National Consultant - WHO Exploration Project QoC MNCH at World Health Organization (WHO)

Job ID: 2001021
Location: Nigeria
Schedule: Full-time  
Grade: No grade
Contract duration: 60 days
Contractual Arrangement: Individual service contractor
Organization: AF_NGA Nigeria

Background

• The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (the Network) has brought together eleven countries and their partners working on quality of care for MNCH.
• To achieve the Network’s goal of halving maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths in health facilities in five years’ time; countries and partners in the Network agreed on institutionalization of quality of care improvement in health facilities through four strategic objectives: leadership, action, learning and accountability. So far, the Network’s efforts have focused on strengthening the public health sector, despite the private sector’s substantial role in the delivery of health care in many of Network countries.
• The purpose of this consultancy is to assist the Federal Ministry of Health and WHO Country Office Nigeria to undertake a review of local experiences, mechanisms and approaches to private sector involvement; to help organize a national policy dialogue meeting to present and discuss the findings; and to write a country case study presenting the findings of this situational analysis.
• The findings of this in-country scoping exercise will inform the development of models for effective engagement of the private sector in collaborating with the public sector for implementing quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH).

Description of Duties / Tasks
Under the direct supervision and guidance of the WHO Country Office technical officer and the international consultant and in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, the national consultant will:

• Assist in the preparation of an in-country situational analysis to report on private sector collaboration and involvement in planning and delivering quality MNCH services:
  • Support the WHO country office and Ministry of Health in convening a national working group for this piece of work;
  • Identify key resources / reports that can help the situation analysis;
  • Assist the international consultant in obtaining in-country ethical clearance to conduct key informant interviews;
  • Organize and scheduling the key informant interviews;
  • Assist the international consultant during the interviews and keep notes; and
  • Assist the international consultant to consolidate the key informant report.
• Assist the national working group to organise the in-country policy dialogue:
  • Help organize the logistics and management of a two- to three-day country dialogue meeting (learning workshop) with private sector representatives and the national technical working group to discuss the findings on different models of effective engagement of the private sector with the public sector;
  • Assist with facilitation of the meeting; and
  • Assist in preparation of the meeting report and its finalisation.
• Contribute to writing a country case study and technical briefing paper/report on proposed models for effective engagement of the private sector with the public sector for implementing quality of care for MNCH.

More specifically, the national consultant will complete the following outputs
Output 1: In-country situational analysis report written based on key informant interviews. [10 days]:

• Activity 1.1: Get familiar with and make inputs into the finalization of the survey questionnaire and / or semi-structured interview questionnaire for in-country use (Note: The Secretariat will provide an initial template to ensure comparability of findings between countries.)
• Activity 1.2: Assist in obtaining in-country ethical research clearance
• Activity 1.3: Identify key informants for the survey/interviews
• Activity 1.4: Assist in conducting key informant interviews/surveys until saturation is reached
• Activity 1.5: Assist in analysis of the data
• Activity 1.6: Based on the findings, assist in writing a preliminary situational analysis report on private sector collaboration and involvement in planning and delivering quality MNCH services

Output 2: Country policy dialogue on engaging private sector in improving quality of care organized; held; and results documented. [10 days]:

• Activity 2.1: Support the international consultant to share the preliminary findings from the report with the national technical working group and the Network Secretariat
• Activity 2.2: Take the lead for the local organization (logistics and management) for the preparation for the national policy dialogue meeting (learning workshop) with private sector representatives and the national technical working group
• Activity 2.3: Support the international consultant in facilitating the national policy dialogue meeting (learning workshop)
• Activity 2.4: Assist in the preparation of the report of the policy dialogue that includes written input on proposed models for effective engagement of the private sector with the public sector for implementing quality of care for MNCH
• Activity 2.5: Support the international consultant in consolidating feedback from the national working group on the preliminary policy dialogue report

Output 3: Project case study and technical briefing paper / report drafted. [10 days]:

• Activity 3.1: Assist in preparation of the country case study for peer-reviewed publication that includes best practices, lessons learned, gaps, and recommendations on models for effective engagement of the private sector in collaborating with the public sector for implementing quality of care for MNCH
• Activity 3.2: Contribute to a technical briefing paper / report that summarises the overall project’s findings and recommendations

Qualification / Experience

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or above) in Medicine or Public Health, Health Systems, Health Economics, or a related field.
• At least five years of programmatic work experience in Maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH), MNCH Quality of care, private sector health service delivery, Health systems governance, policy analysis and assessments.
• The candidate must have excellent coordination and communication skills; strong planning and management skills
• Experience conducting quantitative and qualitative research;
• Experience in facilitating policy dialogue,
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team within a multicultural and multi-disciplinary setting; and
• Ability to present information clearly, both orally and written.

Language:

• Ability to write and communicate fluently in English