Expert to support the Development of the National M&E Plan for HIV and AIDS in Mauritius (M/W) At Expertise France

Expertise France – L’Initiative is looking for an Monitoring and Evaluation expert, specializing in HIV/AIDS, to support the development of a robust national Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for HIV in Mauritius.

Key milestones and activities

1. Design of M&E structure for HIV in Mauritius:
   • agreement on the flow of data, the reporting authorities and roles of respective players.
   • this will lead to a formal endorsement of the system selected for Mauritius and development of the respective Terms of Reference for all stakeholders.
2. Development of the M&E plan (standard 12 components):
   • This activity will include the selection of indicators and their definition.
3. Revision and development of procedures and tools:
   • Development of data quality assurance procedures.
   • Revision of tools for primary and secondary data collection.
   • Identify and Implement options for unique coding system.
4. Train and build key stakeholders’ capacities in line with the new M&E Plan:
   • Train M&E staff in NAS, in the Harm Reduction Unit, in the Prison Department, in the Rodrigues AIDS Secretariat, and in Aids Unit on reporting.
   • Building capacities of NSIF in M&E according to transition plan.
   • Train all relevant stakeholders on the new M&E plan and reporting requirements, including CSOs.
   • Technical Assistance and training of M&E staff in NAS on production of strategic information.
5. Revision of key documentation:
   • Revision of the baselines and targets for GC7’s Performance Framework
   • Revision of the Performance Framework of the National Strategic Plan

Context

Mauritius, an Upper-Middle Income Country with a concentrated HIV epidemic, has benefitted from the Global Fund since 2020. The country has been allocated a last grant to the tune of USD 2,368,481 for HIV and building resilient and sustainable systems for health (RSSH). The Tailored for Transition funding request, which has been approved, will cover period 01 January 2024 to 31 December 2026.
This allocation will be invested in prioritized interventions with the greatest impact on the health and community systems, prevention, treatment care and support services to improve the national AIDS response.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Plan which dates back to 2008 has to be updated and aligned with the new National HIV Action Plan 2023 – 2027. It is therefore important to develop a common national
monitoring and evaluation system that will form the basis for the M&E of the NAP 2023 – 2027 and will address all the issues identified during the assessment by the M&E expert in September 2023.

As stated in the National Action Plan 2023-2027, the overall responsibility for the monitoring and evaluation of the Action Plan lies with the NAS. Regardless of the involvement of the stakeholders, NAS has the responsibility for conducting ongoing analysis of the program data and sharing these data, as required, with the stakeholders, including policy makers. It is NAS’ responsibility to ensure that indicators are monitored, and any gaps identified early for remedial actions.

A robust M&E Plan will enable the NAS to monitor and evaluate the national program at all levels, more specifically to:

1. coordinate, supervise and evaluate the national response
2. provide capacity building for M&E Staff
3. guiding the systematic data collection and ensure data quality assurance for all stakeholders
4. ensure that data are properly saved and stored, to prevent loss of data and guarantee standard confidentiality for patients and clients services
5. develop national evidence-based information in a user-friendly manner.

The M&E plan will give a clear direction to all stakeholders on the reporting lines while addressing the policy and structural barriers which are weakening the M&E system at all levels.

Required profile

Monitoring & Evaluation expert

Qualifications required

• Advanced degree in medicine, public health, health policy, statistics and quantitative studies, development, social sciences or any other relevant field;
• Specialization in HIV;
• Excellent competencies and skills in communication, teamwork, analytical and problem solving, decision-making, writing and synthesis;
• Excellent level in English (written/spoken), French is a strong asset.

Professional experience

• At least 8 years of working experience in HIV
• At least 5 years of experience working with the GF Secretariat, or GF implementers
• Excellent understanding of GF and HIV policies and guidelines
• Previous experience developing and implementing M&E national plans, data gathering and analysis; monitoring instruments, baseline data collection, and M&E storage systems
• Previous experience working with M&E database systems
• Good knowledge of both core indicators (Modular Framework) as well as a suite of possible custom indicators (e.g. to measure progress on implementation of community system strengthening, human rights and gender equity activities)