, Copperbelt, Luapula, Lusaka, Eastern, Southern, Western). Primarily, to document outcomes of the project and highlight lessons learnt and best practices by regulators, tutors and learners (enrolled nurses and regular learners) through the use of digital learning management platform which will inform future programming for related programmes for Amref Health Africa.

The assessment is also expected to provide insights into factors that enabled and or constrained the achievement of intended results. This study is cognisant to the implementation period of the interventions and will, therefore, focus on the intermediate outcomes.

4.2. Methods and approach

A mixed method participatory approach or any suitable approach should be utilized. This means that both quantitative and qualitative methods should be used including mixing these methods in the same study tools where appropriate in order to adequately respond to the evaluation objectives and assessment areas.

Evaluation Criteria

The study approach should be cognisant to the implementation period (1st November, 2023 to 31st October, 2024) of the interventions and, therefore, should focus on the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability aspects of the project. Key tools to be used should be highlighted and include interview guide with the project implementers, KII interview schedule and FGD guide with project beneficiaries i.e. enrolled nurses, regular learners, lecturers/ clinical instructors and other stakeholders.

5. Reporting and specific clauses

5.1. Assumptions

That Amref will:

• Provide, in a timely manner, all documents and information that may be necessary for the execution of this assignment. This refers to available reference material needed for execution of the assignment;
• Nominate a specific Single Point of Contact (SPOC) to coordinate, as well as take ownership of and responsibility for the outputs from the work to be done, as well as to manage the Amref counterpart team on a day-to-day basis;
• Communicate promptly, changes and developments that are relevant to the execution of this assignment;
• Provide a cross-functional (from diverse backgrounds e.g. Public Health, Communication, Finance etc.) counterpart project team, to participate in the assignment for the duration of the assignment. This is a ‘Co-Create’ assignment rather than a ‘Turnkey’ assignment.
• Facilitate/arrange interviews with key stakeholders by scheduling and ensuring availability of management and staff, when required, according to the agreed project schedule;
• Review and provide feedback on project deliverables and artefacts within agreed timelines;
• Meet the costs of all disbursements;

In addition to the tasks in the scope of work, the Consultant will:

• Exercise due care, skill, and attention in the provision of services;
• Undertake the work required in accordance with the scope and process agreed upon prior to the commencement of work;
• Provide management with the necessary information required to make an informed decision on most suitable options – rather than choose options on behalf of Amref; and
• Communicate promptly, changes and developments that are relevant to the execution of this assignment.

The Consultant will:

• Develop an endline study protocol and data collection tools
• Obtain ethical approvals in coordination with Amref Health Africa in Zambia Team
• Coordinate the training and data collection activities as per methodologies provided and ensure surveys are undertaken effectively, also in coordination with the MEL country team
• The consultant will analyze information at the country office level, and work with the MEL country team to produce information for the country office.

6. Expected profile of the consultant

The End of Project Assessment will be contracted to a Firm or Individual to lead and execute. The Lead Consultant should have the following expertise

(i) Demonstrated minimum of 5 years experience in conducting similar studies that cover an organization, with similar experience in coordination and analysis across similar and operational areas. It will be required that consultants submit work in the recent past, with a preference for having undertaken studies with a similar or greater scope within the programming areas.
(ii) Good understanding of the Zambia health sector and context
(iii) Demonstrated experience in health system strengthening; in-depth knowledge of areas digital learning and blended learning.
(iv) Sound statistical background with working expertise in relevant software; Experience working with tools development, sampling and surveys is required.
(v) Excellent in-depth analytical and report-writing skills; Experience in developing reports and presentations with easy-to-read graphics is highly preferred
(vi) If it is a Firm, the Consultant should possess a valid Certificate of registration/incorporation and a valid Tax Clearance Certificate.

6.1. Amref Health Africa Safeguarding policy:

All organizations are required to adopt their own safeguarding policy that reflects the guidelines contained herein as minimum requirements. For the purpose of this Engagement Letter, safeguarding means protecting people, including children and at risk adults, from harm that arises from coming into contact with our staff or programs. We will protect them using a framework based on the three pillars of Prevention, Reporting, and Response:

1. Proactively identifying, preventing and guarding against all risks of harm, exploitation and abuse, beginning with raising awareness of these issues as a first step in prevention
2. Establishing and promoting effective systems for reporting potential harm or abuse, which are survivor centered, and also protect those accused until proven guilty; and
3. Respond appropriately and learning where risks occur.
4. This definition draws on our values (Integrity, Quality and Ubuntu) and principles, which shape our culture. Safeguarding puts beneficiaries and affected persons at the centre of all we do.

All Amref clients, consultants, representatives and partner organisations must be aware of and adhere to this policy. In addition to complying with the policy all representatives must sign and will be held accountable to the Safeguarding policy. (A copy of the Amref Health Africa Partners safeguarding guidelines for your reading, understanding and use is available upon request).

6.2. Safekeeping and non-disclosure:

1. The consultant is expected to safeguard any materials given to them and ensure their safe return to Amref Health Africa in Zambia.
2. The consultant is also expected to adhere to the Amref Health Africa’s non-disclosure policy.

7. Expenses and payment schedule

The consultant will invoice Amref Health Africa against agreed-upon milestones. Provide a detailed cost proposal and breakdown in Zambia Kwacha for the consultancy. This will include all costs incurred and all other costs of travel within and outside of Lusaka, and accommodation when on travel.

8. How to Apply

Interested consultants should submit the following by 15th September, 2024;

• Understanding and interpretation of the TORs
• Methodology to be used in undertaking the assignment
• Time and activity schedule
• Samples of the two most recent related works (and references for the same)
• Curriculum vitae of the key personnel
• Financial proposal
• Please indicate ‘’L4L II End of Project Assessment’’, as the subject heading.
• If it is a Firm, the Consultant should submit a valid Certificate of registration/incorporation and a valid Tax Clearance Certificate.

9. Contacts

Applications must be sent to the following email: recruitment.zambia@Amref.org copying in Brenda.Mubita@amref.org Lister.Banda@amref.org. Further clarifications or request for more information on technical issues related to the application can be sent to: Gabriel.Mwila@amref.org or Brenda.Mubita@amref.org or Lister.Banda@amref.org Levy.Mkandawire@amref.org. The consultant is expected to work closely with the Amref Zambia Monitoring and Evaluation team whose contact person is Gabriel Mwila (Gabriel.Mwila@amref.org).

10. Evaluation and award of consultancy

Amref Health Africa will evaluate the proposals and award the assignment based on sound technical and financial feasibility. Amref Health Africa reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal received without giving reasons and is not bound to accept the lowest or highest bidder. Data collected shall remain the property of Ministry of Health, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Zambia and Amref.