Overall objective:
The objective of the proposed work is to lead costing analyses focused on assessing the costs of COVID-19 adaptations for insecticide treated net (ITN) campaign distribution in selected countries. The costing analyses will identify the financial costs and key cost drivers associated with adaptations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The consultant will be supervised by the lead consultant and will be responsible for supporting the data collection, inputting data into the analysis platform, supporting the data compilation, supporting the data analysis and providing inputs to the final report.
The consultant will be responsible for:
1) Supporting cost analysis of COVID-19 adaptations for Nigeria ITN campaigns implemented in 2020 during the pandemic
2) Supporting cost analysis of COVID-19 adaptations in a selected number of additional countries
Background:
The past fifteen years have seen tremendous gains in reducing the burden of malaria and progressing towards elimination. Between 2000 and 2015, global malaria incidence fell by 37 percent and mortality rates by 60 percent. Over 6.2 million deaths were averted, primarily among children less than five years of age. Since 1998, the RBM Partnership to End Malaria has been central to the global fight against malaria. It has been essential to mobilizing unprecedented resources and supporting scale up of innovative interventions to put the world on a path of eliminating malaria.
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) is a workstream within the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. AMP is a partnership of more than 40 organizations, including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations. AMP is housed and chaired by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
AMP provides distance and in-country support to national malaria programmes and partners for mass ITN distribution campaigns as well as operational guidance on all aspects of ITN distribution. AMP works to coordinate the financial and technical resources of its members to support countries conducting mass and continuous distribution of millions of ITNs and works to resolve bottlenecks arising during planning and implementation of ITN campaigns. Its low-cost, action-orientated operational structure includes a Core Group of key partners overseeing AMP strategies, four working groups, and dozens of partners that volunteer their time and expertise. AMP partners have developed core technical competencies – planning/operations, logistics, monitoring and evaluation, social and behaviour change – to support ITN scale-up efforts.
ITN campaigns are most countries’ primary method of vector control and mode of malaria prevention. Ensuring that ITN campaigns are planned and implemented in a cost-effective and efficient manner is a priority for funding, technical and implementing partners. Additionally, national malaria programmes are looking for optimal means for ensuring sustained ITN access and use through different distribution channels to maintain progress against targets for ITN access and use. National malaria programmes and partners distributing ITNs look to AMP for planning and implementation support, which is provided through operational guidance documents accessed through the AMP website in addition to through technical assistance.
With the WHO declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, AMP focused on the development and dissemination of technical guidance and the provision of distance support for ITN mass campaigns. Over 25 countries accessed operational guidance and distance technical support from AMP to adapt ITN distribution strategies in 2020 in order to sustain gains achieved in the fight against malaria. The cost implications of the adapted strategies across different country contexts are not well understood but are important to assess for planning and implementation of future campaign distributions. AMP has been requested to assess the cost implications for COVID-19 adapted campaigns in an effort to facilitate planning and budgeting for campaigns in 2022 and 2023, which will likely still require adaptations based on the current timelines for vaccine roll out in most malaria-endemic countries.
The proposed work on costing of COVID-19 adaptations will require a lead consultant, responsible for the overall technical quality of the analysis and report, as well as a second consultant that will support on follow up on data access, data entry, etc. The consultant is expected to support collection of information required for the analysis, undertake data entry and compilation, support the data analysis and provide inputs to the final report.
Terms of reference:
(1) Nigeria-specific:
· Support collection of the information required, in collaboration with the IFRC/AMP support persons to be able to undertake the costing assessment
· Input the data received into the appropriate platform for the data compilation and analysis (platform to be defined by lead consultant as part of methodology for the work)
· Support analysis of the cost implications and cost drivers of COVID-19 adaptations for different campaign processes
· Support comparative analysis of the cost per net for campaign implementation pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19
· Support development of the presentation that will be given to the national malaria programmes in the countries selected for the costing analysis
· Support development and finalization of the report
(2) In selected countries:
· Support collection of the information required, in collaboration with the IFRC/AMP support persons to be able to undertake the costing assessment
· Input the data received into the appropriate platform for the data compilation and analysis (platform to be defined by lead consultant as part of methodology for the work)
· Support analysis of the cost implications and cost drivers of COVID-19 adaptations for different campaign processes
· Support comparative analysis of the cost per net for campaign implementation pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19
· Support development of the presentation that will be given to the national malaria programmes in the countries selected for the costing analysis
· Support development and finalization of the report
Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy:
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP)’s mandate aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 as it supports the achievement of strategic aims:
1) Save lives, protect livelihoods and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises
2) Enable healthy and safe living.
Project objectives and timelines:
Objective #1: To generate new evidence and best practices that will inform more efficient and effective ITN distributions, primarily but not exclusively through campaigns.
Desired outcomes: Increased availability of costing information related to COVID-19 adaptations to inform future campaign planning and budgeting.
Support to be provided to the consultant
The consultant will be supported by the Manager – Malaria Programme, Senior Officer – ITN Campaign Efficiency Project, and the AMP Coordinator, as well as the lead consultant for the costing work.
Consultant requirements:
· Bachelors or Masters degree in relevant field (health economics, epidemiology, etc.)
· Demonstrated experience in health economics of malaria control or similar
· Experience participating in large scale public health intervention cost assessments
· Proven experience with using data analysis software
· Work experience in the malaria prevention and control sector is a plus
Time allocation, for budget purposes
A total of 50 days are allocated to leading the planning, implementation, analysis and report on the COVID-19 campaign adaptation costing.
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions there will be no travel associated with this consultancy.
Compensation for distance support within the consultancy is based on a daily rate, with 8 billable hours equalling one day for billing purposes.
The consultancy timeframe will be from July 15th to December 31st, 2021.
Language requirement
Fluency in English and ability to read French is required for this consultancy.
Notes
· The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
How to apply:
The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
Applications should include the following documents:
1. Curriculum Vitae
2. A cover letter summarizing your experience, suggested an approach to the work, your daily rate, and three professional references.
3. Daily rate in CHF
Interested candidates should send their CV, letter of interest, and daily consultancy rate in CHF (Swiss francs) to health.department@ifrc.org. Email subject: “ADD THE TITLE OF YOUR CONSULTANCY"
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic there will be not travel associated with this consultancy. All work can be done from the consultants home location