LIBERIA COVID-19 RESPONSE PROJECT – FOOD SECURITY SURVEILLANCE CONSULTANCY
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Following the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China in December 2019, Liberia reported its first confirmed case of the disease on 16 March, 2020 in Monrovia, the country’s capital. As of July 29 2020, the country had recorded 1,179 confirmed cases of COVID-19 including 72 deaths with more than 2,487 contacts registered. The risk of transmission remains very high largely due to high population movements in Montserrado as the county is home to approximately 1,500,000 (1/3) of the country total population while local transmission mainly from contacts of confirmed cases has accounted for about 98% of the cases.
The Government of Liberia (GoL) instituted a raft of measures to contain the spread of the disease. These include closure of land borders, partial lockdowns, ban on commercial flights, etc.; all of which seriously affect the availability and access to food and non-food commodities by many Liberians. Some markets are rendered inadequately functional with a corresponding upsurge in the prices of commodities. These factors had contributed to worsening the food security situation in the country as the supply chain is derailed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Action Against Hunger (AAH), in our drive to support the Government of Liberia, engaged the relevant Ministries and Departments, and developed a COVID-19 response project, funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD – French Development Agency). The project will target the 3 most affected counties (Montserrado, Margibi and Nimba) with Health, WASH interventions, and component on food security surveillance. Considering the interruption of agricultural activities, supply chain of food and essential commodities, AAH engaged the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), among others, through the Department of Food Security and Nutrition (DFSN) and identified gaps for support as part of the COVID-19 response. One such gap was the strengthening of the Ministry’s food security surveillance system in the country especially in the counties hard hit by the COVID-19 across the country. Through discussion with the Ministry staff, the Ministry currently has limited capacity resources and existing gaps to carryout timely and routine monitoring of the impact of COVID-19 on food security. Also, initially Liberia struggled to contribute to the Cadre Harmonisé Technical Committee (CH-TC) initiative to develop a complementary information system allowing regular monitoring of the effects and impacts of Covid-19 and preventive health measures on the overall food and nutrition security conditions of the populations in all 17 countries of the region. WFP, Concern and ZoA are currently conducting food security surveillance in the country, but the scope and sustainability strategy remains unclear.
It is against this backdrop that this project is intended to support the MoA in strengthening their Food Security surveillance/early warning system during and after COVID-19. AAH is therefore hiring a seasoned food security surveillance specialist with outstanding experience to provide support in setting the stage for an effective and sustainable Food Security surveillance in the country. This activity will constitute a major component of the wider COVID-19 response project, implemented by AAH in Liberia.
This component of the AFD funded COVID-19 project is designed to support Liberia Department of Food Security and Nutrition in reinforcing their early warning system, for the provision of up-to-date information to relevant stakeholders on the food security situation.
Additionally, AAH will provide financial and technical resources for collecting regularly market data and data at household level in the project targeted counties of Montserrado, Margibi and Nimba.
The key objective of the consultancy is to provide technical support to staff of the Ministry of Agriculture (the Department of Food security and Nutrition) and Action Against Hunger in setting up or strengthening the food security surveillance system in Liberia including market monitoring and sentinel sites with household surveys during and after COVID-19 period.
3.2 Specific Objectives:
The Consultant will be expected to conduct:
The Consultant must deliver the following within the timeframe of this assignment: AAH welcomes the consultant’s own recommendations to include in the deliverables –based on experience in similar context.
The Consultancy is for a proposed period of 50 days, for a two-time visit in country (in case of international consultant). AAH anticipates the initial visit will take 3-4 weeks, and 1-2 weeks for the second in country visit. The consultant will have some days at HQ briefing and work home remotely when not in country. Payment will be done in two instalments. We aim to provide 20% of the agreed amount after signing the contract and 80% upon submission of all approved deliverables contained in the contract. The quote will be labelled in either Euros (€) or US Dollars indicating both included and excluded taxes. AAH will cover the related travel, VISA and in country level cost.
The prospective Consultant must satisfy the following minimum requirements:
The Consultant will report directly to AAH Country Representative in Liberia and the Director of Food Security and Nutrition, Ministry of Agriculture, Liberia. Direct Monitoring and Evaluation of the consultant activities will be done by, the Head of Department – Food Security and Livelihoods, with support from the Regional Technical Advisors and the Director of Food Security and Nutrition, MoA.
S/He will be based at AAH’s country office in Monrovia but with frequent travel and coordination with officials of the MoA. S/He will also work in consultation and coordination with the FSL Head of Department and Regional Technical Advisor based in Freetown and Paris respectively.
The consultancy is expected to last for a total of 50 days, starting September 15, 2020. Ideally, the first 30 days will be used for briefing, round trip first visit travelling, reviewing the existing surveillance system through desk engagement of the relevant stakeholders and training of staff and launching the monitoring system and report writing the last 20 days, for reviewing the surveillance system and supporting its institutionalization at the Ministry of Agriculture including a tailored refresher training and the writing and submission of the final consultancy report.
Interested and qualified Consultants must send in their applications to recruitment@lr-actionagainsthunger.orgOr apply through the system belowbefore 11th September 2020, with:
Created in 1979, our Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) – Action Against Hunger – is fighting against hunger in the world. Its mission is to save lives eradicating hunger through the prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition, particularly during and after emergency situations caused by conflicts and natural disasters. For 40 years, the humanitarian and development organization has been on the front lines, treating and preventing hunger across nearly 50 countries. It served more than 21 million people in 2018 alone. Since the reasons for hunger are many, our response is multi-sectoral based on 7 areas of expertise including 1) Nutrition and Health 2) Food Security and Livelihood 3) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 4) Disaster Risk Management and Emergency Response 5) Mental Health, Care Practices, Gender and Protection 6) Advocacy 7) Research