Consultancy - Safe and Dignified Burial –An Operational Implementation Guide

IFRC seeks a consultant with technical expertise in public health to support the development of the operational implementation guide for Safe and Dignified Burials in highly infectious disease outbreaks. The operational implementation guide will be a joint publication with IFRC, ICRC and WHO.

Background

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The Federation is a membership organisation established by and comprised of its member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The IFRC as part of its support to National Societies has been supporting the management of the dead, in natural disasters, conflict and infectious disease outbreaks. There is existing field manual, developed jointly by IFRC, ICRC, WHO and PAHO, for the management of the dead in disasters and conflict. Within the 2016 revision of this guide an annex entitled*: Dealing with the bodies of persons who died from an epidemic of infectious disease* was included to support first responders with basic guidance (http://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/management-of-dead-bodies/en/). The IFRC with ICRC and WHO seeks to build on the existing field manual and the lessons learnt in the West Africa Ebola crises to provide operational implementation guidance to National Societies and other partners in how to implement a public health approach to safe and dignified burial programming during an infectious disease outbreak as a key outbreak control component. The implementation guide will be integrated into public health programs of HIDs and extend beyond existing field guide and standard operating procedures to include all aspects of program management related to managing a Safe and Dignified Burial program.

The consultant will collaborate with IFRC and other technical experts from other Organizations on the development of the guidance document. The process will be guided by a steering committee comprised of experts from 3 organisations involved.

1. Objective of the consultancy

   Development of a practical operational implementation guide that comprehensively addresses Safe and Dignified Burials (SDB) programming in highly infectious disease outbreaks.

2. Expected outcomes and Deliverables

Less than 60 pages that addresses a comprehensive public health approach to SDB programming in a highly infectious disease outbreaks including operational tools for ready implementation at field level.

1. Outline

The Guideline will include but not restricted the following topics

• Diseases that require special procedures for the burial from the outbreak control point of view

• Standard Operational procedure for each disease included in the guide (see above).

• Who and When to bury using SDB with special procedures (when and how to start and stop)

• Working with communities – risk communication and negotiating SDB

• Rapid cultural assessment for adaption of SOP

• Staff/ volunteer health and safety including Psychosocial support

• Logistics of SDB programming including, supply calculations and management, vehicle management, setting up a base of operations, including infection prevention and control of site and vehicles.

• Special consideration for data collection and management in outbreak context (e.g. links to surveillance and contact tracing)

• Linking SDB to other public health pillars for outbreak response, including lab, contact tracing and social mobilization / community engagement/ PSS

• RFL and linking bodies with families

• Considerations for death certification

• Environmental impact and waste management

• Use of rapid diagnostic tests in SDB

• Management of the consultant

The consultant will be line managed by the IFRC Public Health Senior Officer in Geneva. The position can be home based.

1. Proposed time frame

The consultancy will be for 45 days with possible extension.

1. Minimum Requirements for the consultant

· Advanced university degree (master's or equivalent) in Public Health or other related field

· At least five years’ Humanitarian / outbreak experience

· Experience in writing guidance documents

Notes

• The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
• Agreed travel expenses will be reimbursed at cost in accordance with the IFRC’s relevant regulations.

Please send your application to: emergency.health@ifrc.org

Applications should include the following documents:

Curriculum Vitae

Cover letter clearly summarizing your experience, suggested approach to the work, your daily rate, and three professional references.