Consultant Advisor at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an International non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of these partner organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in which CRS operates. CRS re-established presence in Nigeria in 2000 and currently focuses on agriculture, health and emergency programming.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant Advisor, Demand Creation Work Stream for 2021 - 2023 Global Fund Supported ITN Mass Campaigns

Location: Any City, Nigeria
Employment Type: Contract (Short Term)

Terms of Reference

• This Terms of Reference (TOR) provides the description and work to be done during the implementation of Insecticidal Treated Net (ITN) mass campaign in Nigeria.

Project Background
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons based on need, regardless of creed, ethnicity, or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of these partner organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in which CRS operates. CRS has worked in Nigeria for more than 25 years. Through local partners, CRS has implemented programs in 24 of the country’s 36 states, demonstrating the agency’s extensive grassroots network and significant capacity to reach the rural poor. Focusing on agriculture, emergency response and recovery, and health, CRS is helping to strengthen health care systems, Catholic Church partners, other community-based organizations, and government institutions. CRS’s current projects are improving the lives of more than 1.4 million Nigerians.

CRS has a long and rich history of collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). In Nigeria, CRS has been a Co-Principal Recipient (PR) for the Global Fund Malaria grant since January 2017. As a Co-PR, CRS partnered with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2017 long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) mass campaigns in 6 states. CRS also supervised and monitored an SR and supported a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.

For the 2018-2020 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS remained a Co-PR with NMEP, strengthening the synergy and collaboration with NMEP to improve efficiency and impact. CRS worked closely with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), Malaria Consortium, various state governments and other stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2018-2020 long lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) mass campaigns in 13 states. CRS provided oversight and ICT4D leadership for the ITN campaigns and implemented directly in some of the states. In addition to SFH, CRS provided oversight to 2 other SRs (Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium), in providing support to the 13 states supported by the Global Fund, for a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level. These services included Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) implemented by Malaria Consortium with oversight from CRS.

For the 2021-2023 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS will remain a Co-PR with NMEP and provide robust oversight to the 3 SRs (Society for Family Health, Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium). CRS will work closely with NMEP, 3 SRs and other partners, to scale up the implementation of life saving interventions and improve access to quality malaria services in the 13 GF supported states. These critical interventions include malaria treatment and prevention services such as Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention, ITN campaigns, Social and Behaviour Change campaign, and testing and treatment interventions.

Purpose of the Consultancy

• The purpose of the consultancy is to support CRS Nigeria Global Fund Malaria team and provide state-level technical assistance and oversight on demand creation-related activities for the successful coordination of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) mass campaigns.
• S/he will provide training, accompaniment, and technical support to the State Ministries of Health in the mass campaign states.

Objective of the Consultancy

• The overall objective of this consultancy is to support CRS in the implementation of the 2021 – 2023 ITN mass campaign distribution across by providing technical assistance and oversight on demand creation activities to state teams.

Main Tasks / Deliverables

• Provide periodic updates to CRS’ Global Fund Malaria team, State Support Team Coordinators and the integrated vector management (IVM) subcommittees.
• Provide leadership to the demand creation work stream, and leverage resources across the state support teams to facilitate the effective uptake and use of ITNs provided during the 2021 – 2023 ITN mass campaign.
• Support the provision of technical support and input into state demand creation preparatory processes such as adaption of demand creation campaign materials.
• Participate in training state-level demand creation work stream members in implementing ITN mass campaign.
• Support the incorporation of lessons learnt from previous ITN mass campaigns.
• Provide technical advice for the design of rolling out state specific demand creation approaches/plans.
• Provide technical advice for the implementation of the state level demand creation plans.
• Support stakeholder coordination and engagement at the state level.
• Support the compilation of campaign reports, and continuous review of progress against the plans to monitor target achievement.
• Provide technical support for the development of advocacy and media kits and engagement of media, to facilitate the dissemination of these key messages.
• Support identification of influencers and stakeholders for involvement in demand creation activities (e.g. state net ambassador).
• Support advocacy and engagement at all levels (community, ward, LGA, state) to promote commitment and ownership of key stakeholders, for the successful implementation of ITN mass campaigns

