LIBERIA COVID-19 RESPONSE PROJECT – FOOD SECURITY SURVEILLANCE CONSULTANCY

1. BACKGROUND

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.

2. Purpose

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.

3. Objectives of the consultancy

3.1 Main Objective:

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:

• Diagnose what is already in place and define the scope of the food security surveillance system in consultation with the relevant stakeholders including Governmental and Non-government Organisations such as Concern, and ZOA, UN agencies such as WFP mass media etc. and identify possible synergies between MoA and WFP/Concern’s surveillance systems.

• Support the definition of a sound methodology, tools improvement/development, and training of MoA staff on FSL indicators, data collection, analysis and reporting; as well as providing field support to launch the system on the ground

• Review and support the surveillance system for institutionalization at the Ministry of Agriculture.

4. Methodology

The Consultant will be expected to conduct:

· Desk review of relevant documents such as the MoA’s Emergency Food Security Response Plan for EBOLA[H1] [MT2] [LIK3] and COVID-19, project proposal from AAH etc, Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) concept note for monitoring of the food and nutrition situation in the Sahel and West Africa in the context of COVID-19, existing early warning/surveillance tools from MoA and other stakeholders.

· Conduct Key Informant Interviews and workshops for staff of the MoA, AAH, WFP, FAO, ZoA, Concern and other relevant stakeholders to review the existing surveillance system and inform its improvement, and identify possible synergies with other organisations already conducting market monitoring activities.

· Conduct training workshops/sessions for staff of the MoA and AAH Food Security Analyst on FSL indicators, surveillance quality data collection, analysis and reporting.

· Hold consultative meetings with staff of MoA, other stakeholders to review and institutionalize the improved surveillance system promoted by the project. **

5. Expected deliverables and timeline:

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.

· Report/diagnosis on the existing surveillance system in Liberia with a defined strategy for improvement by the consultant – to be submitted by the end of the first 30 days.

· Workshop to engage various stakeholders and identify key bottlenecks and possible actions for improved surveillance system – to be done in the first 30 days.

· PowerPoint presentation on existing surveillance system in Liberia, highlighting a strategy to be adopted by the project/consultant for improvement – to be done in the first 30 days.

· Training report of stakeholders – MoA on FSL indicators, data collection, and analysis and reporting – to be submitted by the end of the 30^th day of the assignment

· Carry out second visit review of the progress made, identify new bottlenecks with tailored refresher training for the Ministry of Agriculture staff

· Provide final assignment report and recommendations including the institutionalization of the FSL surveillance system by the MoA.

· Execute any other task under his/her competencies as requested[H4] within the scope of the assignment [MT5]

6. Terms of Payment

The Consultancy is for a proposed period of 50 days, for a two-time visit in country[H6] [MT7] (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. [H8] [MT9]

7. Profile of Consultant

The prospective Consultant must satisfy the following minimum requirements:

• Holds a Master’s degree or equivalent.

• Education and technical expertise in a field related to agricultural development, economics, or rural development.

• Minimum 5 years of experience in designing and implementation of food security surveillance or early warning systems and or projects in a developing country context.

• Knowledge in Food Security/Nutrition programming.

· Mastery of sampling techniques, market monitoring, food security analysis (including excellent mastery of food access indicators such as Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS), and Reduced Coping Strategy Index).

• Strong oral and written communications skills.

• Experience in electronic household data collection, analysis and reporting, and ability to train others on the same.

• Ability to write concise and action-oriented reports.

• Fluent in written and spoken English.

• Ability to work with tight deadlines.

• Work experience in Liberia is an asset.

8. Reporting Lines

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.

9. Duration of the Consultancy

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.