Organization:
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near EastCountry: Jordan
Closing date:
20 Aug 2013TERMS OF REFERENCE
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with more than 30,000 staff.
Evaluator(Family Health Team Approach Evaluation)
BACKGROUND
UNRWA’s Department of Internal Oversight Services (DIOS) is planning an evaluation of the Family Health Team Approach, which will be managed by the Evaluation Division in DIOS. It will be carried out by a mixed team of external consultants and DIOS evaluation staff: one evaluator from DIOS’s Evaluation Division and two external evaluators. The team leader will be one of the external evaluators. The evaluation will draw conclusions independently without any interference from management, especially regarding analysis and recommendations. The DIOS evaluator will be responsible for the quantitative part of evaluation in addition to the e-Health assessment. Further information regarding the evaluation is available in Annex 1 below.
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The role of the evaluator will be to contribute to answering the evaluation questions mentioned in Annex 1, in particular questions 2 and 4 under efficiency, questions 2 and 3 under effectiveness, question 1 under impact, question 2 under sustainability and question 4.
The Evaluator Consultant will carry out the following duties:1. Reviewing relevant programme documentation (3 consultant days);2. Contributing to the development of qualitative research tools (1 consultant day);3. Collecting all data other than the non-survey (22 consultant days) bya. Carrying out site visits to UNRWA Health Centers;b. Assessing plans and the documentation materials that are available in UNRWA’s offices and Health Centers; c. Carrying out semi-structured interviews and focus groups with stakeholders across the fields.4. Communicating the preliminary findings of the other member of the evaluation team as part of a daily debriefing (consultant days included in the above);5. Providing input into the drafting of the inception, draft and final report (4 consultant days).
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
• Advanced university degree in medicine or related subject;• A minimum of 8 years of work experience in evaluation;• Experience in Family Health Team Approach;• Strong analytical skills; and• Fluency in English.
DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS
• Previous work experience in the Middle East;• Previous work experience with UN agencies; and• Arabic Language skills
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
• The expected starting of field work for the evaluation is September 15th, 2013.• The duration of the assignment is 30 consultant days. • The Team Leader of Evaluation must be able to travel to UNRWA’s fields of operation, namely Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank (including Jerusalem).
APPLICATION PROCESS
Applicants should submit a cover letter, a one page paper describing the approach they intend to take when leading the evaluation, a CV or UN Personnel History Form, three samples of their work, as well as their expected daily consultant rate via consultancy@unrwa.org clearly indicating the title of this consultancy as “Evaluator” in the subject line of the message. CVs should contain the contact details of a minimum of three references. The deadline for the submission of applications is 20/08/2013 (late applications will not be considered).
UNRWA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from both women and men. UNRWA encourages applications from qualified and experienced female candidates. Only those applicants short-listed for interview will be contacted. UNRWA is a non-smoking environment.
ANNEX 1: THE FAMILY HEALTH TEAM EVALUATION
By the end of 2012, the Health Department had adopted the Family Health Team approach in 36 health centers out of a total of 138 throughout the five fields: 13 in Gaza, 7 in the West Bank, 6 in Jordan, one in the Syrian Arab Republic, and 9 in Lebanon. Plans are ongoing to implement FHT in all HCs in Lebanon and Gaza by the end of 2013 and in Jordan and the West Bank by the end of 2015. While the Family Health Team approach seems to be universally appreciated, there is an opportunity to step back and analyze the approach in detail to improve it before rolling it out to the remaining health centers.
The evaluation will focus on what works, why, and in which context. This will help decision-makers to make necessary improvements and amendments, or to change tactics or sequencing as well as to decide on alternatives. It will provide solid information on how enhancements could be made or what alternatives exist for the necessary improvements. The evaluation will also contribute to effective accountability through the provision of credible and objective information for the Health Department. This evaluative evidence will link Family Health Team approach contributions to the achievement of results in delivering health services. It will ensure that the Family Health Team approach is aligned with and supports UNRWA’s strategic goals. The suggested specific objectives of the evaluation include:
• To assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Family Health Team approach in comparison to the traditional approach.• To assess the relevance of the Family Health Team approach from the perspective of Palestinian refugees, host governments, Health Department staff and UNRWA itself as an Agency.• To analyze the impact of the Family Health Team approach on Palestinian refugees as well as on adjacent health care providers.• To analyze the sustainability of the Family Health Team approach for UNRWA as well as for relevant social, economic, and political institutions.
• To analyze the process of implementation, in particular participation and capacity development. • To identify important lessons to be learned and to make recommendations for the implementation of future Family Health Team centers.
The scope of the evaluation includes all fields of UNRWA operations and looks at all aspects of the reform. It will include a sample of health centers that have adopted the Family Health Team approach as well as a sample of health centers that still follow the traditional approach (for comparison) in all five fields: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria (however the work in Syria will depend on the security situation).
The evaluation should provide answers to the following questions and systematically identify lessons learned and offer recommendations for improvement:
Efficiency1. What is the unit cost of health service in Family Health Team approach in comparison with the traditional approach?2. What are the factors that are affecting the performance?3. Were the plans implemented as planned?4. How does this affect the efficiency of the staff?
Effectiveness 1. To what extent has the new approach achieved the planned results?2. What is the effect of the new approach on the quality of services provided?3. What is the role of the capacity development packages in improving services? 4. To what extent did the e-Health system help in the implementation of the Family Health Team approach? This is relevant to the health centers implementing e-health.5. What is the appropriateness of the support structure?
Impact1. To what extent did the health status of Palestine refugees’ communities improve?2. What is the unintended impact on the community?3. What is the impact on other service providers?
Sustainability1. Are the running costs of the changed arrangements covered by the UNRWA budget for the future?
2. Does the new approach have additional requirements for capacity building over the old approach?3. What are the factors that affect sustainability?
Relevance1. To what extent does the Family Health Team approach meet the needs and priorities of Palestine refugees?2. To what extent does the Family Health Team approach complement the host government’s policies and UN policies?3. To what extent is the Family Health Team approach able to respond to changing and emerging health priorities and needs?4. Was the Family Health Team approach designed and planned adequately to reach its objectives?
How to apply:APPLICATION PROCESS
Applicants should submit a cover letter, a one page paper describing the approach they intend to take when leading the evaluation, a CV or UN Personnel History Form, three samples of their work, as well as their expected daily consultant rate via consultancy@unrwa.org clearly indicating the title of this consultancy as “Evaluator” in the subject line of the message. CVs should contain the contact details of a minimum of three references. The deadline for the submission of applications is 20/08/2013 (late applications will not be considered).
UNRWA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from both women and men. UNRWA encourages applications from qualified and experienced female candidates. Only those applicants short-listed for interview will be contacted. UNRWA is a non-smoking environment.
