TERMS OF REFERENCE TO ENLIST THE SERVICES OF A CONSULTANT TO CONDUCT BUDGET ANALYSIS OF 2015/2016 BUDGET FOR NUTRITION AND PRODUCE ADVOCACY BRIEFS AND FACT SHEETS/INFOGRAPHICS TARGETING POLICYMAKERS ON THE NEED FOR INCREASE IN BUDGET AND TIMELY RELEASE OF BUDGET ALLOCATIONS FOR NUTRITION AT THE NATIONAL AND 3 STATES; KADUNA, NASARAWA AND NIGER).
Background:
Malnutrition among women and children is a major challenge to health and human development of any country. Malnourished children have an increased risk of disability and premature death and are highly predisposed to infectious diseases. Nigeria has one of the highest burdens of malnutrition in Africa and globally. The 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) shows that 37% of Nigerian children under-five are stunted, 29% are underweight, and 18% are wasted – a sign of acute malnutrition, with the trend worsening with levels of wasting rising from 14% as observed in 2008. The National Demographic and Health Survey (2013) further shows that Under-5 mortality rate is 128/100,000 live births, infant mortality is 69/100,000 and one of the worst maternal mortality ratio of 576/100,000 live births. Nigeria’s poor health status is underlined by equally inadequate levels of access to basic life-saving health services for the most vulnerable populations, especially women and children.
The National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition (NSPAN) which was adopted at the 2014 National Council of Health, sets out nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions with measurable targets to be achieved between 2014 and 2019. Annually, a total of NGN 85.1 billion (431 million USD) is required to implement the NSPAN’s six priority areas of focus, namely; Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child Feeding, Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition, Micronutrient Deficiency Control, Diet Related Non-communicable Diseases and Nutrition Information Systems .
Addressing the high burden of malnutrition among Nigerian women and children is one of the focal areas of the Partnership for Advocacy on Child and Family Health (PACFaH) with Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) as the lead for nutrition. The PACFaH project is a social accountability investment project implemented through the strategy of building partnership and network to achieve the set objectives among seven Nigerian CSOs which advocate and hold government accountable for the implementation of policies, increasing budgets and administration on child and family health at national and state levels in Nigeria. The PACFaH project consists of four major components which include nutrition, routine immunization (RI), family planning (FP) and childhood killer diseases.
Consultancy Objectives:
The purpose of this consultancy is to assess public expenditure on Nutrition through a budget analysis. The review period will cover fiscal years 2015/2016 – with a particular focus on the 2016 budget. By looking closely at the level of resource allocation to Nutrition in the line ministries, MDAs and Agencies (Health, Education, Agriculture, Women Affairs, Water Resources and Budget and Planning). The consultancy seeks to understand to what extent the levels and patterns of budget allocations to Nutrition are favorable to meet sector targets. The objective is also to compare trends in allocation within a regional perspective. In addition, the recommendations will indicate ways in which the budget can be made more responsive to current nutritional needs vis a viz increasing budgetary allocation that will ensure government meets targets captured in documents like the National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition (NSPAN) and other relevant nutrition policies and commitments.
Specifically the consultant is expected to;
- To conduct a budget analysis on the 2015/2016 nutrition budget at the federal and three focal states of Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger.
- Produce budgetary analysis report that will help in budgetary, planning and advocacy decisions at the federal and in the three focal states (Nasarawa, Kaduna and Niger)
- To produce budget advocacy briefs and factsheet with infographics engaging policymakers and nutrition stakeholders for Timely release of Nutrition funds allocated in the 2016 budget and subsequent increase in the 2017 budget for Federal and three focal states of Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger.
Scope of Work:
The assignment will be carried out at the Federal and Three states (Kaduna, Niger and Nasarawa). The assignment may involve travels to the three states during the data collection. At the end of the assignment, the consultant will be required to present the findings of the study to top management of CS-SUNN.
Consultancy Tasks and responsibilities
- Analyze budget allocations to nutrition, including nutrition-sensitive interventions, by federal and focal state governments (Kaduna, Niger and Nasaraewa).
- Provide detailed breakdown of nutrition budget composition as indicated by MDAs.
- Track nutrition budget releases and expenditures by the government.
- Analyse and identify alignment of nutrition budget with existing government policies, strategies and plans.
- Analyze nutrition spending from other sources, and including literature review at the global, national and sub-national levels and make recommendations when compared to Nigeria nutrition budgets.
- Identify entry points and fiscal space in the federal and state budgeting processes and recommend strategies for making MDAs budgets more responsive to nutrition.
- Analyse budget sensitivity of special public initiatives, programmes and projects (such as saving One Million Lives- SOMLs; Primary Health Care under One Roof initiative; etc.) to nutrition and identify opportunities and space for nutrition within those initiatives.
- Document lessons learnt in the budget tracking process and make recommendations on improving nutrition budgeting process in Nigeria.
- Conduct workshop to validate the keyword list and budgetary information at National, Nasarawa, Niger and Kaduna.
- Provide conclusions and recommendations that address planning and budgeting challenges in the nutrition sector, in preparation for the budget dialogue with Permanent Secretaries and directors of finances in all the nutrition line ministry.
Methodology
In undertaking the budget analysis, the consultants will use a combination of data collection and literature review (policy documents, previous budget analysis), interview with key informants and analysis.
Duration of Assignment
The assignment will be carried out in Abuja and the 3 selected states of Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger and will be expected to last for 10-15 working days in the months of July 2016.
Key Deliverables
At the end of the assignment, the consultant will be expected to submit the following:
- Report documenting findings from budget tracking and analysis (2015 and 2016 budgets), including the summary of nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific interventions allocated, released and spent by each ministry (total amounts, proportions of total budget, per capita amounts). One national and one for each of the 3 respective states, although the reports may be consolidated into one comprehensive report.
- Policy brief specific for each key MDAs focusing on what they need to do well to improve nutrition resourcing. (at least 4 policy briefs Health, Agriculture, Education and social protection)
- Datasets on budget allocations, releases and expenditure in digital (Excel) format
- Fact sheets with infographics engaging policymakers and nutrition stakeholders for timely releases of 2016 budget and increase in the 2017 budget for Federal and three focal (states of Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger)
- A PowerPoint presentation focussing on the main findings and recommendations to be presented at the end of the assignment to CS-SUNN.
Qualification and Profile of Consultant
The consultant should have extensive knowledge of the Nigerian health systems and policy landscape with experience in implementing public health programmes, especially MNCH and nutrition-related services. The consultant will be expected to have an advanced degree in Public Health, Health Planning, Policy and Management, Epidemiology, Health Economics and Financing, Public Policy, Nutrition, Sociology and related disciplines. In addition to ability to conduct both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the consultant should have experience in conducting budget tracking and analysis.
Selection process
Selection will be made by inviting interested candidates to submit their application containing:
- Curriculum Vitae
- Technical offer containing work plan and methodology
- Confirmed availability of the completion of the job
- Financial offer including: (a) daily consultancy fee– all taxes and duties included; (b) travel, accommodation and subsistence costs (if applicable).
Application
Interested candidates should send their complete offer via mail to sokoronkwo@cs-sunn.org and/or sunnyokoronkwo@gmail.com , on or before Monday 17th August 2016.
Please address correspondence to:
The Project Director,
Civil Society Scaling-up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN)
We expect informing candidates in the week of 20th August 2016 on the decision of the procurement unit.
Reporting/Accountability
The consultant/s will be supported in this assignment by key programme staff of CS-SUNN who will provide the needed administrative and logistics support and will be reporting to the top PACFaH Programme management team from CS-SUNN.
