Closing date: 28 May 2017
Background
Civil Society plays a key role in increasing immunisation coverage and equity in many countries. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) often contribute to immunisation and health systems by creating demand for and uptake of routine childhood vaccines, directly supporting their country’s national immunisation goals and, at a broader level, Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) goals.
Despite the key role played by CSOs in supporting national immunisation programs, it has been challenging to document the impact of CSO contributions in a systematic way. Equally challenging is reporting on and attributing CSO contributions to immunisation systems and services. In addition, CSOs that do systematically collect data at the community level may not be able to feed into the relevant government reporting mechanism, or, if they do, attribution may be lost, effectively making CSO contributions invisible within official reporting systems.
The issue of measuring and reporting CSO contributions to national immunisation plans and systems is one that arises often in a variety of contexts, including regularly at Gavi Board meetings and discussions, and throughout the Decade of Vaccines. The lack of clear information and data around the role and contributions of CSOs to countries’ immunisation plans and goals is often cited as preventing more robust support and funding for civil society. It also contributes to a continued “tokenistic approach” to including civil society in key discussions.
The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts in Immunisation (SAGE) in their 2016 GVAP report recommended that “Civil Society Organizations should describe how their work maps against different national immunization plans in their 2017 GVAP report, so that the geographic and programmatic scope of their work is more visible. Where possible, CSOs should also measure and share the impact of their work.”
To respond to this recommendation, the immunisation community will come together to flesh out an agreed CSO reporting framework at the country level that would allow CSOs to capture and report on contributions to their country’s national immunisation plan and the impact of their work. This information would then be fed into annual GVAP report submissions.
An initial brainstorming meeting to begin this work was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 11-12 April, 2017. Participants in this meeting, and several additional colleagues who have expressed interest, will form the core reference group to be consulted throughout the development of the framework. The work will be overseen by the Gavi CSO Steering Committee, specifically the working group on Monitoring and Evaluation. Day-to-day management of the consultancy will be done by the Gavi CSO Constituency Coordinator.
Deliverables
The consultant will:
· Develop a first draft of the CSO reporting framework and any associated tools based on discussions and output emerging from the CSO framework brainstorming meeting. Associated tools will include:
o A how-to guide on using the framework, including recommended in-country processes when using the tool/populating the framework
o Data collection sheets
o A Knowledge Translation plan
· Solicit and incorporate feedback on the first draft from the reference group, other interested stakeholders, and the Gavi CSO Steering Committee, revising the framework and any associated tools accordingly.
· Conduct a virtual pre-testing of the framework and associated tools with CSOs in Kenya and Nigeria.
· Based on the results of the pre-test, incorporate changes to the draft framework and associated tools.
· Conduct pilot testing of the framework in at least two, and ideally three, countries. Pilot testing will be conducted with Gavi-supported CSO platforms. Ideally, one country in West Africa, one in East Africa and one in Asia will be chosen. The consultant will also liaise with WHO, UNICEF and Gavi counterparts in each pilot country.
· Provide brief, written reports of the pilot testing experience and lessons learned.
· Solicit and incorporate a second round of feedback from the reference group, other interested stakeholders, the Gavi CSO Steering Committee, and the broader Gavi CSO Constituency, revising the framework and any associated tools accordingly.
· Finalize the framework and all associated tools.
· Support the dissemination of the framework.
· The consultant may also be asked to travel to Geneva to present the framework and associated tools.
The end product of the consultancy will be a CSO reporting framework and associated tools designed to capture the contributions of CSOs to their country’s national immunisation plan, and by proxy, to GVAP goals 1 through 5. It is hoped that this framework will be used by every CSO country-level platform supported by Gavi, and ideally also by CSO entities and platforms that are not currently supported by Gavi. The aim is for the framework to be included as an annex to the GVAP M+E framework.
IFRC will provide support to have the final framework and associated tools translated into French.
Timeline
It is envisioned that the consultancy will run from May until September, 2017 for approximately 40 working days, depending on consultant’s daily rate, to be spread out across the months as the consultant sees fit.
A first draft of the framework and associated tools should be available by mid-June. The virtual testing in Kenya and Nigeria should be done by the end of June.
A revised draft of the framework and associated tools should be available by early July. If ready on time, this will be submitted to the GVAP Secretariat for inclusion in the CSO GVAP report submission.
The in-country pilot testing should take place in July and August, with an updated version of the framework and tools available for review by the end of August.
The final, agreed framework and associated tools should be available in the first half of September. An initial dissemination push will take place in September with the support of the consultant.
The consultant is expected to travel a total of three times: once to Africa (East and West), once to Asia (Pakistan or India) and once to Geneva.
Desired Profile
The consultant should have the following competencies:
· At least ten years of professional experience in an international setting
· Knowledge of and previous experience in immunisation and health systems
· Knowledge of the different players in immunisation and health systems strengthening, both at the country level and global level
· Familiarity with the Global Vaccine Action Plan and Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation
· Familiarity and experience with the Gavi Alliance
· Experience designing M+E and reporting systems
· Proven track record designing strategies to capture and report on contributions of CSOs to health programs
· Country-level experience, ideally in the domain of public health and immunisation
· Bilingual English/French (required)
How to apply:
Please email the following materials in English to Amy Dietterich (amy.dietterich@ifrc.org) by 28 May, 2017:
1) Your CV
2) A motivation letter, including your requested daily rate, availability and whether you are able to travel to Africa, Asia and Europe
3) An outline of the approach that you would take