Consultants at Plan International

Plan International Canada is implementing BORN in partnership with Plan International Nigeria, the Federal and State Ministries of Health, Ministries of Women’s Affairs, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) (Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) and Community initiative for the Promotion of Health and Education Sectors (CIPHRESS). BORN is aligned with the UN’s Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy on Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, and will help drive progress towards reaching Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5.

The Bauchi Opportunities for Responsive Neonatal and Maternal Health (BORN) project is a four and a half year (February 2016-June 2020) gender-transformative project funded by Global Affairs Canada. The project is expected to ultimately contribute to the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality in 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) among marginalized and vulnerable women and newborns. Its intermediate outcomes are: improved utilization of maternal, neonatal and family planning services by women of reproductive age (WRA) including adolescent girls, newborns, and male community members; improved quality of maternal, neonatal and family planning services for WRA including adolescent girls, newborns and male community members; and, improved quality of local health governance systems to ensure high quality, gender responsive, adolescent friendly and results-oriented maternal and neonatal health, and sexual and reproductive health (MNH/SRH) services.

This project will respond to health needs identified by the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) situational analysis of Bauchi state, which reported that only 16% of births are attended by a skilled birth attendant, access to postnatal care remains low as 84% of newborns receive no post-natal care; and Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) stands at 43/1000 live births. Furthermore, only 2.1% of WRA utilize modern family planning methods, with unmet needs for FP at 16%. In addition, 48% of adolescent girls aged 15 -19 years old have begun childbearing in Bauchi. There are also considerable gender inequalities contributing to this context, as women and adolescent girls have little opportunity for decision making at the household level, poor access to health information and services, and local health services are not gender responsive and adolescent friendly.

As part of the processes for ensuring realization of the intermediate outcomes, the BORN project in partnership with the state Ministry of health and other stakeholders, plans to develop the State Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan in line with Nigeria’s Family Planning Landscape as contained in the Nigeria Family Planning Blue Print of 2014. Six (6) components were identified as follows

Demand Generation and Behavior Change Communication
Service Delivery and Access
Commodity &supplies
Policy and Environment
Financing
Management and Accountability

Six consultants who must be expert in one of the thematic areas enumerated above will work under a lead consultant to be hired by Health Policy Plus (HP+). In view of this, Plan International is seeking the service of one consultant with expertise in Family Planning Service delivery to support the process of identification of high impact activities and processes that are cost effective and result oriented in order to address the huge unmet needs for FP services in the State. Specifically, the consultant is expected to facilitate the following processes:

• Conduct desk review and scoping studies of existing FP service delivery strategies and guidelines at the national and state level
• Work with the lead consultant and other sub consultants to develop key activities, milestones and tools that will guide the Family Planning CIP process
• Lead the process of identifying robust, high impact and low cost activities that will improve the delivery of quality Family Planning Services in Bauchi State.
• Participate in all meetings and other activities leading to the development of the Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan

The Consultant will report directly to the National Program manager.  The Project Health Coordinators will support him.

Roles and Responsibilities of Consultant:

Responsibilities of the Consultant:

• Work as part of a team of six (6) Consultants that will develop the Bauchi State Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan
• Participate in all meetings and activities organized for the purpose of developing the Bauchi State Family Planning Costed Implementation Plan
• Work with the Bauchi SMoH, SPHCDA and other relevant MDAs especially the Ministry of Women Affairs and Education to review existing FP strategies and guidelines
• Lead the development of the Service Delivery component of the State Costed Implementation Plan for Family Planning in line with the Nigeria Family Planning Blue Print (Scale up Plan) off 2014.
• Lead the process of incorporating the service delivery component into the State FP Costed Implementation Plan
• Ensure visibility of Plan International in the final FP Costed Implementation Plan Document
• Submission of final consultancy report of all processes to Plan International Country Office Abuja

Deliverables, Time Frame and Level of Effort

The period of the contract for 15 days:
Deliverables (Life Saving Skills)

Expected Time Frame
Meeting with the SMoH, SPHCDA and other MDAs to review existing FP strategies and guidelines, as well as, develop/adopt the State FP CIP template

17th – 19th July 2017

Make presentation on the FP service delivery situation analysis during the inauguration of the CIP process

