INDIVIDUAL State Consultant for Child Nutrition – 1 March 2022 – 31 December 2022

UNICEF FIELD OFFICE FOR Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow

Apply by: 31.01.2022
Location: Lucknow
TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. BACKGROUND / RATIONALE

Uttar Pradesh is the biggest contributor to undernutrition burden in India. According to NFHS 5, Uttar Pradesh
has 32.1% children under five years as underweight (thin for their age), 39.7% stunted (short for their age) and
17.9% wasted (thin for their height).

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state with an estimated population of 220 million and home to around one-sixth
of the total country’s population. 68 per cent of childhood mortality in India can be attributed to poor nutrition.
Wasting in children and poor Infant and young Child Feeding practices remain the most potential reasons for
high childhood mortality.

UP has a facility-based programme for care for wasted children. However, in absence of a community-based
programme, component of comprehensive care is missing. Poor infant and young child feeding practices
continue to contribute to high child and infant mortality /morbidity in the state. Early initiation of breastfeeding
within one hour of birth is 24 per cent; exclusive breastfeeding, only 59.7 per cent children between 0-5 months
in UP are exclusively breastfed. Similarly, complementary feeding practices in the state need improvement as
only 5.9% children 6-9 months receive adequate solid/semi solid foods along with breastmilk.

New borns introduced to breastmilk within 2-23 hours had 33 % higher chances of neonatal mortality compared
to those who were initiated on breastmilk in the first hour (PLOS ONE 2017)

The Nutrition program of UNICEF supports governments and partners to scale up programmes to deliver
essential nutrition and development services to prevent undernutrition in infants and young children, particularly
in the most deprived communities by working with the State Nutrition Mission and flagship schemes of ICDS and
NHM for strengthening the systems for delivery of high impact child nutrition interventions - namely improved
infant and young child feeding practices, micronutrient malnutrition and quality care for children with severe acute
malnutrition.

In the context of the Infant and Young Child Feeding and management of SAM in the Country Programme Cycle
2018-22, UNICEF support to Health, ICDS and State Nutrition Mission at the state aims at:

i) Effective roll-out and implementation of the MAA programme along with breastfeeding promotion in
health facilities.
ii) Effective implementation of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in the Government health facilities in
partnership with Medical College and Quality Assurance Cell through capacity building and regular
supportive supervision
iii) Demonstrate an operational model for community-based promotion of complementary feeding in select
aspirational districts and advocacy and support for state-wide scale-up
iv) Strengthen Home Based Young Child Care component through ASHAs
v) Scale-up and quality implementation of facility-based care for children suffering from Severe Acute
Malnutrition through Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres
vi) Demonstration of an operational model of integrated management of Severe Acute Malnutrition with
both facility and community components; and its subsequent state-wide scale-up

2. PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT
The services of a technical consultant will be driven to support two Output Areas- Output 1 related to IYCF and
Output 2 related to management of Severe Acute Malnutrition. Both the Outputs constitute about 50 per cent of
the total work happening in the Nutrition Section.

The work under integrated management of Severe Acute Malnutrition and Complementary Feeding is relatively
new. In 2018-21, intensive work has been done to generate evidence and demonstrate operational models
around these programme areas.

In the area of complementary feeding, the Nutrition Unit has implemented intensive programming in five districts
as part of Early Childhood Development (ECD) with support of an NGO partner. The intensive programming
helped in understanding the programme opportunities, challenges and nuances essential for field
implementation. It also helped in developing quality parameters of AWC-based session for promotion of
complementary foods in under-twos and “AAA- Ask-Analyse-Act” strategy of interpersonal counselling of the
caregivers on the complementary feeding. The learning has been taken up by the state ICDS department and
adapted for state-wide scale up through the platforms of Community Based Events and AWW’s Home visits. The
intensive work in these districts will continue in coming years, with simultaneous scale-up across the state.
Technical assistance will be required to support the state Health & ICDS departments and field team.

In addition to this, UNICEF continues its support to the health department for successful implementation of MAA
programme for promotion breastfeeding and complementary feeding at both facility and community levels. In
coordination with Quality Assurance unit of NHM, UNICEF is supporting monitoring health facilities for BFHI
implementation.

