Terms of Reference for Field Team Leader

Terms of Reference

Community Food Security Profile Assessment Manager

Overview of Activity

The World Food Programme is in the process of designing a Community Food Security Profile (CFSP) activity in [COUNTRY]. The CFSP will utilize a combination of sample survey and participatory rural assessment (PRA) techniques to develop an overview of vulnerability in [COUNTRY], addressing the following questions:

(1)Who are the most vulnerable groups in the country?

(2)Where are they located?

(3)Why are they vulnerable?

(4)What are the risks and constraints that prevent these groups from breaking out of the vulnerability cycle?

(5)What opportunities do each group face regarding the use of food aid in development?

The CFSP is considered an essential element of WFP/VAM’s baseline vulnerability analysis, intended to inform Country Strategy and Country Programme design and targeting, as well as providing an information base for use in contingency planning, emergency needs assessments, and other critical analytical tasks.

Prior to the field assessment, WFP will develop a Vulnerability Issues Paper (VIP) on the basis of a thorough review of the relevant food security literature and secondary data sources. WFP will also carry out a National Key Informant Workshop, designed to provide a spatially disaggregated sample frame for the assessment and a preliminary identification of vulnerable groups. The sample frame will consist of clusters of districts which share relatively similar characteristics. These district clusters, or Livelihood Zones (LZs), will be differentiated according to the following criteria:

• Environmental features
• Natural or man made hazards
• Social characteristics
• Access to infrastructure
• Access to services
• Economic organization
• Health patterns

Vulnerable groups will be defined for each of the LZs.

Information from the VIP and workshop will be used as starting points for the field assessment, raising awareness of specific issues, population groups, and regions for focus during the design and implementation of the assessment.

Tasks of the Consultant

The Consultant will work in close liaison with the VAM Unit in [COUNTRY] to accomplish the following:

• Adapt the CFSP survey and PRA instruments to local conditions found in [COUNTRY] and pre-test newly designed approaches.

• Develop a sampling methodology that captures the diversity of conditions within and across Livelihood Zones.

• Develop an analysis plan/report outline with anticipated section headings and blank tables/charts/maps necessary to provide a complete picture of food insecurity and vulnerability and to meet the above-mentioned operational objectives of the study.

• Recruit and train a small team of local experts in survey and PRA methods to implement the CFSP.

• Develop and maintain a reporting system designed to capture information collected in the field on a regular and frequent basis for quality control and preliminary analysis.

• Develop a field-level data summary process to capture survey and PRA results in a meaningful and useful way for integration into regular team reporting and the final analysis.

• Develop a central data entry process and database structure to facilitate the rapid and accurate analysis of information reported from the field teams.

• To analyze the qualitative and quantitative information developed from the field assessment to identify the determinants and dynamism of food insecurity and vulnerability in [COUNTRY].

• To submit a final report in two parts, according to attached guidance from WFP/VAM:

(1)Main Report

(2)Livelihood Zone Profiles

To support/facilitate two workshops designed to disseminate the findings from the field assessment:

(1)an internal WFP brainstorming session to present findings and discuss implications for WFP food aid programming; and

(2)a national partners workshop to present findings and discuss implications for national food security policy and programming.

Activity Work Plan

Work on the CFSP will commence on [DATE] and should proceed as follows:

• Begin recruiting field assessment team. Review local VIP, previous CFSP Reports from other WFP countries, the WFP Enabling Development policy, local WFP CSO/CP documents, and other relevant papers. (1 week)

• Sketch out analysis plan and draft test survey and PRA instruments and finalize team recruitment. (1 week)

• Field-test and revise assessment instruments with a small core (2-3) of team members. (1 week).

• Train all field teams on assessment method (1 week).

• Teams should be in the field for next 8-12 weeks, with days off as appropriate.

• Immediately after teams in the field, develop data entry application and easy information summary/synthesis methods. (1 week)

• By week 2 of implementation, field teams should have sent preliminary results of first villages to the CFSP manager for review and data entry.

• Especially at the beginning of the field work, the CFSP manager should spend time in the field overseeing field work and conducting basis quality control measures.

• By the mid-point of the field work, the CFSP manager should have data entry and synthesis methods (i.e. summary tables for use in analysis) completed and reviewed for ease of use, with full data entry of all reported summary documents to that date.

• During the second half of the field work, with the completion of work in specific LZs, the CFSP manager should begin to create 3-5 page LZ profiles for final report, maintaining contact and quality control with field teams as much as possible.

• At completion of the field work, CFSP manager should oversee final data entry (1 week)

• With data entry and basic summary tables completed, CFSP manager should conduct small meeting with field team leaders and a VAM representative to go over findings (1 week).

• Draft LZ profiles (2 weeks).

• Final report (2 weeks).

• Draft final report (2 weeks).