National consultant, Coordination and operations technical assistance for 2024 national insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaign in Liberia

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191 members National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.”  The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. At Geneva level, the

Health and Care Department’s (HCD) New Strategic Direction 2023 focuses on Health Systems Strengthening and WASH Systems Strengthening through four pillars: Global Health Security, Global Health Protection (UHC), Global WASH Services and Transformative Partnership.

The Global Health Protection (UHC) pillar houses and chairs the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP), a partnership of more than 40 organizations, including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations, focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaign and continuous distribution activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementing of ITN distribution based on an iterative process; and (3) providing technical assistance to national malaria programmes and partners based on requests. AMP’s activities support achievement of the WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) targets for high coverage and use of ITNs. AMP is a workstream within the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. Harnessing the global leadership and management systems of IFRC, AMP is uniquely positioned to support and advance country-level efforts to optimize ITN distribution and ensure that the right nets reach the right people at the right time through both campaign and continuous distribution channels.

In 2020, IFRC/AMP was awarded a three-year grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to identify ways to improve operational efficiency for ITN campaigns and develop associated operational guidance for national malaria programmes and partners. AMP’s work under this grant provided key lessons learned and practical guidance for improving the implementation of ITN distribution through multiple channels. In 2023, a new grant was awarded to IFRC/AMP by BMGF focused on optimizing ITN access in the face of limited resources for the fight against malaria.  In this grant, AMP will focus on implementing activities across five workstreams designed to address identified gaps. The primary objectives are to enhance data utilization for informed decision-making and to leverage digital tools for optimization of ITN campaigns. These workstreams ultimately aim to reduce the malaria burden through effective malaria prevention with ITNs.

Job Purpose

Background

In 2024, the Liberia National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), Plan International Liberia (Plan), Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and RBM Partnership to End Malaria (RBM) partners, with support from the Global Fund (GF) and the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (US-PMI), will implement a nationwide insecticide treated net (ITN) mass campaign targeting 5.2 million people with over three million Interceptor G2 dual active ingredient (Dual AI) nets to the general population. The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) will provide technical guidance for the planning and implementation of the campaign.

The 2024 ITNs mass campaign will be managed by the local RBM structure and coordinated by the Joint Technical Steering Committee (JTSC) which is sub-divided into four sub-committees: Technical & Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Behaviour Change, Digitalization and Logistics. The 2024 campaign will be digitalized and will use a ‘door-to-door’ household registration nationwide and a hybrid distribution strategy (door-to-door in urban Montserrado and fixed site in rural Montserrado and the remaining counties). 

The previous campaign was conducted in 2021 and encountered numerous challenges that delayed the implementation beyond the period of the Global Fund grant, which made closeout activities difficult to implement and, as a result, led to a lack of accountability for the nets received. 

Planning for the 2024 campaign began early and macroplans and budgets developed to guide the strategy and operations for the campaign have addressed the recommendations from the local fund agent (LFA) spot checks, as well as reports from national and international partners who were involved in the planning and implementation of the 2021 campaign. The 2024 campaign will be digitalized, with distribution of a single ITN type (the same type distributed during the 2021 campaign) in line with insecticide resistance profiles within the country. The NMCP and partners are currently finalizing the microplanning package for the piloting of the digitalization application and platform in Margibi county planned for the first quarter of 2024.

