JOB DESCRIPTION

Consultant – Endline Assessment MWF Healthier Smiles phase 7 

Scope of Work (SOW)

Background

Save The Children (SCI has been present in Indonesia since 1976, and became a locally registered foundation in Indonesia, known as Yayasan Save the Children Indonesia (SCIDN). SCIDN is one of the largest child-rights organizations in Indonesia, with around 200 staffs, and delivering programs across several thematic areas including, health, nutrition, child protection, education and child poverty. SCIDN has significant humanitarian experience, from the El Nino event in Sumba, Lombok Earthquake, Central Sulawesi Earthquake and Tsunami to the recent Covid-19 response. In these emergencies, SCIDN responded with national staff through a holistic emergency response.

According to the 2018 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas 2018), 93% of Indonesian children aged 5-6 years have tooth decay. Whereas based on Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) 2023 data, 56.9 % people older than 3 years old have dental and oral health issues. South Sulawesi is in second place with the highest number of oral problems in Indonesia at 68.4%. The result of the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) for dental examinations shows a decrease in the DMFT-T index for all age groups compared to the result of the 2018 Basic health Research (Riskesdas). National data also show a modest improvement in preventive behaviour: the proportion of people brushing their teeth correctly twice daily (after breakfast and before bed) increased from 2.8% to 6.2%. However, service utilization remains critically low, as only 11.2% of individuals with dental problems seek professional dental care.

Of the 56.9% of Indonesians who have dental health problems, only 11.2% seek medical attention. The low number of people accessing dental health services is also in line with the Midline study results of the Healthier Smiles program in August 2024 where only 20.7% of parents in the intervention areas (East Luwu and North Luwu) took their children to the dentist in the last 6 months, it increased of 9% compared to the baseline results.

According to the midline study, the Healthier Smiles program has significantly improved dental health knowledge in communities (students, parents and teachers). However, at the level of behaviour change, there are still some things that need attention, namely related to the consumption of sugary foods and drinks that are still high as 58.4% for beverages and 59.1% for foods. Also, the low number of regular dental visits.

In response to this gap, Save the Children Indonesia (SC-IDN) started Healthier Smiles Program in East and North Luwu in South Sulawesi Province to improve children”s dental health, which aims to contribute to children”s overall health. The program is designed to:

• Objective 1: Improved health, hygiene and safety of the school environment   for school-aged children.
• Objective 2: Improved health, hygiene, and nutrition knowledge and capacity of school-aged children, caregivers, educators, and stakeholders.
• Objective 3: Improved policy environment community support for school health and nutrition.
• Objective 4: Improved access to health, hygiene and nutrition services for school-aged children.

Objective of the Assignment 

The overall objective of this consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive endline assessment of the Healthier Smiles Phase 7 program in North Luwu and East Luwu Districts to determine the extent of progress made toward achieving the project’s intended outcomes in oral health, hygiene, nutrition knowledge, school health environment, and access to health services. The assessment will generate timely, reliable, and disaggregated evidence to support program learning, accountability, and decision-making for Save the Children Indonesia, partners, and key government stakeholders.

Specifically, the assignment aims to:

• Measure progress against the program’s log frame indicators, including improvements in WinS facilities, oral-health related knowledge and behaviours among students, teachers, and caregivers, institutional adoption of school health practices, and access to school-based health and nutrition services.
• Assess changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) among school-aged children, parents/caregivers, teachers, and other stakeholders regarding health, hygiene, nutrition, and oral health.
• Examine enabling and limiting factors—including gender, disability inclusion, cultural norms, school engagement, policy environment, and resource availability—that influence behaviour change, service uptake, and sustainability of interventions.
• Identify implementation gaps, challenges, and opportunities emerging during Phase 7 implementation and recommend corrective actions to strengthen program delivery and future strategies.
• Review the extent to which schools and local governments have adopted and institutionalized project-supported interventions, including budgeting, policy support, and integration into routine education and health systems.
• Provide recommendations for improving program strategies, strengthening sustainability, and informing future School Health & Nutrition programming and potential scale-up.
• Deliver updated outcome datasets, comparative analysis with Phase 6 baseline/midline/endline data, and consolidated reporting outputs that will contribute to Save the Children’s performance evaluation and learning processes.

Scope of Work 

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Conduct a desk review of key program documents, Phase 6 baseline–endline studies, monitoring data, and SHN materials to refine the endline assessment approach and align indicators, tools, and methods.
• Finalize the assessment design, including methodology, sampling strategy, quantitative and qualitative tools, ethical protocols, operational plans, and inception report submission.
• Recruit, select, and manage the field data collection team, prioritising local personnel from Luwu Utara and Luwu Timur, and ensure adequate staffing, clear role distribution, and ongoing supervision throughout the data collection period.
• Manage all field-related financial and operational arrangements, including payment of field teams, travel expenses, accommodation, and other necessary logistics, including travel management to remote areas, to support smooth and accountable implementation of the fieldwork.
• Lead enumerator preparation, including training on survey instruments, qualitative guides, safeguarding and PSHEA, disability-inclusive interviewing (including proxy interviews for SLB students), and data security procedures.
• Undertake quantitative data collection with students, parents/caregivers, and teachers, and conduct structured observations of hygiene practices and school/facility conditions in sampled locations.
• Conduct qualitative consultations, including key informant interviews with government and school stakeholders and focus group discussions with students, parents, and teachers to contextualize quantitative findings.
• Analyse, triangulate, and report findings, including data cleaning, disaggregation, comparison with Phase 6 benchmarks, and identification of barriers and enabling factors; develop the draft and final endline reports, prepare dissemination materials, and facilitate a validation session with Save the Children and key stakeholders.

Deliverable

• Inception report
• Data collection tools
• Ethical submission
• Workplan including selected field team – updated implementation plan detailing timelines, roles, responsibilities, and the list of hired field data collectors under the consultant’s supervision.
• Raw data collected (i.e survey data, recordings, transcript, evidence matrix)
• Preliminary findings – presentation of initial analysis, emerging insights, and indicator progress to inform program reflection and feedback
• Final report
• PowerPoint summary for internal presentation
• Deliverable Language: English

Required Qualifications and Experience

To be considered, the consultant members together must have demonstrated skills, expertise and experience in:

• Designing and conducting assessment and outcome use in development setting.
• Conducting research and/or evaluation in the field of health and nutrition, particularly in relation to child health and WASH.
• Leading socio-economic research, evaluations or consultancy work in Indonesia that is sensitive to the local context and culture, particularly gender equality and child right issue.
• Conducting ethical and inclusive research and/or evaluation involving children and children’s participatory techniques.
• Conducting ethical and inclusive research and/or evaluation involving marginalized, deprived and/or vulnerable groups in culturally appropriate and sensitive ways.
• Managing and coordinating a range of government, non-government, community groups, and academic stakeholders.
• Experience conducting research/evaluation, particularly with school community.
• Sound and proven experience in conducting evaluations based on OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, particularly utilization and learning focused evaluations.
• Extensive experience of theories of change and how they can be used to carry out evaluations.
• Report writing and presentation skills.

Location: Remote working – required to travel to Luwu Utara and Luwu Timur (including remote area in Seko Sub-district), Sulawesi Selatan

Save the Children encourages qualified candidates to apply regardless of religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.