Job Opportunities at Marie Stopes Nigeria (MSION)

Background

The recently approved task shifting/task sharing policy is one of the strategies for accelerating the progress towards achievements of the health SDGs goals. The policy focuses on key priority areas such as Reproductive, Maternal Newborn and Child Health services (RMNCH), as well as HIV, TB, Malaria and other communicable and non-communicable diseases in the Essential health services package. The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGON) recognizes the importance of family planning as a key factor in the achievement of the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 4, 5 & 6). In addition to ensuring availability of free and quality contraceptives, health workers need current information and skills to facilitate provision of quality family planning services, including long acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARC). These methods, which include implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs), have historically been underutilized, largely due to limited availability and low coverage of trained providers. It is in response to this that the approved task shifting/task sharing policy allows Community health extension workers (CHEW) to provide the Long acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) services as one of the methods of family planning.

As part of implementation planning for the policy, it is necessary to review the pre service curriculum of CHEWs to include training on LARC. This is a cost effective way of building skills of CHEWS on the provision of LARC services.

The Federal ministry of health (FMOH) in collaboration with Marie Stopes International Organization of Nigeria (MSION) therefore requires the services of a senior consultant to lead in the review of the current pre service training curriculum of CHEWs to include training on LARCs. The consultants will be experienced in family planning, curriculum development public health and health system management.

Scope of Work
The key deliverable is a draft revised pre service curriculum for CHEWs.

Key Deliverables/Responsibilities of the Consultant:
The Consultant will be engaged to lead in:

• Collating and cataloguing existing simplified curricula that have been used to train CHEWs on LARC in Nigeria and other countries
• Adapt and simplify content from the National LARC training curriculum to develop the CHEWs pre service curricular.
• Modify technical details for ease of understanding by CHEWs
• Present the 1st draft of the revised CHEWs pre service curriculum to stakeholders for review and feedback
• Collaborate with the junior and other consultants that provide technical assistance to the process
• At the cost of MSION, within the period, the consultant is also expected to participate in:
• Three days Key stakeholders meeting to present draft revised curriculum
• Any other relevant meeting FMoH may call with respect to the consultancy

Requirements:

The consultant is required to have the following;

• The family planning expert Must be a consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist with extensive experience in family planning practice and curricular development.
• The public health physician must have Extensive experience in health system management. A good public health working experience in the tropics is required.
• Experience working on National documents is an added advantage for the consultant
• Ability to work in a short time frame: being Self-driven and creative are also added advantages for the consultants.

Duration:
The services of the Consultant will be required for the duration of 30 days.

Budget and Payment Schedule:
The Senior Consultant will be paid at a daily rate of N65, 000 for 30 days. Travel and daily subsistence costs where necessary will be provided at the subsisting rates of MSION.

Payment for services delivered will be disbursed according to the following schedule:

i. 50% payment upon completion of first draft of the revised CHEWs pre service curriculum

50% upon completion after review and signed of by the Federal Ministry of Health

The consultant will report to MSION through the Head, Reproductive Health Division (RHD), at the Federal Ministry of Health and must have signed off on all deliverables before the Head RHD FMOH will adjudge the assignment as completed.

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Background
With an estimated population of nearly 170 million, a fertility rate of 5.7% and estimated maternal mortality of 545 per 100,000 births, Nigeria ranked as one of the worst places in the world to be a mother, according to the 2011 Report on the State of the World’s Mothers. Family planning is known to be one of the most cost effective interventions in public health and has the potential to reduce poverty and avert up to 30% of maternal deaths and 10% of child deaths[1]. Increased use of FP leads to healthier birth spacing[2] and reduces mortality and morbidity associated with pregnancy. In Nigeria, on average, 10.5% of women use a modern method of family planning whereas 20% of women have an unmet need for family planning.[3] Of the 10% of women who are using family planning, less than 10% are using permanent or long-term methods.

