Household Survey Specialist : Training on Multi-topic household Survey Design

Term of Reference

Individual Consultant, Multi-Topics HHs Design Training

Sudan Statistical Capacity Building Project (P167988): Improving Household Surveys and Administrative Data in Sudan

• Background

The Republic of the Sudan has received financial support from the World Bank to the implementation of a Statistical Capacity Building Project in Sudan. The objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity of the Central Bureau of Statistics to improve the quality of household poverty survey data, and to improve the availability and quality of existing administrative data in the education and health sectors. The main expected outcome of this project is to build the capacity of the CBS to design and implement household surveys that are consistent with international best practices, as well as to be able to analyze the data and disseminate them in line with open data policies. The project is also expected to help improve availability of administrative data in education and health sectors in Sudan.

Context and Rationale

The Household Budget Survey is the official source of poverty and other social indicators in Sudan. The CBS conducted the National Baseline Household Survey in 2009 and the National Household Budget and Poverty Survey (NHBPS) in 2014/15. The results of the 2009 survey led to the first ever reliable poverty estimates in Sudan in 2010/11.

However, significant shortcomings have been identified in the 2014/15 survey that make it non-comparable with the 2009 survey. These include the following:

• Seasonality. The 2009 survey was conducted in a different month than all the rounds of the new survey. This can introduce a seasonal bias when comparing the 2009 estimates with new estimates.

• Food recall. the 2014/15 survey has a food recall period of 10 days instead of 7 days. This implies that different weekdays are covered by the recall depending on the weekday of the interview. In Sudan, as with other typical Muslim countries, consumption is usually higher on Fridays. Thus, households interviewed between Wednesday and Friday are likely to have higher consumption than other households.

• Consumption aggregate. The 2014/15 survey includes 49 additional food items and 71 additional non-food items compared to the 2009 survey. Even though the previous survey included ‘other’ items to capture consumption of any items not included, it can be assumed that those additional items were underreported.

CBS has requested the world bank to support Sudan with designing and implementation a new household survey that is consist with international best practices that will be a benchmark survey going forward following international recommendation. This will involve training on entire process of conducting a survey from preparation through implementation to dissemination (consistent with international best practice).

• Scope of Work:

The consultant is expected to conduct the following tasks:

• Train CBS staff on Multi-topic household survey design. The training program is expected to include the following topics:

• Overview of survey cycle

• Survey planning

• Survey budgeting

• Fieldwork Data collection: new techniques (Tablets), different ways to implement surveys

• Data processing, analysis, cleaning and compiling data using (STATA&SPSS)

• Data dissemination and reporting

• Documentation/Archiving

• Prepare draft three questionnaires with the CBS team for the National Household Budget and Poverty survey: (i) Household questionnaire, (ii) Community questionnaire, (iii) Market price survey questionnaire.

• Deliverables:

The list below is the expected outcome to be delivered during undertaking the assignment:

• Draft of the questionnaires (Household, Community, Markey survey)

• Training evaluation report

• Duration and reporting requirements:

This consultancy is expected to cover the period of Six weeks to complete the assignment (From 15Nov.2019 to 31 Dec. 2019. The consultant will be based in Khartoum, Sudan during the period of assignment.

• Input provided by CBS

Training room and refreshments.

• Required Qualifications:

The consultant should meet the following criteria:

• Hold at least an advanced degree in the field of Economics, Statistics or related field ;

• Have at least 10 years’ experience in poverty analytical work using STATA & SPSS, this includes household survey design and poverty measurement in accordance with international best practices;

• Sound experience with training and teaching of staff of NSO on household surveys

• Relevant experience in drafting technical documents and strong analytical skills;

• Familiarity with poverty measurement would be advantageous;

• A track record of relevant publications is essential;

• Prior experience working with a national statistical office is advantageous;

• Fluency in spoken and written English is a must. Proficiency in Arabic is a plus;

Ability and willingness to travel to Sudan for this assignment