Consultant to implement CSO reporting framework

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 the 2016 GVAP report recommended that “Civil Society Organizations should describe how their work maps against different national immunisation 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.”

The Gavi CSO Constituency hence sought to develop a CSO framework and tools to be used at the country level that would help CSOs focus their work on what has the greatest impact and would allow CSOs to capture and report on contributions to their country’s national immunisation plan, as well as the impact of their work. This information would then be fed into annual GVAP report submissions.

A wide group of immunisation stakeholders were brought together in April 2017 to flesh out the elements of a framework. This group, and several additional interested stakeholders, became a global reference group for the work, which included several global and local iterations of the framework and its corresponding tools, as well as in-country pilots (Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and India) and virtual testing (Nigeria, Pakistan, and global stakeholders). The work was overseen by the Gavi CSO Steering Committee.

The Gavi CSO Steering Committee presented a final version of the framework and tools to the SAGE Working Group on the Decade of Vaccines and to Gavi that requested for the framework to be implemented as it is in two countries as a Pilot test.

This consultancy will therefore implement the CSO Reporting Framework in two different countries (Pakistan and Mali), analyse the results and reported back on them along with a plan on the way forward, including quantification of resources needed.

Deliverables – The consultant will:

• Become familiar with the CSO reporting framework and tools in its current form and propose an implementation strategy
• Plan and conduct two in-country pilot tests (the consultant will receive local support to set up the logistics of the tests); this includes
  • Training the local resource people on the Framework utilisation
  • Facilitating the workshops
  • Collecting data from CSO participants
  • Solicit, collect and incorporate feedback from the in-country CSOs, other interested stakeholders, and the Gavi CSO Steering Committee, revising the framework and any associated tools accordingly.
• Based on the results of the pilots, incorporate changes to the framework and associated tools.
• Provide brief, written reports of the pilot testing experience and lessons learned, as well as on the methods used for selecting participants.
• Finalize the framework and all associated tools.
• Plan on the way forward, including quantification of resources needed
• 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.

Reports will have to be submitted in english. IFRC will provide support to have the final framework and associated tools translated into French.

Outputs:

• Inception report of the 2 pilots for circulation and input
• Full report (i.e. all modules completed and a summary report provided) for pilot country 1
• Full report (i.e. all modules completed and a summary report provided) for pilot country 2
• Lessons learned and recommendations for scale-up approach, including quantification of resources needed

Timeline:

• It is envisioned that the consultancy will run from September to November 2018, for approximately 50 working days, depending on consultant’s daily rate, to be spread out across the 3 months as the consultant sees fit.
• The in-country pilots should be ran by the beginning of October. A revised draft of the framework and associated tools should be available by end-October.
• The final, adapted/agreed framework and associated tools should be available by end November.
• The consultant is expected to travel a total of three times: once to Africa (Mali), once to Asia (Pakistan) and once to Geneva.

Desired Profile:

The consultant should have the following competencies:

• At least ten years of professional experience in a humanitarian setting
• Knowledge of and previous experience in immunisation and health systems
• Knowledge of the different actors and major agencies in immunisation delivery
• Experience designing M+E and reporting systems
• Experience facilitating workshops
• Familiarity with the Global Vaccine Action Plan and Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation
• Familiarity and experience with the Gavi Alliance
• Proven track record designing strategies to capture and report on contributions of CSOs to health programs
• Mali and/or Pakistan country-level experience (or countries of similar context), ideally in the domain of public health and immunisation would be an advantage
• Bilingual English/French

More information on the Gavi CSO Constituency can be found on the website: www.gavi-cso.org. 
If you are interested in this position, please send your cv (max 3 pages) with a cover letter (1 page) to the following email adress: raquel.fernandes@ifrc.org no later than August 30th at midnight (Geneva Time). Applications received after that date will not be considered.