While the preparations for the 2024 campaign are progressing well, the planning process has suffered severe delays that may impact the quality and timeliness of the campaign. To ensure the campaign is completed within the GF grant timeframe (June 30^th 2024), a national technical assistance (TA) consultant will be recruited to support the Liberia NMCP with the finalization of planning for implementation of the campaign, including supporting finalization of all documents and tools to be utilized for the remaining phases of the ITN mass campaign in Liberia (microplanning, trainings and implementation), ensuring appropriate integration of digitalization components and timely availability of materials prior to training and implementation. The national TA consultant will be directly integrated into the NMCP to facilitate the coordination of the campaign processes and provide additional human resources for the program, and technical support to the JTSC and the four sub committees in collaboration with the NMCP, CRS and Plan International Liberia. The role of the national TA for the 2024 campaign will focus ensuring the continuity and progress of the campaign planning and implementation according to the activities defined in the overall campaign and pilot digitalization timelines.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist NMCP to effectively plan and implement the 2024 ITN mass campaign, ensuring documentation of successes, challenges and lessons learned and implementing needed course corrections to keep the campaign on track.
• Support the NMCP to reenergize the JTSC, which is the central level structure responsible for the overall planning and implementation of the campaign and includes the chairs of all of the campaign sub-committees:
  • Support the chair of the JTSC with the organization and management of the meetings (e.g., development of the meeting agenda and presentations, send invitations) and the documentation of the proceedings and the decisions.
  • Support the chair of the JTSC with the follow up of the decisions and key action points from the meetings.
  • Support the chair of the JTSC in producing and sharing regular updates on campaign status (including any key bottlenecks requiring resolution) with all partners.
• Participate in the meetings of the technical sub-committees to ensure planning is on track, including for the digitalization.
• Work with the chair of the JTSC and the chairs of technical sub-committees to ensure feedback on different campaign documents/materials from different stakeholders (i.e., Global Fund, PMI, AMP, etc.) is effectively incorporated into the drafts before documents are finalized.
• Identify campaign key bottlenecks and share with relevant focal points for timely resolution.
• Support finalization of the microplanning packages (including for digitalization) including agendas, presentations, standard operating procedures (SOPs), etc. (as applicable).
• Support finalization of all training materials (agendas, presentations, SOPs, practical exercises, job aids, etc.), including for digitalization.
• Support validation of the microplans and ensure that final microplans and budgets are shared with the counties.
• Support the JTSC with the following activities for the digitalization pilot, which will in turn be used for the full campaign implementation:
  • The organization and implementation of the central level TOT, the cascade training and ensure compilation and archiving of reports from the county, district, community level training sessions for incorporation in plans for the full campaign roll out.
  • The organization and implementation of the household registration and ITN distribution, including compilation of information from the daily review meetings for the campaign (e.g., development of the meeting agenda, presentations, setting up invitations) and the documentation of the decisions and action points, particularly those with implications for the full campaign roll out. 
    
  • Monitor the implementation of the logistics and supply chain operations for the digitalization pilot, compiling lessons and recommendations for the full campaign roll out.
  • Monitor the implementation of the SBC activities pre, during and post digitalization pilot and compile the lessons and recommendations for the full campaign roll out.
  • Compile the reports from national monitors and identify areas for strengthening between the digitalization pilot and the full campaign roll out. 
• Summarize the lessons learned and recommendations across technical areas from the digitalization pilot, including those requiring adjustments to the digitalization platform in advance of the full campaign roll out.
• Support NMCP efforts to ensure appropriate and efficient waste management for the plastic packages and baling materials from the nets.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

Communication and reporting during the TA support period

• Prepare a weekly situation report using the AMP template each Tuesday in collaboration with the NMCP and partners.
• Participate in weekly AMP conference call (as much as possible) and ensure NMCP participation once per month.
• One-page summary of recommendations from each activity phase supported submitted to NMCP within five days of the end of the activity.
• Final mission report, including compiled recommendations and who they are targeted to and supporting documents within 10 days of end of mission.

Duration of work

The duration of the initial assignment is 30 days, with a five-day working week over a six-week period. An extension is possible depending on the needs of the NMCP and the performance of the consultant.  

Location

The consultant will be based in the Liberia National Malaria Control Programme, Monrovia, Liberia with limited travel to the field and only if agreed by the NMCP. The focus of the consultant will be on central level coordination and support for preparation for field implementation according to the timeline. Any field activities of the consultant will be focused on Montserrado County, which has specific operational challenges that require additional attention and resources.  

Education

Required

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in public health or social science.

Preferred

• Advanced degree in a relevant area.

Experience

Required

• 3–5-years of experience support malaria efforts, preferably with the National Malaria Control Program or with malaria partners.
• Minimum of three years of experience with large-scale health service delivery, preferably campaigns (malaria, immunization, nutrition, etc.) and in one or more of the campaign core technical areas (digitalization, SBC, logistics and supply chain management, operations, M&E).
• Demonstrated capacity for coordination, strategy development, operations management and/or project management.
• Demonstrated work experience at field/operational level and understanding of critical facilitators and barriers to successful delivery of interventions.

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required

• Fluency (spoken and written) in English.

Competencies, Values and Comments

Application Instructions

• Please submit your application in English only.
• Please include in your application an up-to-date CV, and in your motivation letter your availability and your current Daily Fee Rate in CHF. Applications that do not have this information will be automatically excluded.

IFRC values equal opportunity, diversity and inclusivity. We encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates, irrespective of sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, nationality, class, political opinions, ethnic or social origin, disability, religion, or belief.