With respect to management of Severe Acute Malnutrition, UNICEF continues to be the lead partner of the
government for supporting the NRCs in the state; support includes annual planning, supportive supervision,
trainings, data management and periodic review. Additionally, the IMSAM component, which also focuses on the
community component of the SAM management, has made significant advancement in recent years. In 2021,
IMSAM has been scaled-up across the state in all 75 districts. IMSAM in the state is a convergent programme
with interventions spreading across Health and ICDS departments. Both departments have their departmental
guidelines defining the steps of management at community level, roles and responsibilities of officials and field
functionaries. The Health Sub-centre/Health Wellness centres & VHSNDs are the convergent platforms for both
the department. There are separate reporting systems for both the departments. UNICEF is supporting both
Health and ICDS departments in scale-up of State IMSAM program, building system’s capacities and
strengthening implementation. In addition to this, UNICEF is also providing intensive support for the IMSAM
programme in six aspirational districts with NGO support.

The delivery of results against the two outputs requires close work with the government with almost biweekly
follow-ups to track compliance on the implementation gaps shared in form of district/state report cards, planning
of state reviews and VCs, jointly with government tracking progress on technical issues related to MAA, NRCs,
IMSAM, documenting monthly/quarterly reports and regular follow-up with the field teams. In addition, intensive
support will be required for the scale-up of IMSAM with major focus on strengthening systems and building
capacities in 2022. This type of high-level technical support is extremely critical for staying relevant to the
government.

Over and above this, support to the NHM in preparing annual plans of IYCF programme (MAA, Home Based
Young Child Care) and Facility Based care of SAM (FSAM) is also included in the area of work. The consultant
will provide technical, coordination and monitoring support for activities related to Health Mission with focus on
IMSAM, breastfeeding and complementary feeding in the state.
3. PROGRAMME AREA AND SPECIFIC PROJECT AREA

Under the Child Development and Nutrition Programme the present consultancy will support attainment of Output
201, Output 202 and Output 204:
Output 201-By 2022, in UNICEF supported states, government and partners have enhanced capacity to scale up
infant and young child nutrition services for children under-two
Output 202- By 2022, in UNICEF supported states, government and partners have enhanced capacity to scale
up services for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition
Output 204- By 2022, in UNICEF supported states, government and partner institutions have strengthened
systems for multi-sector coordination, planning, monitoring, and human resource development for nutrition

The present terms of reference include the work expected from the consultant for a total period of 10 months.

4. OBJECTIVE/S

The present position will contribute to achievement of results under the Outputs 201 and 202 (largely) and some
under Output 204. Under the technical guidance of the Supervisor, UNICEF Office for Uttar Pradesh; the
consultant will coordinate with the NHM, Directorate of Family Welfare, ICDS and State Nutrition Mission, SPMU
of POSHAN Abhiyaan, field team members (as part of various CSO and medical college partnerships) to support
SAM and IYCF interventions in the state. The consultant will provide day to day technical support to the mission
and submit monthly progress of the work done in assigned thematic areas. S/he will also support data analysis
for the UNICEF office and undertake monitoring across the districts.

5. MAJOR TASKS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED

SAM Management Programme

 Support NHM in preparing annual physical and budgetary plans (APIP) for SAM programme
 Support in preparing operational guidelines aligned to new directives from GoI
 Review and analysis of monthly, quarterly and semester progress of NRCs and contribute to quarterly
Nutrition report
 Support analysis and document findings of the NRC MIS on a monthly for programme actions
 Periodic supportive supervision of the NRCs to monitor gaps/progress and to provide handholding support
to NRC staff
 Consolidate findings of mobile based monitoring app developed for use by the field team on a quarterly
basis to generate state level monitoring report of NRC
 Support state /divisional review on NRC
 Support Health and ICDS in scale-up of IMSAM programme – Annual Planning, documenting periodic
progress of district/FLW trainings, collating monthly progress reports from district for consolidated state
report, facilitate trainings as per requirement, regular follow-up with field teams to document progress,
conducting field monitoring and sharing feedbacks, and support in periodic reviews
 Provide need-based technical support to the NGO team supporting IMSAM implementation in six intensive
districts
 Data management of the IMSAM programme including periodic reports, analysis and developing analytical
presentations for reviews
 Document at least four case studies from IMSAM and NRC during the entire contract period
Infant and Young Child Feeding

