Consultant (Community Level Activities) Vacancy at Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria

Breakthrough Action-Nigeria (BA-N) is a United States Agency foi International Development (USAID) flagship integrated Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) Project under the prime implementati:on of Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programs (JHCCP) from 2018- 2022 The project goal in Nigeria is to increase the practice of priority health. behaviors in the areas of malaria; maternal, newborn, and child health, including nutrition (MNCH-N); PP/RH; and tuberculosis (TB) at the national and sub-national levels with the relevant USAII) Implementing Partners (IPs). The project will also work with Federal and State Ministry of Health programs, departments, and agencies to improve their SBC capacIty and coordination.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

 

 

Job Title: Consultant (Community Level Activities)
Locations: Zamfara, Benue, Nasarawa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Oyo

Scope Of Work Summary

• Broadly, this scope of work will focus during Year I on implementation of community approaches and relatedSBC activities.and technical support for the State Malaria Elimination Programmes for malaria prevention and control in six Malaria-Only” project focal states.
• This will include approaches such as Community Health Dialogue with Referrals, houseto-house outreach and referrals and related SBC actIvities. Over the course of the project, however, there is potential for the health content focus of the scope of the community level, and related SBC activities to include a broader array of health and development issues, including, but not limited to malaria (initial primary focus), family planning, maternal, neonatal and child health, nutrition, tuberculosis, gender, and other health issues if and when the need arisess.

Malaria Component

• BA/N will roll out Social and Behavior Change interventions across states to promote preventive and treatment behaviors for priority audiences in communities including net use, IPTp, prompt care and treatment-seeking client demand for testing, and adherence to recommended treatment Illustrative activities with demonstrable success in Nigeria may include, but are not limited to, Community Health Dialogue with referral, mass and mid-media activities, and advocacy/coordination activities with the State NMEP/ACSM Subconimittees.
• BA/N envisions that these broad categories of Continuous Malaria SBC activities provide on-going engagement and exposure to malaria SBC and messages in the states that are critical to behavior change.

Detailed Scope Of Work – Phase 1 & Phase 2; Support to Target Malaria Activities:

• Broadly, this scope of work initially focuses on implementation in selected wards of an Intensive Phase 1 of the malaria Commumty Engagement initiative followed by Phase 2 Maintenance level of activities. These community approaches and related SBC activities for malaria prevention and control will focus in six “Malaria-Only” project focal states. This will include approaches such as Community Health Dialogue with Referrals, house- to-house outreach and referrals and related SEC activities. Over the course of the project, however, there is potential for the health content focus of the scope of the community level and related SEC activities to include a broader array of health and development issues, including, but not limited to malaria (initial primary focus), family planning, maternal, neonatal and child health, nutrition, tuberculosis, gender, and other health issues if and when the need arises.

Duration: 1 Year
In each ward, there will be two phases: Phase 1 will be a 6-month intensive phase followed by Phase 2 which will be a maintenance phase for 6-months initially:

• 1. Phase 1:6 months intensive phase.
• 2. Phase 2: TED -6 months maintenance phase.

Focal States: The focal states for this activity include: Zamfara, Benue, Nasarawa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Oyo. These states may change, based on directives from the donor. The number of states may change either up or down based on directives from the donor.

Focal LGAs and Wards.

• Community Engagement 6-month Intensive Phase 1: The Intensive Phase 1 will include community volunteers conducting intensive house-to-house visits, community dialogues and compound meetings and making referrals for malaria services, as detailed in the deliverables section below. The bidder will provide supportive supervision. BA wifi assign the number of focal LGA’s per state and number of focal wards per LGA at the beginning of each year. Phase 1 will have a six (6) month timeframe.
• Community Engagement Maintenance Phase 2: The Maintenance Phase will not include intensive house-to-house activities. It will engage the WDs and/or other community structures/leaders to continue to oversee and implement the Referral System for pregnant women and people with fever, conduct community events (dialogues, compound meetings, other) and other lower level intensity activities. Phase 2 will have a 6-month timeframe to start.

