Closing date: 22 Dec 2016
Background
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) is a unique, multi-sectorial partnership within the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) focusing on scaling up efforts to prevent malaria, including achieving universal coverage[1] and use of long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) to accelerate countries’ progress towards their malaria control targets and save the lives of millions worldwide.
The AMP partnership has been building and strengthening the skills of NMCP staff and partner organizations by deploying technical advisors to countries to support planning and implementation of mass campaigns and continuous distribution. In addition, AMP’s focus remains on mentoring of NMCP and in-country partner staff, dissemination of AMP toolkits providing best practice, recommendations and guidance on mass campaigns, the organization and facilitation of theme-specific international training workshops and the development of curricula and training materials for use by requesting countries.
Despite significant efforts, many countries did not reach their universal LLIN coverage targets in 2016 owing to problems such as availability of LLINs, challenges in quantifying LLIN needs, delays in funding disbursements, and lack of operational funds, often due to omissions in countries’ Global Fund proposals and budgets. Now that the Global Fund has completed its transition process, there is an increasing burden of accountability for countries to adhere to, leading to an increased level of requests for appropriate plans and supporting documents to ensure funding disbursements on time. With increased levels of rigor required from donors, even countries with relatively successful previous distributions are being asked to ensure adequate technical oversight in the planning process.
Countries are working hard to meet their targets and, with the alleviation of financial bottlenecks, will continue to distribute millions of LLINs in 2017 and beyond. Faced with the challenge of ensuring adequate and detailed planning for funding disbursement, numerous countries request technical support from the Alliance for Malaria Prevention as they begin to plan and implement LLIN distribution activities.
While today’s campaigns often require external technical assistance to roll out successfully, AMP continues to focus on building in-country capacity as part of its longer-term sustainable model. As in-country technicians gain the necessary skills and experience, countries should be able to increase their ability to manage the planning and execution of campaigns locally, as well as to provide support to other countries (regionally or on the continent) undertaking similar activities.
Scope of Work
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention is seeking consultants with broad experience in planning of mass LLIN distribution campaigns to provide technical assistance to countries engaged in the mass distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) to expand its existing roster of technical assistance providers.
The scope of work for a specific consultancy assignment will vary according to the stage of a campaign’s planning and implementation. The following list represents the types of tasks that may be needed to be undertaken, dependent upon the circumstance of each campaign.
Support the definition of a campaign strategy: roles and responsibilities of campaign partners, quantification and allocation of LLINs to households and beneficiary identification, and methods for LLIN distribution
Support the development of a plan of action, timeline of activities and budget for mass distribution of LLINs
Support the development or modification of technical tools for campaign implementation, such as training guides, data collection forms, supervision and monitoring checklists, etc.
Identify and address human resources needs and operational gaps
Support the development of a logistics plan of action and relevant supporting documents regarding warehousing, transport and security of LLINs, budgeting, and overall supply chain management
Support the development of a comprehensive communication plan
Support the development of a monitoring and evaluation plan and identify critical operations research priorities
Support planning of a continuous LLIN distribution system
Key qualifications needed
· LLIN mass distribution experience: any technical assistance (TA) provider should ideally have worked on a mass LLIN distribution campaigns in the capacity of a planner or an implementer. The individual should have actively participated in the process versus being a member of an organization involved but without a campaign-specific role.
· Expertise in one of the areas where AMP provides support: any TA provider must have experience in one of the core areas in which AMP provides support – implementation, logistics, communication and monitoring and evaluation.
· Ability to work independently: as consultants all TA providers are expected to be experts in their area of technical support and are expected to work independently to accomplish the terms of reference they have been hired to complete. TA providers should require minimal assistance from other members of the AMP technical support team to fulfill their terms of reference.
· Ability to work in a team: all TA providers are expected to be able to work within a team. The TA provider is expected to work with the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) staff and partner organizations and the TA provider is expected to fit within the team as a resource person who adds value to the discussions. In some cases, TA providers may need to work in a team of TA providers (where necessary and requested by the country).
· Ability to communicate effectively: the TA providers communicate regularly with one another and communication lines are established at the outset of the contract signing. The TA provider is expected to provide regular updates to the AMP partnership through a situation report and participation in the AMP weekly conference call.
· Work ethic: the TA providers typically work short-term missions with heavy workloads for completion of the terms of reference (ToR) they have been provided. It is expected that TA providers will work as hard as possible to accomplish all elements of the ToR within the time of their mission. TA providers are under strict deadlines to submit final reports on time within the 7-day reporting deadline.
· Language: all TA providers must be fluent (spoken and written) in either French or English to be able to communicate with the broader AMP team. Additional language skills (Spanish, Portuguese) are an advantage.
Validation of a TA provider
Once a TA provider has been identified for a support mission, they will receive a terms of reference specific to each country mission. If the TA provider accepts the terms of reference, they will be deployed on an initial trial mission to further assess their capacity to deliver. New TA providers will be asked to keep the Senior Implementation Technician in copy on all communication during their first mission in order to assess progress over the course of the mission. The Senior Implementation Technician will also maintain contact with the country to assess the fit of the TA provider within the broader country team working on the campaign.
At the end of the TA mission, the country and partners will be asked to evaluate the mission of the TA provider using a standard evaluation form. Based on the assessment of the country and partners, as well as the Senior Implementation Technician, a decision will be made as to whether the individual has succeeded and should be considered for additional missions or whether the individual has been unable to meet the terms of reference and deliverables. In the latter case, AMP/IFRC will not deploy the TA provider for future TA missions.
If funding allows, new TA providers will be paired with the existing AMP TA providers to allow for both on the job training or mentoring and to allow for an assessment of capacity. Where this is the case, the assessment of the existing TA provider will be combined with the country and partner evaluation, as well as the assessment of the Senior Implementation Technician, to arrive at a decision about future work with the individual.
Contractual terms
Since AMP is housed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), IFRC is responsible for issuing consultancy contracts for in-country missions and other work related to AMP. The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
These are generic duties and responsibilities. Upon commission of consultant services, specific Terms of Reference will be provided. TORs will include specific project objectives, desired outcomes, consultancy outputs and method of delivery.
[1] The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends full coverage with LLINs of all people at risk of malaria in areas targeted for malaria prevention termed “universal coverage”
How to apply:
Please send your CV and daily rate to melanie.caruso@ifrc.org. Note that only successful candidates will be contacted.