 Support NHM in preparing annual plans for MAA and Home-Based Young Child Care
 Jointly with Child Health and Quality Assurance Unit of NHM support in quality implementation of MAA
programme with special focus on training and assessing facilities on BFHI
 Assess and analyse progress of districts on MAA programme and submit progress reports to UNICEF for
further sharing with NHM
 Document work done on feeding in low birth weight newborns in health facilities
 Contribute to quarterly Nutrition Report
 Work closely with AIIMS partnership for documenting progress on BFHI implementation and district-level
training focusing on IYCF
 Technical support to the field team supporting intensive programming in four districts on complementary
feeding as part of Early Childhood Development through day-to-day follow-up, data management,
documentation, supportive supervision and periodic reviews
 Monitoring support for the complementary feeding pilot assessment
 Coverage compilation, collation, analysis of Medical College partnership for state and divisional review vis-a
vis IYCF monitoring in health facilities
 Document seven case studies from IYCF during the entire contract period
 Develop annual progress report on IYCF progress

Share the progress under IYCF and SAM with other team members to incorporate learnings in the Convergence
action plan proposed under Output 4
Overall contribute the state quarterly report on Nutrition especially for Output 1 and 2
Handhold divisional team on better understanding of the work in the area of IYCN and FSAM

6. DELIVERABLES AND DEADLINES

The terms of reference and the deliverables for the consultancy is proposed for a period of 10 months.

Contract Period : 1 March 2022 to 31 December 2022 (total duration – 10 months)

S. Major tasks Deliverable Specific Estimated Month/s

No. delivery travel
date/deadline required for
for completion completion of
of deliverable deliverable
(please (please
mention as mention
date/no. of destination/
days/month) number of
days)

1  Annual plans  Monthly, Quarterly report submitted for IMSAM 31st March 22 Outstation 5-6 March 2022
 Reporting (NRC & Community) days
 Quarterly NRC MIS & monitoring app analysis
report
 Draft annual plans for IYCF and NRC submitted to
NHM

Local – 18
2  Reporting  Monthly NRC report 30th April 22 Outstation 5-6 April
 Monitoring  Collate work done on feeding in low birth weight days
newborns 2022
 Monitoring /Supportive Supervision in the field
 BFHI 1st round implementation progress report
submitted Local – 18
days per
month
2  Reporting  Monthly report submitted for IMSAM (NRC & 30th June 22 Outstation 10- May & June
 Documentatio Community) 12 days 2022
n  Supportive Supervision report for NRC and IYCF
submitted
 BFHI 2nd round implementation progress report
submitted Local – 18
days per
month

3  Reporting  Monthly & Quarterly report submitted for IMSAM 31st July 22 Outstation 5-6 July 22
 Documentation (NRC & Community) days
 Field  Quarterly NRC MIS & monitoring app analysis
monitoring report
 Two Case studies submitted (one on CF and
another on IMSAM) Local – 18
 Breastfeeding week technical support to NHM days per
shared month
 Supportive Supervision report submitted

4  Documentation  Monthly report submitted for IMSAM (NRC & 31st August 22 Outstation 5-6 August 22
 Feedback Community) days
sharing  Report on World Breastfeeding Week 2022
 Training submitted
 Monitoring/Supportive Supervision report submitted
 Final document of second phase of CF submitted Local – 18
days per
month

5  Documentation  Monthly & Quarterly report submitted for IMSAM 31st October 22 Outstation 10- September
 Field (NRC & Community) 12 days & October
monitoring  Validation findings of BFHI submitted 2022
 Supportive Supervision report submitted
 Annual BFHI work though Quality Assurance
documented Local – 18
 Quarterly progress report on IMSAM intensive days per
district submitted month