Deliverables:

• Using referral cards provided by JHU, submit the number of referrals of pregnant women to health facilities for ANC/IPTp per month
• Collect and submit number of children under 5 with fever who’s caretaker’s completed referrals
• Using referral cards provided by JHU, submit number of other persons with fever referred to health facilities for testing per month
• Collect and submit number of other persons with fever who completed referrals for testing per month
• Host one (1) community engagement event per month, per ward to facilitate the engagement of health care workers In community activities in the focal wards to strengthen ties between the health facility
• Train and engage 6 Community Volunteers (CV) and 6 Ward Development Committee (WDC) members per ward
• Each CV to visit 25 households per month
• Collect and submit number of pregnant women who completed referrals per month
• Using referral cards provided by JHU, submit number of children under 5 with fever who were referred to health facilities for testing per month
• Report on Number of persons reached in households per month
• Each CV conducts 1 compound meeting per month
• Report on number of persons reached in compound meetings per month
• Each CV conducts 1 community dialogue per month
• Report on number of persons reached in community dialogue per month
• Report on number of pregnant women reached per month

Other Phase I implementation tasks include:

• Usage of trained cVS to conduct other community events or referrals if and when directed by JHU.
• Conducting monthly community volunteer meetings in each ward/LGA to collect data, review implementation challenges and successes and engage with CVs as a group.
• Conduct advocacy and preparatory activities at the state, LGA, and Ward levels preceding and throughout implementation of activities, as needed.

Other Phase 2 implementation tasks include:

• Provide supportive supervision to the WDC’s/CVs and sponsor the monthly community volunteer meetings in each ward/LGA to collect data, review implementation challenges and successes and engage with CVs as a group.
• Conduct advocacy and preparatory activities at the state, LGA, and Ward levels preceding and throughout implementation of activities, as needed.

Management:

• Develop proposed management plan with numbers and types of staff for the national and state levels to:
• Provide adequate staffing at the state and national levels to meet the deliverables, manage and supervise the activities, ensure quality intervention and provide the necessary.financial and administrative oversight.
• Attend regular planning and coordination meetings at the state and national levels with SMEPs/NMEP, USAID, PMI and their implementing partners including US PMI for States, GHSC-PSM and other stakeholders, as needed.

Quality Assurance:

• The quality and accuracy of health messages and engagement of individuals in the communities must be to a standard acceptable and subject to the approval of JHU:
  • Examples of deliverables that would be rejected include fraudulent or health information and attendee contact information
• JHU will provide independent monitoring and oversight of activities. Activities will be determined as counting towards achieving deliverables listed above contingent upon JHU review and approval.

Reporting Requirements:

• Weekly updates: 1-page bulleted points of the past week’s major activities per state. Use template to be provided by JHU.
• Monthly reports: Written narrative with photos of month’s activities by the 7th of the month following the reporting month, including community level activities, trainings, and advocacy and any other relevant activities. Use template to be provided by JHU.
• Quarterly Reports: Written narrative with photos of quarter’s activities by the 15th of the month following the quarter. Use template to be provided by JHU.
• Annual Report: Written narrative with photos summarizing the year’s activities due September 1 of every year. Use template to be provided by JHU.

Project Identity and Branding and Marking Requirements:

• The successful bidder will be required to identify these activities solely as the “Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria Project” and follow all USAID Branding and Marking requirements that will be provided by JHU. Failure to do so will result in the potential for disallowable incurred expenses and termination of contract.

Budget:

• The bidder will provide an itemized unit cost list per ward for all costs associated and anticipated with achieving the above deliverables and implementation, management and reporting requirements. The budget should be categorized by Phase 1 Intensive and. Phase 2 Maintenance level activities for 6 months each.

The bidder should then provide the total cost for achieving the above deliverables during Year I in 600 wards across the six focal states as follows:

Group A: 300 Wards:

• Year 1 Activities: Intensive 6 months and Maintenance; 6 months.

Group B: Additional 300 wards*

• Year 1 Activities: Intensive 6 months

NOTE: These 300 wards in each Group should be spread across the 6 states proportionally (ie more wards to larger states) and distributed in approximately 30%- 50% of LGAs in a state.

Personnel costs and Management Fees:

• Please include the costs of the personnel as part of the itemized unit Cost list. Staff salary time should be itemized at both daily and hourly rates – You may also charge an organizational management fee; please include a brief explanation of this fee as part of budget.
• JHU – CCP would like to emphasize the importance of itemizing all cost in relation to the scope of work. For example, the bidder should provide unit cost detail for one CV in one of the mentioned focal wards or LGAs. Other examples where we would expect itemized unit costs would include the cost of preparing one monthly report with photos and the total cost of hosting a community dialogue. Please see page 8 for an example of the level of detail we are requesting from the bidder.

