Consultant Service - Nigeria Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy Plan (NPSSP) at US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP)

Job Category: Global Health & Manufacturing Services
Timeline: The assignment is expected to run from March 2022 to September 2022.

Summary of the Position

• USP's focus on global public health extends to lower and middle-income countries with work in over 20 countries through donor-funded programs. In 2019, USP was awarded the Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) program, a 5-year USAID-funded global program designed to sustainably strengthen medical product quality assurance (QA) systems in low-and-middle-income countries.
• The main objectives of the PQM+ program include: to improve governance of medical product QA systems, improve the country and regional regulatory QA systems, optimize, and increase financial resources for QA, increase supply manufacture) of quality assured essential medicines and advance global learning and operational agenda, for medical products quality assurance.
• PQM+ is currently recruiting a consultant, based in Abuja, Nigeria to lead and support the day-to-day implementation of USAID funded PQM+ Nigeria Workplan activity for the development of a National Strategic Plan for the Pharmaceutical Sector.
• The consultant will work collaboratively with PQM+ staff, Food and Drug Services (FDS) Department of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), and other stakeholders both government and nongovernment actors under the guidance of the Chief of Party and other USP Global Health and Manufacturing Services (GHMS) Senior Technical leads. The objective of the consultancy is to manage the development of the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Sector Strategic Plan (NPSSP) in coordination with PQM+, FDS and other stakeholders.

Scope of Work
The specific activities the consultant will be responsible for include:

• Work closely with the Food and Drug Services (FDS) Department of the Federal Ministry of Health, under the supervision of the Director, and PQM+ to deliver on the above project. Liaise with the FDS Department of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) in the engagement of stakeholders.
• Liaise with the FDS and PQM+ in convening meetings of all stakeholders based on agreed schedules with the FDS department; prepare agenda items for such meetings, coordinate the meetings (schedule, moderate, collate attendance, prepare, and disseminate minutes of meetings).
• Liaise with the FDS department and PQM+ in setting up technical working groups (TWGs) as agreed, with terms of reference and monitoring of progress made in addressing the intervention area being worked on.
• Prepare initial draft in liaison with FDS focal person(s) based on inputs from the respective TWGs for a plenary review by stakeholders. Liaise with respective TWGs on final updates of the respective intervention areas identified.
• Prepare and disseminate monthly progress reports on the NPSSP to both the FDS and PQM+.! Present the final draft of the strategic plan to PQM+ for review and inputs. Submit the strategic plan to the Director FDS for ratification.
• Liaise with Director FDS to launch the strategic plan of making Nigeria a major hub of medicines and vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

Key Responsibiliites

• Executes the scope of work as outlined under the guidance of the COP, GHMS technical lead(s), Director FDS, and other stakeholders.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the COP.

Timeline, Duty Station, Deliverables and Payments

• The assignment is expected to run from March 2022 to September 2022.

Duty Station:

• The consultant is expected to anchor the development of the strategy from Abuja, where most of the stakeholders are located.

Deliverables:

• Inauguration of TWG - Payment Term (20%) - Estimated Timeline (March 2022)
• Attendance Sheets for Meetings - Estimated Timeline (Per Meeting)
• Minutes of Meetings - Estimated Timeline (Per Meeting)
• Milestone Reports - Estimated Timeline (Per Milestone)
• Monthly Progress Reports - Estimated Timeline (Monthly)
• Mid-point Status Report - Payment Term (20%) - Estimated Timeline (June 2022)
• Draft NSPP Report - Payment Term (30%) - Estimated Timeline (July 2022)
• Final NSPP Report - Payment Term (30%) - Estimated Timeline (August - September 2022)
• Review work done and renew the contract for FY2023 - Payment Term (As Applicable) - Estimated Timeline (September 2022).
• Publish Journal paper based on critical information gathered in making Nigeria a hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa - Estimated Timeline (Target January 2023).

Management / Reporting:

• The consultant will present monthly progress and milestone reports to COP PQM+ for joint review with GHMS Lead of Pharma Strategy then share with FDS during the development of the strategy, in addition to the mid-point report, the draft, and final strategy reports

Required Qualifications

• An advanced Degree in Pharmacy, Economics, Business Management, Public Policy Health.
• A minimum of 10 years previous related professional experience with preference given to candidates with professional experience in pharmaceutical research, strategy, regulation, and policy development
• Experience in other international national pharmaceutical development projects • Relevant experience in the Nigerian pharmaceutical sector, academia, manufacturing, or regulatory control.