6  Field  Monthly IMSAM (NRC & Community) report 30th November Outstation 5-6 November
monitoring submitted 22 days 2022
 Data analysis  Two case-studies submitted (one NRC + one BFHI)
 Documentation  Monitoring/Supportive Supervision report submitted

Local – 18
days per
 month

7  Feedback  Annual IMSAM progress report submitted 31st December Outstation 5-6 December
sharing  Annual MAA progress report submitted 22 days 2022
 Documentation 
 Reporting

Local – 18
days per

7. DUTY STATION- Lucknow

8. SUPERVISOR

 Day to day monitoring guidance and support, Nutrition Officer

 Contract Management including review of deliverables and one monthly face to face progress
sharing with Nutrition Specialist

9. OFFICIAL TRAVEL INVOLVED (ITINERARY AND DURATION)

Outstation Travel -
 Location(s) for travel including districts to be covered- Lucknow with travel to any of the 75 districts of the
state depending on the need of the programme. At-least once quarterly travel to each of the complementary
feeding & IMSAM intensive districts.
 Duration- 5-6 days per month
 Number of trips- 2-3 trips per month

Local Travel within Lucknow to Government Offices and Partners – about 18 days per month

Bidder shall be required to include the estimated cost of travel & DSA in the financial proposal. It is essential to
clarify in the TOR that i) travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of
travel.

10. ESTIMATED DURATION OF CONTRACT (PART TIME / FULL TIME)

 Full time for 10 months; between 1 March 2022 to 31 December 2022

11. ESTIMATED COST OF CONSULTANCY/INDIVIDUAL CONTRACT

Total estimated cost of the consultancy – For 10 months; between 1 March 2022 to 31 December 2022 as per
the financial proposal of selected candidate in the attached format.

12. AMOUNT BUDGETED – as per the financial proposal

13. QUALIFICATIONS / SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCE/ COMPETENCIES

(CORE/TECHNICAL/FUNCTIONAL) / LANGUAGE SKILLS REQUIRED FOR THE
ASSIGNMENT (Please use as applicable)

Essential -
  Advanced university degree in medicine, nutrition, public health, or social sciences
 Adept at developing annual plans for government, data collection and assessment tools, and drafting
programme progress reports for Government and internal, technical presentations and directives with a
minimum of 4-5 years’ experience in development sector with substantial Knowledge/Familiarity with the
Government programme (especially under Health and ICDS departments) and national flagship
programmes (NHM, POSHAN Abhiyaan),.
 Good analytical, negotiation, communication and advocacy skills
 Knowledge of working / drafting communication in Hindi is essential
 Computer knowledge in working in Microsoft Office is essential

Desirable -

 Experience of working with Government (minimum three years) especially NHM and ICDS
 Previous experience of working on nutrition programmes especially NRCs and IYCF in a large state
 Understanding of the importance of social mobilization, behaviour change and partnerships
 Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-disciplinary environment and to establish harmonious and
effective working relationships with governmental, nongovernmental and civil society organizations
 Previous work in the area of Infant Young Child Feeding and Severe Acute Malnutrition

14. TECHNICAL EVALUATION CRITERIA (WITH WEIGHTS FOR EACH CRITERIA)

The selected candidate is expected to submit the proposal under the following head:
Technical Proposal
 Covering letter with justification on the suitability for the position
 Curriculum Vitae
 Financial Proposal – as per the attached format – The financial proposal is expected to include the
following
 Part A: Professional fee based on number of days allocated for the work. Any communication costs and
contingency costs has to be built as part of the overall professional fees and not be budgeted
separately.