It was against this background that UNFPA provided funding support to the government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) with MSION as a “Technical Implementing Partner” to create a LARC competency based training model, and then work with State Ministries of Health (SMoH) to build public sector capacity for LARCs in the states through identification and training of select Master Trainers and Service Providers as well as Supportive Supervision for delivery of LARCs services in the project states. The objectives of the project were:

Develop a competency based curriculum to build capacity of existing public sector healthcare providers in LARC provision.

Build capacity in the competency based LARC training curriculum at State level and facilitate rollout of pilot training to 100 service providers in each of the focus States

Implementation of the project began in 2013 with an inclusive process of developing a Competency Based LARC Manual for Training Doctors, Nurses and Midwives as well as cascaded trainings of MTs and Service Providers in six (Cross-River, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi, Lagos and Ondo) states. In 2014, six additional states (Adamawa, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Enugu, Kwara and Sokoto) were included.

Justification
This evaluative study is premised on the need to assess the level of achievement of objective 1 of the project. With nearly seven hundred public sector providers trained on delivery of LARCs in 12 states across the country, using the LARC Manual (a key project output), it is critical to critically examine how development and use of the LARC manual has impacted on efforts to build capacity and scale-up delivery of LARC services through the public sector in Nigeria and thus contribute to available body of evidence on best practices/strategies for engaging the public sector to deliver quality LARCs as part of broader efforts towards attainment of the government’s target of a national CPR of 36% in 2018.

It will also provide MSION with valuable information on her contribution Family Planning service delivery in Nigeria, lessons and recommendations on best approaches to engage government at national and state level as well as other key stakeholders in the Nigeria FP landscape.

Overall Objective
The overall objective of this consultancy is to conduct an Assessment of Objective 1 of the UNFPA supported Project implemented by MSION; DEVELOP A COMPETENCY BASED CURRICULUM TO BUILD CAPACITY OF EXISTING PUBLIC HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS IN LONG ACING REVERSIBLE CONTRACEPTION (LARC) PROVISION.

Scope and Methodology
This consultancy will involve literature review of existing relevant documents as well as conduct Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with relevant government officials at national & state levels, funders, implementing partners, and other key stakeholders/individuals within the family planning landscape in NigeriThe study will adopt a qualitative research method to explore how LARC capacity building has improved in Nigeria due to development, pilot and adoption of the Competency-based Approach to training of public sector providers.

Specifically, the consultant will be required to:

• Conduct a literature review of available body of evidence on approaches to LARC capacity building in Nigeria, pre and post development of the Competency-based LARC Manual
• Conduct Key Informant Interviews with relevant government officials (FMoH, SMoH, NPHCDA, SPHCDAs, funders, implementing partners, individuals)
•  Draw conclusions, based on findings on contribution of the Competency-based LARC Manual to public sector capacity building for LARC in Nigeria

Duration
The consultancy period if for twenty (20) days between November and December, 2016.

Reporting
The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the RM&E Manager and the UNFPA Project Manager.

Expected Outcome and Deliverables

• The consultancy service to be provided under this ToR is expected to yield the following deliverables:
• Report of desk review of available body of evidence on LARC Capacity building in Nigeria before 2013
• Report of Evaluation of Outcomes resulting from Implementation of Objective 1 of the UNFPA SENDFUN Project (key milestones, lessons learnt, gaps and recommendations for improvement)

Competency and Expertise Requirements

• The consultant should have at least a first degree in social science/communication and a minimum of 10 years cognate experience. A masters degree in public health, health promotion, communication will be an added advantage. The consultant also needs to have the following:
• Substansive knowledge and experience of the family planning landscape in Nigeira – policies, programs, socio-cultural and contextual issues that impact on FP
• Experience in designig and conducting qualitative researches aimed at evaluating program impact
• Proven ability to engage key government functionaries and keen understanding of key players within the FP landscape
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, particularly in facilitating individual and group processes
• Excellent leadership and organisational skills
• Excellent english writing skills