Technical Evaluation Criteria
Program Approach: 35 Points:

• Extent to which the.technical application sets forth a convincing concept, a clear vision and effective operational strategy, and techniques for accomplishing the stated objectives and anticipated results outlined in this RFP, including implementation of program activities and the first-year workplan. The first year workplan can be provided in an Annex and should include realistic milestones, timelines, achievable goals, and results-oriented activities as an Annex.

Management Plan: 35 Points:

• Staffing Plan and Organizational Chart. Feasibility and comprehensiveness of staffing plan and organizational chart describing clear roles and responsibilities of staff to ensure sufficient staff resources to execute the award and achieve expected results and with clear relationships among proposed positions. The management plan should also highlight the capacity of the applicant to manage relationships with relevant government officials and institutions.
• Key Personnel. Provide the names and proposed roles and responsibilities of two key personnel (at least one of whom will be dedicated 100% to this project) who will be working directly on this project. Include the curriculum vitae for each key personnel, and a signed letter of commitment indicating his/her: a). availability to serve in the stated position; b) level of effort; and c) intention to serve during stated term of project. The applicant Is expected to use these key personnel during implementation and would be required to seek written approval from JHU to change the key personnel.

Organizational Capacity and Relevant Technical Experience and Past-Performance During Previous 3 Years (30 points):

• Organizational Capacity. This section should focus on the applicant’s internal capabilities/ resources and relevant work experience/history to demonstrate its capacity to successfully manage the proposed program. Organizational capacity and relevant technical experience and past-performance in the first three areas listed below are most important;
  • Health Behavior Change in malaria, as well as other health topics
  • Community mobilization for health in Muslim and Christian communities
  • Coordinated community mobilization and mass media interventions
  • Proven community level mobilization experience in each of the 6 required project focal states
• Also, provide a brief description of the organization, Including its general purpose and mission statement.
• Past-performance. The applicant will provide the names. titles and organizations of references with their full contact information as references for past relevant work experience.

Technical Vs. Cost Application:

• For evaluation purposes, more weight will be given to the evaluation of the technical application than cost application. Only applications that receive a competitive score on the Technical Evaluation will have their cost applications evaluated.

Cost Evaluation Criteria:

• Cost has not been assigned a weight but will be evaluated for realism, reasonableness, allowability allocability and cost effectiveness Applications that have more efficient operation systems that reduce operations costs will be more favourably considered. Other considerations are the completeness of the application, adequecy of budget detail and consistence with elements of the techinical application. In addition, the organization must demonstrate adequate financial management experience and capability.

Eligibility Information:

• Ability to immediately initiate activities upon signature of agreement
• Demonstrated capacity to forward fund activities to be reimbursed on a monthly basis
• Willingness to sign and adhere the Mexico City language required by USG-funded agencies
• Demonstrated capacity to implement malaria SBC programs and community level engagement and referral for services
• Demonstrated experience in Muslim and Christian communities
• Existing Personnel and offices in Abuja and all or most project focal states: Zamfara, Benue, Nasarawa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Oyo

 

 

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: bacommunitymob@hc3nigeria.org

Required Application Format
To facilitate the competitive review of the applications, JHUCCP will only consider applications conforming to the format prescribed below. The application must be in English, printable on A4 or 8.5 by 11 inch paper, in Times New Roman 12 point font, single-spaced, with margins of no less than one inch on each border. Each page must be numbered consecutively. The technical application must be not more than 20 pages and include the following four sections:

• Executive Summary (2 pages maximum)
• Program Approach (the First Year Workplan does not count towards the page limit and should be in an Annex as listed below)
• Management Plan
• Organizational Capacity and Past-Performance References

Additional sections (that will not count against the 20 page limit) should also include:

• Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Annex- First Year Workplan
• Budget and Budget Notes

 

Application Deadline 13th September, 2018.

 

Note

• Award will be made to the responsible applicant(s) whose application(s) best meets the requirements of this RFP and the selection criteria contained herein. Issuanceofthis RFP does not constitute an award commitment on the part of JHUCCP or its funding agency.
• Applications are submitted at the risk of the applicant and all preparatio.n and submission costs are at the applicant’s expense.
• Applicants must provide all required information in its application or may be deemed non-responsive.
• JHU reserves the right (but is not under obligation to do so) to enter into discussions with one or more applicants in order to obtain clarifications, additional detail, or refinements in the application. Oral discussions may be conducted.
• JHU reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted, and reserves the right tu award either the entire scope of work to one applicant or a partiaI scope of work to more than one applicant by, for example, focal state or other relevant criteria.