7th August 2017

Lead the identification of high impact interventions under the service delivery components, as well as, costing of same during the 5 day FP costed Implementation Plan Development Workshop

7th – 12nd August 2017

Participate in the harmonization of all inputs into the draft documents prior to finalization and validation

14th – 18th August 2017

Support the lead consultant during the validation and launching of the FP Costed Implementation Plan

22nd August - 2017

Submission of final report including all other materials to Plan International Country Office

31st August 2017
Qualifications of Consultant (firms(s)

1.   Key skills and experience required:

The consultant/firm should have the following skills and qualifications:

• Demonstration of relevant expertise in a relevant field (health related course, Medicine, Public health)
• Minimum 5 years’ experience related to development of policies, plans and guidelines especially related to family planning.
• Prior experience with facilitating workshops and stakeholder engagements in the health sector,
• Good understanding of the international and national best practices, policies and systems, including understanding of context of state health systems.
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• Prior experience within Global Affairs Canada or other donor system is desirable.

ETHICS AND CHILD PROTECTION
Plan International Nigeria places a high premium on CHILD PROTECTION issues in all its working relationships with its partners and associates and mandates all its working partners and associates to adhere to its CHILD PROTECTION Policy.

As such, the activity must ensure appropriate, safe, non-discriminatory participation; a process of free and un-coerced consent and withdrawal; confidentiality and anonymity of participants. Consultants are required to provide a statement within their proposal on how they will ensure ethics and child protection in the development process. This must also include consideration of any risks related to the activity and how these will be mitigated.

VALUES OF PLAN INTERNATIONAL:

You confirm you are familiar and committed to the following values of Plan International Nigeria

The best Interest of the Child: Strive to always act in the best interests of the child.

Human rights: Respect child rights and human rights and we believe in everyone’s innate and inalienable dignity as human beings regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, class or disability.

Honesty and Transparency: We are ethical, honest, transparent, and place a high value on integrity.

Empowerment: Create the conditions in our work, in our activities and in our organization for personal empowerment, especially of children and the most marginalized.

Partnership: Acknowledge that we cannot solve problems of poverty alone but only through teamwork and mutual partnerships.

Accountability: We are accountable to all of our stakeholders in communication, finances, performance measures, and results and strive for effectiveness, sustainability, and efficiency in everything we do. We adhere to recognized international standards.

Learning and Improvement: We strive for continuous learning and improvement.  We listen to new ideas and encourage entrepreneurial activities, innovation, creativity, and change.

  Disclosure of Information/Child Protection
It is understood and agreed that the Consultant(s) shall, during and after the effective period of the contract, treat as confidential and not divulge, unless authorized in writing by Plan, any information obtained in the course of the performance of the Contract.  Information will be made available for the consultants on a need‑to‑know basis. Any necessary field visits must be budgeted for in your proposal. Plan staff under the coordination of the National Program Manager will support the consultant in facilitating all necessary engagements required by the Consultant. The selected consultant will commit to respect Plan’s Child Protection Policy to prevent any harm from participating children and youth.

ANTI - CORRUPTION
The Consultant and partners declares and guarantees that no offer, gift or payment, consideration or benefit of any kind, which constitutes an illegal or corrupt practice, has been or will be made to anyone by the Consultant either directly or indirectly, as an inducement or reward for the award or execution of this agreement.

The Consultant declares and guarantees that neither Consultant, nor partners or associates, temporary nor permanent, would be involved in the implementation of this agreement:

Have been convicted during a period of three (3) years prior to the submission of their   proposals for this project, by a court of law in Nigeria or in any other jurisdiction for an offence involving bribery or corruption

Are under sanction, for an offence involving bribery or corruption, imposed by a government, a governmental organization or a development organization providing development assistance

  ANTI – TERRORISM
The Consultant or partners declares and guarantees that the funds provided by Plan International Nigeria for the service shall not be knowingly be used to benefit terrorist groups as defined in the criminal code of Nigeria or individual members of those groups or for terrorist activities either directly or indirectly

WHISTLE BLOWER POLICY
Plan International Nigeria has a Code of Conduct including a Whistle Blower Policy (attached) and enjoins its entire staff and associates to “whistle blow” (raise legitimate concerns about violation of the Code of Conduct without fear of recrimination in the course of their engagement with Plan International Nigeria)