State Security Consultant at Malaria Consortium

Job Summary 

• Over the years, Malaria Consortium has been implementing large-scale community-based interventions across different states in Nigeria to improve child health. Currently, such campaigns include seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and distribution of azithromycin (AZM).
• Also, there have been co-implementations of SMC with Vitamin A Supplements (VAS) and integration of SMC and ITN. In addition, the SMC platform has been used to pilot improvement of vaccines uptake
• In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced SMC as a recommended strategy for preventing malaria among children aged 3–59 months in areas with highly seasonal malaria transmission.
• Following malaria stratification exercises led by NMEP in 2020, the number of Nigerian states eligible for SMC implementation expanded from the original eleven Sahelian states to 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
• Currently, Malaria Consortium supports SMC implementation in 16 of these states/territories, with funding from the Global Fund (Jigawa, Kaduna, Yobe, and Niger) and MC with PF funding is supporting SMC implementation in Bauchi, Borno, FCT, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto states, with the possibility of expansion into Zamfara State.
• SMC involves the monthly administration of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine and amodiaquine (SPAQ) during the peak malaria transmission season (typically June–October) to maintain therapeutic drug levels and prevent malaria infection. Implementation requires the mobilization of a large and diverse workforce operating at national, state, LGA, health facility, and community levels over four to five cycles each year.
• Building on this platform, Malaria Consortium has recently received grant funding to implement the Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance of Mass Administration of Azithromycin on Children 1–59 Months in Nigeria (SARMAN II) project in Kaduna, Kebbi, Gombe, Adamawa and Jigawa states.
• One of the delivery strategies for SARMAN II is the integration of mass administration of Azithromycin to children aged 1–59 months with the existing SMC campaign, during which antimalarial medicines are administered to children aged 3–59 months.
• This integrated approach leverages the established SMC delivery systems to maximize coverage, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness while supporting antimicrobial resistance surveillance and child survival outcomes.
• For the 2026 SMC round, it is projected that over 150,000 personnel will be engaged across Malaria Consortium–supported states, reaching more than 19.3 million eligible children. For the AZM campaigns, an estimated 7.5m eligible children will be reached.
• Approximately 140,000 frontline service providers—including community drug distributors, town announcers, and community leaders—are residents of the target communities.
• In addition, an estimated 21,000 supervisors at national, state, and LGA levels, who are largely non-resident in the target communities, will undertake extensive travel for programme activities such as trainings, last-mile distribution, daily supervision, and reverse logistics.
• The scale, geographic spread, and integrated nature of SMC and AZM implementation underscore the importance of strong coordination, robust systems, and effective risk management to ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality delivery of life-saving interventions to children across Nigeria.

Rational:

• Insecurity due to insurgency, armed banditry, militancy, separatist agitations, abductions, kidnappings, and armed robbery continue to increase in Nigeria and the communities, where SMC is being implemented are not spared.
• No part of the country is exempt from these challenges, even though the security challenges are more pronounced in some states than others.
• Some of the Malaria Consortium supported states (e.g. Borno, Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara) are clear complex operational environments (COE), while Kebbi and Niger states which share boundaries with Zamfara State also face security challenges including a peculiar form of armed banditry.

Goal of the Assignment

• Even though Malaria Consortium has Security Officers and a security focal person as part of the staff, external short term technical assistants (TAs) would be engaged because the SITAN/SRA needs to be completed quickly to fit into the overall SMC and AZM process and timelines.
• There is also the need for independent security person that have connection with the security agencies and therefore can bring their knowledge of the landscape to produce better document to inform programming.
• The analysis/assessment would happen at the community, political ward and LGA levels.
• Furthermore, the engaged TAs would review previous trends and trajectory of events projected at the minimum to the next one year.
• The aim of the assignment is to provide adequate guidance to ensure the safety and security of lives and properties for the implementation of SMC and AZM intervention in the 13 malaria consortium supported states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja with support from the Gates Foundation (SARMAN II – 5 States) and the Philanthropic Funding (PF - 9 states and the FCT).

Specific Objectives:
The following are specific objectives for the assignment:

• Guided by the previous security reports from Malaria Consortium, government security agencies and international/local security organization/agencies, conduct desk review of SRA in all 13 MC/SMC implementing states and the FCT.
• Develop a synopsis of previous security risk assessments (in between cycle assessments inclusive) to determine if security situation in each state is improving or deteriorating.
• Train state security focal persons (SSFPs) to be able to review the state security plans (SSPs) for the states and the FCT.
• Utilize the information obtained from the assessment to -review the risk profiles of each state, LGA, ward and community where applicable.
• Identify any new risk to implementations at different categories of state, LGA, wards, and community levels.
• Update security risk mitigation plan for states and LGAs in response to information obtained in objectives above where applicable; and
• Update SRAs, SSPs and SOPs for identified implementing states

