Consultancy to support digital data collection for insecticide-treated net (ITN) mass campaign distribution At International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Consultancy to support digital data collection for insecticide-treated net (ITN) mass campaign distribution

Overall objective:

The objective of the proposed work is to support the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) in ensuring that high-quality, timely technical assistance is available for national malaria programmes and implementing partners for use of digital tools for data collection for ITN distribution, primarily through campaigns, with a focus on Francophone African countries.

The specific areas for support include:

§ Proactive follow-up with national malaria programmes and implementing partners planning for digital data collection for ITN campaigns in 2022 and 2023 to determine state of preparedness and any support needs

§ Provide support to national malaria programmes and implementing partners, based on requests, to:

o Define the best platform option(s) based on the country context

o Support development of plans and budgets for roll out of digital data collection

o Support development of training and implementation tools for roll out of digital data collection

o Other support for digital data collection as defined in country-specific requests

§ Identify bottlenecks for resolution for planning and deployment of digital tools for data collection for ITN campaigns

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 (RBM) has been central to the global fight against malaria and 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 is a workstream within RBM. 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 is a global partnership focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in ITN campaign and continuous distribution activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementation of ITN distribution; and (3) supporting countries to identify, address and document operational successes and challenges to meeting the WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) targets for high coverage and use of ITNs. Since AMP’s inception in 2004, the IFRC has housed the AMP secretariat, serving as an independent convening body for the AMP Partnership. Harnessing the global leadership and management systems of IFRC, AMP is uniquely positioned to support and advance country-level efforts to promote high-quality, high-impact, efficient distribution of ITNs to increase population access to nets in malaria endemic countries through both campaign and continuous distribution channels.

For over 15 years, AMP has cultivated strong relationships with national malaria programmes and with key technical, financial, and implementing partners. Along with developing field-focused tools and operational guidance, AMP has established a globally recognized network of Technical Assistance (TA) Providers for planning and conducting ITN campaigns, covering strategy, training and capacity building, logistics, communication, and monitoring and evaluation. AMP is recognized as an essential global partnership platform and expert resource for developing, promoting, and conducting mass ITN campaigns and sharing best practices within the global malaria community and beyond. AMP is an integral part of the RBM’s Country and Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC). The majority of funding for country-specific AMP technical assistance is provided through RBM.

Recent years have seen a tremendous increase in interest in and use of digital tools for data collection for ITN mass campaigns. Digital tools may increase campaign efficiency across different campaign phases and activities, including macroplanning, microplanning, social and behaviour change (SBC), logistics and supply chain management, household registration, ITN distribution, supervision, monitoring and evaluation. A recent landscape analysis done by Tropical Health under the IFRC Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ITN Campaign Efficiency Project reviewed features of different commonly used digital platforms (https://allianceformalariaprevention.com/tools-guidance/improving-itn-campaign-efficiency-through-use-of-digital-tools/). Work is ongoing to develop practical guidelines for considerations to account for during planning and budgeting for deployment of digital tools for ITN campaigns. The Global Fund, when launching the new COVID-19 resource mobilization mechanism for countries, encouraged inclusion of digital tools as part of the funding requests.

AMP, as a primary technical assistance resource for national malaria programmes and implementing partners for ITN campaigns, has been receiving increasing requests for support for planning and budgeting for deployment of digital tools. In many cases, national malaria programmes have included broad budget amounts for digitizing campaigns without specifying any further information, which may lead to non-deployment of digital tools as planned due to late decision-making on platforms, training and support needs, etc.

Terms of reference for consultancy:

The consultancy is focused on supporting national malaria programmes and implementing partners with planned digitization of ITN campaigns. A survey was undertaken by AMP to collect information from all malaria-endemic countries about plans and budgets for digital data collection and the results of the survey will be used to guide the initial work of the consultant in following up with countries that responded “yes” to planned digital tools roll out for their ITN campaigns. The initial work will focus on verifying country responses, better understanding the current state of preparedness in terms of digital tool roll out and identifying any gaps (financial, human resources, technical or other) for the planned deployment of information technology.

The second aspect of the consultancy will be providing support based on requests, primarily to Francophone African countries, with any planning, budgeting, training materials, standard operating procedures, etc. required for the deployment of digital tools.

The third aspect of the consultancy will be documenting any challenges experienced by national malaria programmes and implementing partners with the planning and roll out of digital tools in 2020 and 2021 in selected countries. This information may be collected through key informant interviews, exchanges with country teams or other means. The objective of this documentation will be to compile a list of lessons learned and best practices for other programmes planning the transition to digital tools for ITN campaigns.

Deliverables:

1. Report on follow up to country responses to digital tools survey and analysis of state of preparedness for deployment of digital tools
2. Reports from technical support requested by national malaria programmes and implementing partners, including recommendations and next steps
3. Document summarizing key challenges and lessons learned in 2020 and 2021 with planning and roll out of digital tools for ITN campaigns, including recommendations for improvements for countries planning to transition to digital tools

Profile of candidate sought

Education

• Required

· Bachelor’s degree, in the field of information technology, health sciences/technology, computer sciences or similar relevant field

• Preferred

· Master’s degree in information technology, health sciences/technology, computer sciences, monitoring and evaluation or similar relevant field

Language

• Required

· French – fluent reading, writing speaking

• Preferred

· Bilingual English/French or French/Portuguese

Work experience

Required

• At least 5 years in eHealth/digital health, preferably in assessment, development, and implementation of digital tool transition for health campaigns
• Documented experience of working in complex situations to achieve consensus and effectively manage change
• Documented experience at national and international levels and working with multiple stakeholders
• Proven track record of success in managing assignments independently and efficiently

Preferred

• Experience in planning / implementing / evaluating ITN campaigns using digital tools and/or paper to digital based system transition
• Knowledge of malaria partners and stakeholders, particularly those involved in vector control

Skills and competencies

• Clear communication (verbal, written, spoken)
• Demonstrated leadership and experience working with different stakeholders to achieve consensus
• Planning and organizing, including ensuring structured and stepwise progression towards achieving targets
• Experience working in national and international environments
• Independent and results oriented
• Forward and strategic thinking

Alignment to the IFRC’s Strategy 2030

The consultancy aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 as it supports the achievement of Global Aims:

Global Aim 1: People anticipate, respond to and quickly recover from crisis.

Global Aim 2: People lead safe, health and dignified lives and have opportunities to thrive.

Project objectives and timelines:

Objective #1: Scaling up and maintaining universal coverage targets of malaria prevention with ITNs through all available channels including mass distribution campaigns and continuous distribution channels.

Desired outcomes: To address inefficiencies in planning and implementation of mass ITN distribution campaigns through timely deployment of digital tools for data collection and to better understand best practices for the digital transition for future campaigns.

Support to be provided to the consultant

The consultant will be supported by the Manager – Malaria Programmes, AMP Coordinator, Senior Officer – ITN Campaign Efficiency Technical Advisor and Officer – Information Systems and M&E.

Time allocation

50 billable days are initially planned for this consultancy. The consultancy timeframe will be from July 20^th 2021 to April 30^th 2022.

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.

Notes

• The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.