Consultancy – Cholera Country Support Platform (CSP)/ WASH, Assessment and Quality Monitoring of programmes

The purpose of these terms of reference (ToR) is to identify a network of consultants to be deployed under the Country Support Platform/Global Taskforce on Cholera Control (GTFCC) to support cholera affected countries in the development and implementation of their National Cholera Plan (NCP). Applying to these ToRs doesn’t guarantee an offer for a consultancy. Applications identified as suitable will be notified and will be stored in an IFRC database for a maximum period of 2 years. The CSP/GTFCC will select the consultant to be deployed according to country needs.

By applying to this ToR you give authorization to:

· share your CV with the IFRC

· contact former employers for references and for information related to misconduct.

· store your CV in compliance with the data protection regulation. You can ask IFRC to remove or update your CV by contacting the CSP coordinator [email protected]

Terms of reference for consultancy

Purpose of Project and Background

In 2021, according to the Global Task Force for Cholera Control (GTFCC) around 50 countries are still affected by cholera. The number of people living in cholera hotspot is estimated to be between 40 to 80 million. The burden of diseases remains extremely high with 1.3 to 4 million cases every year, including 21 000 to 143 000 deaths globally.

The GTFCC is a partnership of more than 50 institutions, including NGOs, academic institutions, and UN agencies, with a secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 2017, the GTFCC launched the Global Roadmap to 2030 which aims to eliminate cholera in 20 countries and reduce the number of cholera deaths reported every year by 90%.

In 2019, Cholera-affected countries have called for additional technical support from the GTFCC in the development and implementation of their multisectoral National Cholera Plans for control or elimination (NCPs). In response to countries’ needs, the GTFCC has established a Country Support Platform (CSP) that will support efforts – primarily at national level – to control and eliminate cholera.

The CSP was launched in 2020 and it is hosted by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).

The CSP is supporting cholera-affected countries by working towards the following outcomes:

· Cholera-affected countries have an NCP and a multisectoral coordination mechanism to align government, national actors, GTFCC partners and key stakeholders towards a shared strategy.

· With the support of the CSP, the cholera-affected countries have mobilized resources toward the funding needs identified in their NCPs

· The cholera-affected countries receive multisectoral technical support and capacity building for the formulation and the implementation of their NCPs.

The third outcome requires consultancies to support the cholera-affected countries around the five pillars for cholera preparedness and control:

· Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

· Surveillance and laboratory

· Case management

· Community engagement

· Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV)

These ToRs refer to WASH consultancies.

Alignment to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) objectives and strategy

Strategic Priority 3: Growing gaps in health and well-being

IFRC’s Strategy 2020: The IFRC supports National Societies to work with vulnerable communities to achieve better health and reduced vulnerabilities as well as to improve water and sanitation conditions in chronic and acute contexts during emergencies.

The IFRC was appointed in 2020 to be the operational arm of the GTFCC for the CSP project. This positions the IFRC and the network at the heart of global and regional partnerships for inter-agency coordination for eventual cholera elimination.

Global Flagship Initiatives: Reduce cholera related deaths by 50%. Cholera continues to threaten the lives of millions of people and yet with the provision of safe water and sanitation so many lives can be saved. The IFRC’s Global Water and Sanitation Initiative (including OneWASH) will be expanded to ensure equitable, sustainable and affordable access to water and sanitation to reduce cholera related deaths by 50% by 2025.

Objectives

The overall objective of the deployment is to:

· Support and advise the MoH and other multisectoral partners (such as Ministry of Water, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Infrastructures) on cholera control activities during ongoing outbreaks (epidemic setting) and in identified cholera hotspots (endemic setting) to avoid cholera spread to other areas in the country and beyond.

· Gather relevant data, notably on WASH infrastructures and services, relevant multisectoral authorities and partners to allow for a better understanding of the specific context and integration in long-term strategies and plans, such as the NCP.

· If feasible, gather information to facilitate OCV campaigns and integrate WASH assessments in OCV campaign post coverage surveys.

Desired outcomes

Outcome 1: Support the implementation of water quality monitoring and surveillance with a focus on preselected hotspots, targeting water quality at point of use (turbidity, FRC, possibly faecal contamination) and in key environmental locations (faecal contamination)

Output 1: Final report regarding the water surveillance system, main results and findings, recommendations

Outcome 2: Conduct a WASH assessment focusing on preselected hotspots, covering Water Supply (governance, main water sources, typology of services, coverage, reliability, quality) and Sanitation (governance, coverage, typology of services, environmental health risk) services, as well as hygiene practices.

Output 2: Final report detailing the main findings of the assessments, identifying key priority actions and main findings for long term cholera control to be integrated in the NCP if applicable

Outcome 3 (If feasible): Support the health authorities in planning and implementing the OCV campaign and/or post campaign coverage survey

Output 3 (If feasible)**: Vaccination budgets and micro plans finalized and/or post campaign coverage survey completed

Outcome 4 (If feasible): Integration of a WASH activities into OCV campaigns, namely delivery of a minimum WASH package in parallel to emergency/humanitarian OCV campaigns (reactive) or a WASH assessment in areas targeted by a preventive OCV campaign

Output 4 (If feasible): Report on the results achieved by the provision of the minimum WASH package (reactive) or results of the WASH assessment component in the OCV post coverage survey (preventive).

Support to be provided to the consultant

IFRC WASH team in Geneva / IFRC regional office / GTFCC / CSP team will brief and support the consultant

Education

Required

Relevant university degree in Engineering, Public Health or similar fields.

Preferred

WASH Rapid Response /Emergency Response Unit (ERU) specialized training.

Experience

Required

Five years of experience in relevant WASH programmes

Field experience in cholera outbreak / WASH response in humanitarian operations

Preferred

WASH consultancy experience for a humanitarian aid organization in a developing country.

Knowledge and Skills

Required

Good knowledge of WASH management, as well as mechanisms, tools and guidelines for programming and coordination at different levels.

Good analytical thinking skills.

Skills in developing and facilitating training, as well as, in preparing and delivering presentations.

Languages

English required and French as second language preferred.