Consultancy for the Third Party Assessment of ACHAP Afya Project

Project Overview and Role:
ACHAP Afya is a three-year USAID/GH-funded regional project (July 7, 2020-July 3, 2023) implemented by the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform (ACHAP). ACHAP Afya aims to improve the quality of health service delivery for family planning (FP); maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (MNCAH); nutrition; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) at community and primary healthcare facility levels in Kenya and Uganda. The project does this by adopting and scaling evidence-based community health interventions in priority sub-counties/districts to confront and overcome local MNCAH and FP challenges, strengthening the capacity of communities and local organizations to implement and oversee these interventions, and use of evidence-based social and behavioral change (SBC) interventions at the community level. The project is implemented in Kilifi County in Kenya and the West Nile Region (Arua and Nebbi districts) in Uganda. ACHAP is the lead organization, with the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK) and Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB) as partners in Kenya, and Uganda, respectively.

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ACHAP Afya envisions a community where adolescent girls, women and their children experience no barriers to accessing and utilizing FP, MNCAH, Nutrition and WASH services. This will contribute to reduction in maternal and child morbidity and mortality in target counties/districts of Kenya and Uganda. In these communities by 2023, there will be:

●Increased number of women accessing FP information and services through community-based distribution channels including community-based distributors (CBDs).
●Increased number of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) using a modern family planning method.
●Increased number of newborns visited at home within 48 hours of delivery.
●Increased number of completed referrals from the community to health facilities for FP, ANC, SBA, postnatal visits, Immunization and Nutrition services
●Increased number of male partners that accompany their spouses for ANC and SBA services.
●Increased number of community health committees/health unit management committees executing quarterly action plans on improving health seeking behaviors for FP, MNCAH, Nutrition and WASH services.
●Increased number of male spouses and religious leaders empowered as champions for FP, MNCAH, Nutrition and WASH services

In Year 1, ACHAP Afya successfully held inception meetings in Kilifi in Kenya and the West Nile region of Uganda and initiated capacity-building activities for various community actors. In Year 2, the project scaled up geographical coverage of activities from 4 sub-counties to 6 sub-counties in Kilifi; and doubled the number of VHT in sub-counties in Nebbi/Arua. In preparation for Year 3 work planning, the project held co-creation and feedback workshops with sub-counties, districts/county on opportunities for transitioning and sustaining project activities. In Year 3, the project will focus on sustaining activities of Year 1 and Year 2 using opportunities identified during the co-creation activities.

The Year 3 workplan activities will be funded through 2 funding streams: USAID Core to support FP community interventions and NPI EXPAND project for community MNCAH interventions, including integration with Nutrition and WASH community interventions. Despite differences in funding sources, the project will be implemented in an integrated manner to ensure continuity of services at the community level. As part of the closeout and transition of project activities, the project will focus on documenting project successes.

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Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
NPI EXPAND is seeking a qualified individual consultant to provide third-party monitoring services that will entail independent monitoring and verification of project activities implementation, assess the level of stakeholder engagement, examine project processes and procedures, monitor the context, data quality assessment, and identifying implementation gaps and based on this derive lessons and make recommendations for improvement.

Phase 1: 2 weeks - Preparation (Document Review and site visit planning)
●Review ACHAP documents (performance reports, workplan, virtual site visit field reports, ACHAP USAID family planning compliance plan, environmental risk mitigation and compliance plan, relevant MoH guidance/policy documents, etc.)
●Review ACHAP's MEL system (data collection tools/processes, etc.).
●Review performance indicators, indicator reference sheets, data collected, and performance against targets to date
●Talk with other stakeholders as needed (e.g., Ministry of Health and sub-partners CHAK and UCMB) to better understand how ACHAP Afya project activities support the community health system.
●Complete USAID Family Planning Compliance training and incorporate as appropriate into monitoring tool/interview guide
●Prepare an interview guide/site visit reporting tool for site visits
●Identify a selection of community sites using evidence-based methods and adapt based on-the-ground logistical realities.
○Site visits would include 3-4 visits per day over a 5-day trip
○Prioritize community site over health facilities
○Each health facility visit would be coupled with 1-3 community outreach activities within catchment areas (e.g., household visit, supportive supervision visit, community meetings.)
○Identify community groups to be visited - male champions, religious leaders, mother to mother groups and teen mothers’ groups
●Document best practices that can be shared across sites and can be published.
●Set up biweekly standing meeting with ACHAP and AOR team to track progress to date against objectives.

Phase 2: 3-4 weeks - Site visits (Field visits + data quality assessments)
●Contingent on on-the-ground logistical realities, we anticipate 2 field visits (1 week each for both country where ACHAP Afya projects are implemented: Kenya and Uganda)
●Each site visit would include 15 site visits over the course of a week. Approximately 3 site visits a day for 5 days.
●Coordinate closely with ACHAP, sub-partners (CHAK and UCMB), and Ministry officials in conducting site visits and data quality assessments to promote collective learning.
●The site visits would include a mix of community meetings, household visits, supportive supervision visits (CHA with CHW), and health facility visits around a specific catchment area to verify data collection on community activities/supportive supervision/past health worker training.
●Complete USAID Recommended Data Quality Assessment Checklist for each USAID standard USAID performance planning and reporting (PPR) indicator
●Verify data for PPR indicators as part of data quality assessments
●Use photos as data collection tool

Phase 3: 2-3 weeks - Analyses/report writing/share finding with ACHAP first, then AOR team as learning exercise
●Analyze data from site visits and data quality assessments (DQA).
●Identify key findings and draft a short report with recommended follow-up action items, including potential success stories.
●Disseminate findings to ACHAP first as a learning session and AOR team.

Consultancy Deliverables:
●Completed data quality assessment checklist for USAID standard indicators for select project sites in both Uganda and Kenya
●Site visit data collection tool/interview guide
●Field/site visit reports.
●Tools and other materials for mentoring as needed
●Final report on key findings, learning, and recommendations.
●A summary presentation on key findings, learning, and recommendations
Resources:
The following and links to resources related to this assignment:
●USAID How-To Guide: Planning and Conducting Site Visits
●USAID Recommended Data Quality Assessment Checklist (ADS 201 Additional Help)
●USAID Performance Monitoring and Evaluation: TIPS: Conducting Data Quality Assessments
●USAID Monitoring Toolkit
●USAID Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting Toolkit - M&E for Learning
●USAID Family Planning Compliance Online Training

Required Qualifications:
This position is open to individual consultants with the following qualifications:

●Extensive experience with and knowledge in USAID’s MEL policies
●Knowledgeable with and solid experience in USAID guidance around performance monitoring and data quality assessment (DQA) procedures
●Prior field experience conducting data verification through third party monitoring.
●Prior experience designing and conducting USAID evaluations.
●Knowledgeable about the Kenyan and Ugandan community health system and contextual USAID guidance around performance monitoring.
●Familiarity with USAID family planning, MNCH and environmental risk mitigation compliance or willingness to learn and integrate into work as appropriate.

Assignment Location and Supervision:
The Consultant will report to the NPI EXPAND’s Manager for Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning, based in Washington DC, USA. The location of this assignment will be Nairobi, Kenya with field visits to Kilifi County in Kenya Coast, and Arua and Nebbi districts in West Nile Region in Uganda.

NPI EXPAND Kenya’s Country Team Lead and Capacity Development Director (both based in Nairobi, Kenya) may provide field-based support to the consultant, as may be required. 

Anticipated Period of Performance and Level of Effort
This consultancy is anticipated to take a maximum of 63 days from August 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
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