Methodology for (SITAN/SRA/SP) review

• This assignment will include the desk review of previous SRAs, security profiles and SSPs and the use of a combination of key informant interviews (KIIs), administration of questionnaires and consensus meeting with Malaria Consortium staff at country, state and LGA offices; and stakeholders from the states and LGAs, especially the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Officers to obtain the required data and information.
• These would be followed by a consensus meeting involving the consultants, relevant Malaria Consortium, state and LGA personnel would be held to agree on the relevance, currency and validity of the obtained data/information.
• Guided by the grading system developed in 2022 (and reviewed in 2025) from the Malaria Consortium Security Adaptation Guideline[1], Safety and Security Policy[2] and Framework[3], and findings from the SRA, grade the wards, LGAs and states into red (high), amber (medium) and green (low) areas; to enable Malaria Consortium top management categorize the LGAs and states into:
  • High security risk/hard-to-reach (HTR) areas.
  • Medium risk area; and
  • Low risk area.
• The assignment would require a security briefing session prior to commencement of the SRA/SITAN with the State Project Manager of the State being reviewed, desk review of existing security documents such as SSPs, SRAs, weekly security updates and any report related to the supported states and the FCT present security situation.
• Visits to be undertaken to selected communities, wards and LGA/Area Councils of interest to enable a comprehensive review of the security situation within the supported states/FCT which will enrich the reviews. Furthermore, the consultants will support the designated SSFPs to carry out rapid assessments based on designed questionnaires, the outcome of which, will also inform on the reviews.
• Remote support will also be provided in close collaboration with the Malaria Consortium Security Manager/Officers based in the country and zonal offices.
• The data will be collected using SurveyCTO; while the GIS coordinates will also be obtained and data analyzed to produce the SSPs and SOPs to support SMC implementation in all security profiling categories for all the supported states and FCT.
• In addition, the engaged TAs would support the Country Operations Manager (in the country office) and SSFPs (for the states) to assess the different office locations and advise accordingly.
• A debriefing meeting will be held at state level to validate all collated information with the respective SSFPs and Malaria Consortium’s Security Managers before submission to the Country Operation Manager, Programme Director and Regional Risk Programme Manager’s review and input before finalization and sign-off by the West and Central Africa Programmes Director.
• In the debriefing sessions, earlier documented synopsis will be used to compare status of the states assessed with previous assessments to ascertain if the security situation of the state assessed is improving or deteriorating.

List of Tasks:
The following are specific, but not exhaustive lists of tasks to be conducted to meet the goal and objectives of the assignment:

• Confirmation that State project manager has received a scheduled briefing from zonal program manager and the senior security officer before engagement.
• A security briefing session prior to commencement of the SRA/SITAN with the State Project Manager of the State being reviewed,
• Develop a synopsis (not more than two pages) that can be used to compare status of the states to be assessed with previous SRAs conducted in the State. This is to ascertain if the security situation of the state being assessed is improving or deteriorating.
• Conduct a desk-top analysis of the current security profiles of the respective SMC/AZM states using existing documents within MC and proffer recommendations for update on the same.
• Identify and assess the functionality of all existing security coordination platforms in the states (especially those used by existing donor agencies), identify new ones and their membership, and requirements for the Malaria Consortium to be accepted as a member.
• Orientate, debrief, and work closely with the Malaria Consortium Security Managers, SSFPs, and other stakeholders to understand the SMC implementation and the security context in the LGAs to enable the development of an accurate security strategy.
• Develop an updated security risk mitigation plan for SMC/AZM deployment and update the SSPs for Malaria Consortium’s operations in the SMC/AZM-supported states (as per the Malaria Consortium template); and
• Review the SRAs, SSPs, and SOPs for identified implementing states.

Expected Outputs/Deliverables

• Comprehensive report produced using the standard Malaria Consortium report template, to include feedback from the conducted desk review related to the following:
  • Security profile review of each state and the FCT.
  • Detailed analysis of the states' security based on previous reports and between-cycle assessments to determine if the states are improving or deteriorating in terms of security.
  • Risk assessment review for the respective states and the FCT.
  • Updated catalogue of security structures in the states and the FCT; and
  • Recommendation on security infrastructures/equipment/ tools needed by MC, their costs, and the process of procurement or hiring.
• Maps of high, medium, and low-risk LGAs where applicable.
• Updated List of hard-to-reach (HTR) communities due mainly to insecurity, and other constraints where applicable; and
• Orientation of key implementers and SSFPs on required security measures that would be required for the 2026 SMC/AZM implementation.
• Support SSFPs to update Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for security management of all implementation staff; and
• Updated 2026 SRA/SSPs for all 13 Malaria Consortium SMC-supported states and the FCT.

Type of Consultancy:

• A security firm is preferred for this assignment. However, individual TAs can be identified and engaged to work as a team, with a lead.
• If a security firm is engaged, the security firm would submit details of one National Consultant to coordinate/lead the SITAN and provide oversight on the assessment of the states. S/he would work with 13 state consultants for the 13 MC/SMC states and the FCT.
• All the LGA RBM Officers (at one per LGA/Area Council) of the MC/SMC focal states and the FCT Abuja would serve as data collectors.
• Such a firm must also commit and demonstrate the ability to work with these LGA RBM Officers within the period of the assignment, by providing evidence of such previous activity completed. If individual TAs are engaged, the lead TA would coordinate the activity accordingly.

Required specifications for consultant: State Consultant, Zamfara State)
The State Consultant will be a security management expert with experience in security assessments and risk mitigation planning. Other requirements include:

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences or other relevant security-related degree.
• Professional certifications (CPP, PSP) are an added advantage
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience working in the context of a complex and challenging operating environment.
• Demonstrable experience in security assessment/evaluation.
• Good report writing skills and communication with stakeholders, and
• Experience working in highly resource-constrained environments.
• Availability of TIN number.