 Part B: Travel Cost-

Outstation travel includes distant districts involving night stays. The travel can include any of the 75
districts of UP. The travel cost to include following:
o Total cost of travel - The candidate can use any modality- taxi, train, air for outstation travel. A
monthly limit will need to be quoted for outstation travel. Travel cost shall be calculated based on
airfare economy class /train fare, first a/c / taxi fare. Any additional travel cost like hiring a local
taxi for inter/intra – district movement as part of out-station travel etc. shall also be covered as part
of it. Payments shall be made on the actuals.
o Per diem in form of daily Allowance to cover three meals for 5-6 days /month and includes
boarding/lodging, food (Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner) and Overnight Accommodation/Incidentals);
(applicable only for outstation travels that require night stays). DSA rate - maximum INR 4000/day.
Two days per month at major cities (KAVAL) of UP; max @ INR 5000/day) Payment shall be made
as per lumpsum amount on actual
Monthly local travel – approximately 18 days per month. Local travel includes commute between govt.
offices/ office of partner, UNICEF office, terminals. Local taxi hiring is permissible to be paid as per the
actual bill submission. Estimation cost of local travel should be part of the financial proposal
The technical: financial proposal will be evaluated using a score of 80:20

SELECTION PROCEDURE:
1.     The selection will be on the basis of technical evaluation & financial proposal in the ratio of 80:20.
2.     The criteria for technical evaluation is as follows:
EVALUATION CRITERIA Max Scores Min Scores

Educational Qualifications 16 13

Relevant Experience 16 13

Written test 24 19

Phase1. Scores to shortlist for Interview 56 45

Interview (VC/ personal /Telephone) 24 19

Phase 2. Scores to qualify in Technical Evaluation 80 64

3.     Minimum qualifying mark for Technical Proposal will be 64 i.e. 80% of the total score.
4.     Evaluation will happen in two phases.
Phase 1 – shortlisting candidates for interview
Phase 2 – Qualifying candidates technically, based on the overall scores
5.     The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically qualified /
responsive, will be opened.

15. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Payment will be linked to deliverables as outlined in the attached financial template. For consultant payment will
be made against a monthly report submitted against the deliverables

16. PERFORMANCE REVIEWS:

Interim evaluation will be done mid-year and final evaluations at the end of the contract. Required forms will be
filled with scores and comments justifying the scores. Evaluation criteria and indicators will be aligned with the
scope of work.

17. EXIT STRATEGY

This technical position is critical for the entire duration of the current programme cycle especially in context of
focus put on complementary feeding by the Health department (Home Based Young Child Care), IMSAM, the
new MCP card for Early Childhood Development and roll out of community-based events focusing on young child
food and feeding under the Poshan Abhiyaan. These are new initiatives which require considerable handholding.
The position is therefore planned to be continued till the end of current programme cycle. Depending upon the
programming context at the end of CP cycle, the decision on continuation of the position will be taken.

18. FINANCIAL TEMPLATE (ATTACHED) – Please note any proposal without financial template
will not be accepted.
Please confirm (YES or NO) for Non-Disclosure Data – No

1. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
 The consultant is expected to submit the proposal under the following head:
Technical Proposal
 Covering letter with justification on the suitability for the position
 CV
 Sample of work undertaken in the past
Financial Proposal – as per the attached format with the advertisement. Please note your proposals will not be accepted
without a financial offer

The technical: financial proposal will be evaluated using a score of 80:20 (as mentioned above)

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

1. Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the
terms of reference above.

2. Your application should be sent to: cv@unicefup.org  by COB 31.01.2022 with subject line “INDIVIDUAL State
Consultant for Child Nutrition”

” in separate files consisting of -

 An application letter including information on where you have seen this advertisement.
 Covering letter with justification on the suitability for the position
 Curriculum Vitae (CV)

 P11 form (attached)

 A financial proposal in PDF format mentioning your name and indicating deliverable based fee (as per
template attached)

 One-two sample reports/presentations prepared during the previous assignment

3. Please mention your name in all the files while saving.

Date of the Written Test will be informed to you later.

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

1. Evaluation will happen in two phases.

a. Phase 1 – shortlisting candidates for interview
b. Phase 2 – Qualifying candidates technically, based on the overall scores
2. The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically qualified / responsive, will be
opened.

3.   NOTE:
1. Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic   disqualification of the
applicant.
2. Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.

3. Submissions without financial proposals will be rejected

4. UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.

For any bid related clarifications, please contact:

Rohit Bhattacharya @cv@unicefup.org

UNICEF Office for Uttar Pradesh,
B-3/258,Vishal Khand, Gomti Nagar,
Lucknow 226 010, Uttar Pradesh, India.