Consultancy to support digitalization of insecticide-treated net (ITN) distributions – Anglophone consultant

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191 members National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.

The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. At Geneva level, the Health and Care Department’s (HCD) New Strategic Direction 2023 focuses on Health Systems Strengthening and WASH Systems Strengthening through four pillars: Global Health Security, Global Health Protection (UHC), Global WASH Services and Transformative Partnership.

The Global Health Protection (UHC) pillar houses and chairs the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP), a partnership of more than 40 organizations, including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations, focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaign and continuous distribution activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementing of ITN distribution based on an iterative process; and (3) providing technical assistance to national malaria programmes and partners based on requests. AMP’s activities support achievement of the WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) targets for high coverage and use of ITNs. AMP is a workstream within the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. Harnessing the global leadership and management systems of IFRC, AMP is uniquely positioned to support and advance country-level efforts to optimize ITN distribution and ensure that the right nets reach the right people at the right time through both campaign and continuous distribution channels.

In 2020, IFRC/AMP was awarded a three-year grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to identify ways to improve operational efficiency for ITN campaigns and develop associated operational guidance for national malaria programmes and partners. AMP’s work under this grant provided key lessons learned and practical guidance for improving the implementation of ITN distribution through multiple channels. In 2023, a new grant was awarded to IFRC/AMP by BMGF focused on optimizing ITN access in the face of limited resources for the fight against malaria. In this grant, AMP will focus on implementing activities across five workstreams designed to address identified gaps. The primary objectives are to enhance data utilization for informed decision-making and to leverage digital tools for optimization of ITN campaigns. These workstreams ultimately aim to reduce the malaria burden through effective malaria prevention with ITNs.

Job Purpose

The overall objective of this consultancy is to support the AMP partnership in ensuring that high-quality, timely information and technical assistance is available for national malaria programmes and implementing partners transitioning to digital tools for data collection for ITN distribution and to support AMP’s broader efforts to track and support national malaria programme progress towards improved efficiency through digitalization.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Workstream 2: Estimated LOE – 30 days

The specific areas for support include:

• Support the design and dissemination of operational guidance on campaign digitalization, including planning and budgeting considerations.
• Support the work on comprehensive analysis of platform costing and value over time, considering developments, interoperability, and data-sharing capabilities.
• Support the planning and organization of a two-day annual campaign digitalization meeting.
• Support introductions between eGov and national programmes and partners expressing interest in the health campaign digitalization platform.
• Support country-to-country missions to observe implementation and learnings on campaign digitalization.
• Support tracking and monthly update of national malaria programmes and implementing partners planning to transition to digital data collection for ITN campaigns in 2023 and 2024 and update the ITN campaign digitalization prospective tracker.
• Support development of case studies to highlight challenges, mitigating measures, lessons learned and best practices for planning and roll out of digital tools for data collection for ITN distribution.
• Provide technical assistance to national malaria programmes and implementing partners, based on requests, to:
  • Define the best platform option(s) based on an assessment of the country context
  • Define the appropriate digitalization strategy for the campaign including identifying the campaign components to digitalize
  • Determine the timeframe involved in digitalizing the campaign and the implications on the overall campaign timeline
  • Support development of digitization plan of action (DPoA), timeline, risk assessment and mitigation plans and budgets for roll out of digitalization of mass campaigns
  • Support development of training and implementation tools for roll out of digital data collection
  • Other support for digital data collection as defined in country-specific requests
• Review and update the features table for the different digital platforms used by national malaria programmes for ITN mass campaigns (an annex to document on the use of digital tools to improve the operational efficiency of ITN campaigns).
• Develop adaptable tools for the pilot evaluation phase to support learning and adjustment of platforms for full deployment.
• Support national malaria control programmes to organize post-campaign review meetings to identify successes, challenges and lessons learned from countries that implemented their campaigns using digital tools.
• Track and support discussions on the use of geospatial maps for microplanning and implementation and the transition to digital tools.
• Support organization of webinars to highlight innovations, experiences and technical discussions among national malaria programmes and technical experts.

Deliverables:

• Reports summarizing country-to-country mission observations on campaign digitalization.
• Support provided on monthly basis in updating the ITN campaign digitalization prospective tracker for national malaria programs planning to transition to digital data collection in 2023 and 2024.
• Case studies highlighting challenges, mitigating measures, lessons learned, and best practices in digitalizing ITN campaigns.
• Technical support provided to countries based on requests and mission reports.
• Adaptable tool for assessing pilot roll out to inform platform adjustments before full deployment.
• Post-campaign review meeting reports identifying successes, challenges, and lessons learned from digitalized campaigns.
• Campaign digitalization meeting and webinar reports highlighting innovations, experiences, and technical discussions among national malaria programs and technical experts.

Alignment to the IFRC’s Strategy 2030

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention’s mandate aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 as it supports the achievement of strategic aims:

• Save lives, protect livelihoods and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises
• Enable healthy and safe living.

Project objectives and outcomes:

Objective #1: Optimizing malaria prevention with ITNs through mass distribution campaigns and continuous distribution channels.

Desired outcomes: To address inefficiencies in planning and implementation of mass ITN distribution campaigns through timely deployment of digital tools for data collection and to better understand best practices for the digital transition for future campaigns.

Support to be provided to the consultant

The consultant will be supported by the Manager – Malaria Programmes, Officer, AMP Coordination, Senior Officer, OPITACA.

Time allocation, for budget purposes

The total budget for the contract is CHF CHF 28,000.

This budget is based on an estimate of 30 billable working days at CHF 600 per day. Travel is expected as part of this consultancy agreement.

The consultancy timeframe will be from 1st of January to 15th of October 2024.

Notes

• The consultant will be contracted by the IFRC and the standard contractual terms will apply.
• This consultancy contract entails some anticipated travels as part of the completion of the assignment if the conditions allow.

Requirements

Fluency in English is required for this consultancy assignment.