Consultant: Leadership & Governance Specialist – BARMM (Filipino Nationals Only) At Acción contra el Hambre España

Title: Empowering Municipalities through Participation, Organized, Well-Developed Educational Resources in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)

Duration: 12 months

Purpose:

Action Against Hunger and Integrated Resource Development for Tri-People (IRDT) are collaborating as a consortium to implement this project, combining their technical expertise and established partnerships with local authorities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The project’s objectives align with both organizations’ missions: ending hunger, addressing malnutrition, strengthening leadership, and fostering community ownership.

The consortium is committed to implementing Republic Act 11148 (An Act Scaling Up the National and Local Health and Nutrition Programs Through a Strengthened Integrated Strategy for Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition in The First One Thousand (1,000) Days of Life, Appropriating Funds Therefor and For Other Purposes).

The project seeks to strengthen the local health and nutrition system through a multi-stakeholder approach focused on evidence-based interventions and capacity-building initiatives. Targeted efforts will support Local Chief Executives (LCEs), Local Nutrition Councils (LNCs), and Islamic leaders, with particular emphasis on promoting leadership, community engagement, and interventions tailored to the needs of pregnant women, newborns, and young children. Implementation will extend from the municipal to the barangay level.

Background

Operating in the BARMM region since 2000, Action Against Hunger’s key objectives are: 1) saving lives, 2) promoting capabilities, and 3) transforming systems. Through a multisectoral approach, Action Against Hunger implements nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions across emergency and development contexts, collaborating closely with government institutions, donor agencies, technical working groups, private sector partners, NGOs, and civil society organizations to enhance nutrition outcomes. Capacity building remains central to Action Against Hunger’s programming, particularly in governance and health service delivery. From 2018-2023, Action Against Hunger’s health and nutrition programs reached 239,916 individuals in the Philippines. Action Against Hunger currently has two ongoing health and nutrition projects in the BARMM region, focusing on training Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) to deliver essential primary health care and working under an MoU with the BARMM Ministry of Health.

Together, Action Against Hunger and IRDT bring complementary expertise essential for the success of this project. The project employs a structured, systemic approach, beginning with a comprehensive assessment of the existing municipal health system. This is followed by targeted training in leadership, service delivery enhancement, and behavioral change communication. The capacity-building efforts aim to empower health and nutrition leaders at every level, from Local Chief Executives (LCEs) to barangay health workers (BHWs), supporting informed decision-making that fosters sustainable community efforts to improve the health and nutrition system in BARMM. Post-training coaching and mentoring will ensure reliable service delivery and sustained project outcomes.

SCOPE OF WORK

The consultant (Leadership and Governance Specialist) will work closely with the Team Leader.

They will be responsible for:

1. Gather and analyze data on health and nutrition indicators to identify key issues in trends concerning leadership and governance
2. Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure comprehensive and accurate situation analysis
3. Develop detailed reports summarizing findings and recommendations for policy and program development
4. Design and implement a budget tracking tool to monitor health and nutrition expenditures of our leaders in governance
5. Assist in the creation of advocacy papers on nutrition leadership and governance, and highlight the importance of funding and resource allocation for nutrition programs
6. Engage stakeholders to gather input and support for the advocacy paper and budget tracking tool.
7. Develop a comprehensive training curriculum on health and nutrition governance.
8. Conduct master training sessions for key personnel to enhance their governance skills and knowledge.
9. Assess the effectiveness of training programs and make necessary adjustments to improve outcomes
10. Organize and facilitate workshops to develop cost estimates for the 2026-2028 Local Nutrition Action Plans (LNAPS) and Social and Behavior Change (SBC) initiatives.
11. Work with local government units and other stakeholders to ensure accurate and realistic costing.
12. Prepare detailed documentation of workshop outcomes and cost estimates.
13. Develop and implement mentorship programs for LCEs and LNCs to strengthen their leadership and governance capabilities
14. Provide personalized coaching sessions to address specific challenges and enhance leadership skills
15. Track the progress of mentees and provide ongoing support and feedback
16. Design an annual award program to recognize and celebrate best practices among Barangay Nutrition Scholars.
17. Establish clear criteria and guidelines for award selection.
18. Plan and coordinate the award ceremony, including logistics, invitations, and publicity.
19. Evaluate the impact of the award program and gather feedback for future improvements.
20. Other tasks assigned to achieve the goals and objectives of the project.

COORDINATION

1. Coordinate with the Team Leader and Health & Nutrition Coordinator the schedule of planned activities.
2. Coordinate with the Head of Project on security and agenda.
3. Coordinate with all stakeholders of the project.

TIMELINE OF ENGAGEMENT

Total consultancy days: at least 20 working days/month for one (1) year. Either consecutive or intermittent, depending on the work plan agreed upon between Action Against Hunger and the Consultant.

OBLIGATION OF ACTION AGAINST HUNGER

Action Against Hunger will provide:

• Relevant documents, primer, code of conduct, PSEA, security in the field relevant program documents.
• The Consultant will be integrated as part of the project implementation team.
• Basic logistic support (area-to-area field visits/activities).
• Technical and operational oversight.
• Payment of the consultant upon successful completion and submission of agreed outputs.

KEY COMPETENCY OF CONSULTANT

The Consultant (Leadership and Governance Specialist) has preferably the following key competencies:

• Advanced degree in behavioral science, psychology, social science, development studies, development communication, or related fields.
• At least 8 years of professional experience in leadership and governance for development programs.
• Preferably with related experience in maternal and child nutrition, multisectoral nutrition, or holistic early childhood care and development.
• Work experience on competency-based approaches in developing Learning and Development Interventions for Nutrition Leadership and Governance.
• Work experience in capacity-building activities specific to nutrition leadership and governance.
• Work experience with BARMM MOH/ NNC or other BARMM government agencies at national and sub-national levels, particularly at the municipal level.

CONDITIONS

• The consultant will provide his/her food and accommodation.
• The consultant shall provide all equipment needed for the conduct of the consultancy such as laptops, and mobile phones.
• All outputs must comply with Action Against Hunger Branding and Visibility Guidelines, and policies on Data Protection, Child Protection, Safeguarding, Gender, and other related policies.
• The Facilitator should be available to work on weekends if needed.

Payment Terms are as follows:

The Consultant (Leadership and Governance Specialist) shall send a billing statement and validated level of contribution by the Team Leader to Action Against Hunger upon satisfactorily accomplishing the required deliverables within 30 working days (see attachment for details):

1st tranche – inception report, capacity building roll-out plan, outline of relevant LDI plan, monitoring plan – 20%

2nd tranche – Progress Report #1 – 5%

3rd tranche – Progress Report #2 – 20%

4th tranche – Progress Report #3 – 20%

5th tranche – Progress Report #4 – 20%

Final tranche – End of Project Report – 15%