Specific Deliverables

• Prepare completed / merged adapted demand creation materials from demand creation work stream consultants to be submitted along with the state microplanning output and budgets.
• Prepare completed/merged micro plans and state campaign budgets from demand creation work stream consultants within 5days from the end of each microplanning process.
• Prepare detailed trip reports at the end of each trip to the campaign states which should include detailed follow-up steps to be submitted within 5days of return from the State.
• Prepare monthly activity plan and tracker which should be submitted at least 1week before the preceding month.

Schedule of Deliverables

• The work will be completed between March 1st and December 31, 2021.

Required Qualifications
The consultant should possess the following combination of skills and expertise:

• An Advanced Degree in Public Health, Social Sciences or related field.
• At least 7 years of professional experience in health programs, preferably in advocacy, communication and social mobilization, training, and M&E.
• Specific experience in behavior change communication for malaria programs strongly desired.
• Proven experience in managing public health programs or projects in Nigeria or similar developing country context.
• Demonstrated ability to monitor, supervise, and train in health service programs.
• Extensive knowledge of the Nigerian public health sector.
• Proven leadership and inter-personal skills and ability to work well both within a team and independently.
• Strong representational skills and ability to interface with multiple stakeholders, representatives, and partners (including representatives of government agencies) in a professional manner on an ongoing basis.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively under pressure and to prioritize competing demands
• Strategic, analytical, and decision-making skills.
• Professional proficiency in English oral and written communication skills; strong demonstrated writing skills required (reports, evaluations)
• Experience with facilitation, capacity strengthening and partnership building.
• Ability to transfer knowledge through formal and informal training.
• Proven leadership and inter-personal skills and ability to work well both within a team and independently.
• Proficiency in use of Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Experience in eHealth and its applicability to Health systems is strongly desired.
• Experience in Rapid SMS system of data transmission is strongly desired.

Management Arrangements and Follow-up

• The Global Fund Malaria project unit will provide overall supervision and management of the consultancy. Focal contact person on this consultancy shall be the Senior Manager, Vector Control.

Key Working Relationships/Organizations
Internal:

• Demand Creation work stream consultants, Global Fund Malaria Program Team, Deputy Country Representative, Country Representative, Operations Manager, Finance, Procurement and Administration Staff, Regional and Senior Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Directors for Program Quality and Management Quality.

External:

• State Ministries of Health (SMOH), National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) within the Federal Ministry of Health (MoH), technical and financial Partners, partner health facilities, Local Fund Agent (LFA), Global Fund Country Team, Chemonics, relevant Third party logistics agents.

Time and Level of Effort

• This activity is expected to take place within a period of not more than 16 working days during microplanning and 55 days during ITN mass campaign implementation, between March 1 and December 31, 2021.
• The specific deliverables are expected to be timely and reports should be submitted no later than 7 days after the activity ends.

Location of the Consultancy

• The consultancy will take place in states were ITN mass campaign will be implemented.

Payment Schedule

• A daily rate of N20,000 will be paid as consultancy fees only on days worked. This will be disbursed at the end of the activity following an assessment of timely completion of specific deliverables listed above and submission of timesheet duly signed by the Senior Manager, Vector Control.
• The consultant is expected to submit timely reports to the project team.

Application Closing Date
5:00pm Wednesday, 10th March, 2021.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates (Consultants) should send their Expression of Interest (EOI) along with their CV to: [email protected] The applicant's name and reference code for the consultancy "NG3204" should be the subject of the application email.(i.e. “Applicants name - NG3204").

Note

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• CRS will deduct and remit to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) a 5% withholding Tax from the total consultancy fees in accordance with the Nigerian Tax Law.