Strengthening the capacity of the National Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight Malnutrition in Cameroon

Support to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Malnutrition in Cameroon

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BACKGROUND

 

Over the past 25 years, Cameroon has made little progress in reducing undernutrition. The prevalence of stunting increased from 24.4% in 1991 to 32% in 2014. Likewise, the prevalence of wasting in children under 5 increased from 3% in 1991 to 5.2% in 2014, while the proportion of underweight children increased from 13.6% to 14.8% during the same period (Figure 1). Micronutrient deficiencies are also of concern. The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency among children under 5 is 39%, and it is 18% among pregnant women. Anaemia is common among pregnant women and children, affecting nearly 40% and 58% of them, respectively. Moreover, the prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia ranges from 12% to 47.4% among children and from 9% to 19.4% among women. At the same time, the country is experiencing a nutrition transition fuelled by a rapid urbanisation and changes in diet and lifestyle patterns, with an increasing number of children who are overweight, obese or suffering from diet-related chronic diseases. Nearly 7% of children under 5 in Cameroon are overweight.

 

Until recently, these different forms of malnutrition have been tackled in a fragmented way in Cameroon and, as a result, very little progress has been made. Going forward, there is a need for a more focused approach that addresses malnutrition in a comprehensive way and improve coverage of key nutrition interventions. One of the barriers preventing children and mothers from receiving key nutrition interventions in Cameroon is a weak multi-sectoral nutrition system at national and decentralized levels. The Government of Cameroon has established an Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition that has a mandate to ensure the coordination of nutrition interventions across many sectors.  However, this committee is not functional and does not have the convening power necessary to unite stakeholders around a common platform. As a result, nutrition activities are dispersed across several ministries, departments and agencies, creating a major impediment to the implementation of nutrition-sensitive interventions. Going forward, there is a need to improve nutrition governance and unite stakeholders united around a common results framework. Consequently, the Nutrition Section proposes to recruit a consultant to the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition to bolster its technical capacity to drive the nutrition agenda and put in place a strong multi-sectoral nutrition system that allows the delivery of both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

OBJECTIVE

 

The purpose of this consultancy is to reinforce the capacity of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition and support the committee in putting in place a strong multi-sectoral nutrition system that allows the delivery of both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

 

The specific objectives of the consultancy are as follows:

 

• Provide technical assistance to the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition and facilitate the finalization of a national multi-sectoral implementation plan to reduce malnutrition
• Act as a technical advisor to the chair of the the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition

• Provide strategic guidance to the committee to monitor and coordinate all nutrition interventions at national and decentralized levels.

   

ACTIVITIES, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINES AND BUDGET PER DELIVERABLE

 

The activities to be taken up and completed during the course of the assignment are summarized in the table below:

 

Time allocated	Key tasks
30%	1.      Provide technical assistance to the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition and facilitate the finalization of a national multi-sectoral implementation plan to reduce malnutrition   o   Support the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition to finalize the national multi-sectoral implementation plan to reduce malnutrition and its budgeting. o   Support the committee to produce other strategic documents on nutrition o   Produce monthly reports that give an update of the activities of the commitee
40%	2.      Act as a technical advisor to the the Inter-Ministerial Committee to fight malnutrition and its chair   Support the chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee in developing a clear TOR for the committee Support the chair of the the Inter-Ministerial Committee to organize, on a monthly basis, planning, meetings with stakeholders from all the sectors involved in nutrition Update the committee of any recent developments in nutrition o   Perform other related tasks as required.
30%	3.      Provide strategic guidance to the committee to monitor and coordinate nutrition activities at national and decentralized levels.   Support the Inter-Ministerial Committee to implement the national multi-sectoral implementation plan to reduce malnutrition at both national and district levels Support the identification and development of mechanisms that allow ongoing monitoring and coordination of nutrition policy, plans and interventions o   Perform other related tasks as required.

 

A detailed description of the specific deliverables that are expected during the assignment is presented in the table below: 

 

 

Deliverables	Duration	Timeline	Schedule of payment
·       Clear TOR for the Interministerial Commitee ·       Three monthly reports on the commitee’s activities ·       Minutes of coordination meetings	3 months	31 July 2018	20%
·       Progress report consisting of status of the development of a costed multi-sectoral implementation plan ·       Two monthly reports on the commitee’s activities ·       Minutes of coordination meetings	2 months	31 September 2018	20%
·       Two monthly reports on the commitee’s activities ·       Minutes of coordination meetings organized by the committee ·       Progress report consisting of status of the implementation of the costed multi-sectoral implementation plan	2 months	30 November2018	30%
·       Two monthly reports on the commitee’s activities ·       Minutes of coordination meetings ·       Final consultancy report consisting of status of implementation of activities	2 months	31 January 2019	30%

 

 

 

WORK RELATIONSHIPS

 

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Nutrition Section Chief and the overall supervision of the M&E Section Chief. He/she will be expected to work closely with UNICEF Nutrition Specialists. The level of collaboration expected from the consultation is outlined in the table below:

Contact	Purpose	Frequency
Internal
UNICEF Nutrition colleagues	Consultation on strategies and technical issues	Frequent
UNICEF sections	Collaboration on cross-sectoral convergence	Frequent
UNICEF M&E section	Collaboration on monitoring and evaluations	Frequent
UNICEF WCARO	Provide support on M&E of grants	Occasional
External
Government partners	Exchange of information	Occasional

 

 

CONDITIONS OF WORK

 

The consultancy duration will be for 9 months. The consultancy will be based in the Prime Minister’s office in Yaoundé. No office space or equipment will be provided from UNICEF and will be the sole responsibility of the consultant.

 

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

 

Applications shall be submitted to UNICEF Cameroon before the deadline containing the following required documentation:

1. Technical Proposal: Consultant shall prepare a proposal in response to the ToR, ensuring that the purpose, objectives, scope, criteria and deliverables of the assessment are addressed. Draft work plan and timeline for the assessment should be included. The Technical Proposal shall also include updated CV and Personal History Forms (P11) of the consultant, and copies of 2 assessments performed previously by the consultant.
2. Financial Proposal: Offer with cost breakdown: Consultancy fees, travel costs, Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) other costs. The Financial Proposal shall be submitted in a separate file, clearly named Financial Proposal.

 

 

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

 

A two-stage procedure will be utilized in evaluating the applications received in accordance to the below criteria, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Submitted applications will be assessed using Cumulative Analysis Method. Technical proposals should attain a minimum of 50 points to qualify and to be considered:

a) Technical proposals (Maximum technical score: 70 points)

 

1. Overall Response: Maximum 10 points                                              

• Understanding of scope, objectives and completeness and coherence of response           
• Overall match between the ToR requirements and proposal

 

2. Proposed Methodology and Approach: Maximum 20 points                         

• Quality of proposed approach/methodology
• Quality of proposed Implementation Plan, i.e. how the consultant will undertake each task, and maintenance of project schedules;

 

3. Technical Capacity: Maximum 40 points                                             

• Range and depth of experience with similar assessments
• Knowledge of the latest developments in the field of nutrition
• Strong analytical skills and qualitative and/or quantitative statistical data processing applications
• Excellent communication, report writing and presentation skills

                                                                                  

b) Financial Proposal (Maximum Financial Score: 30 points)

 

The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 50 pointsin the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• 1. Education: Advanced university degree in Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition, Epidemiology or any other relevant field

  2. Work experience:  Minimum 15 years of experience in the design and management of nutrition programs.

      

      

  3. Languages: French written and oral fluency, with a good knowledge of English

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The technical competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.