Consultancy – Cholera Country Support Platform (CSP)/ National Cholera Plan (NCP), Project management and report

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 these ToRs 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 focus on consultancies to support the development and/or implementation of NCPs.

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.

Project objectives

The overall objective of the deployment is to support the country in the development and/ or implementation of their NCP. This can be achieved through several activities:

· Support the country in any of the four phases of an NCP (inception, development, implementation, monitoring and reporting)

· Gather information and data (e.g. for hotspot identification, situational analysis) from relevant multisectoral authorities and partners to allow for a better understanding of the specific context; support the country to integrate this information into a long-term strategy/ plan, such as the NCP.

· Support the preparation and/ or facilitation of multisectoral workshops to support NCP development

· Support and advise the national cholera control mechanism and multisectoral partners on cholera control activities targeted at identified cholera hotspots, aiming to reduce morbidity and mortality and to avoid the geographical spread of cholera in the country and beyond

Desired outcomes

In collaboration with government representatives and partners of all relevant sectors

· Prepare a timeline for a step-by-step development of the NCP.

· Conduct a cholera hotspot identification and mapping exercise following the methodology developed by the GTFCC/WHO to define priority areas for health and WASH interventions.

· Support the elaboration of a situational analysis as outline in the GTFCC guidance on NCP development; this may include

o A desk review of existing cholera/acute watery diarrhoea related strategies, plans and recommendations, including of past OCV campaigns if applicable.

o A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis (desk exercise and/ or workshop)

o A stakeholder analysis to identify relevant stakeholders, including health service and WASH providers, decision-makers and end users at national and sub-national level in identified priority hotspots areas (high and medium).

o Developing a costed operational plan with feasible and specific actions to implement the cholera control strategies; the actions should take into account and address the elements identified during the SWOT analysis (the SWOT analysis may have been supported by the same consultant or may have been developed in the past).

1. Output 1 (deliverable): Cholera hotspot mapping (based on the methodology developed by the GTFCC/WHO)

2. Output 2 (deliverable): Timeline for a step-by-step development of the National Cholera Control Plan.

3. Output 3 (deliverable): List and where applicable review/map relevant data, plans, stakeholders, government actors and international development programmes supporting the elaboration of the

4. Output 4 (deliverable): Support the development of the situational analysis.

5. Output 5 (deliverable): based on existing strategic documents for cholera response and preparedness (including NCP if applicable), summarize the main gaps and the required actions to address them.

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

Master’s degree in public health or similar field related to health or communicable disease prevention and control.

Experience

Required

Five years of experience in communicable disease control programmes.

Field experience in cholera outbreak in emergency operations.

Preferred

Experience working in a multisectoral coordination role in communicable disease prevention and control programmes in low-income countries.

Knowledge and Skills

Required

Good knowledge of national and international multi sectoral approaches to cholera preparedness and response.

Good analytical thinking skills.

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

Preferred

Good understanding of the GTFCC road map and CSP mandate.

Technical Competencies Required

Required

Identifies and establishes key operational partnerships.

Designs and leads a multisectoral gap analysis and development of a preparedness plan.

Interpret and critically analyse key epidemiological cholera data for programme implementation.

Preferred

Knowledge of and ability to use the GTFCC hotspot identification tool.

Languages

English required and French as second language preferred.