Background

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, with 1,165 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The main cause of maternal mortality is postpartum haemorrhage, which accounted for 33% of all deaths and unsafe abortion among adolescents (10%).

The Government of Sierra Leone has outlined strategic priorities for development in its new direction. Specifically, the strategic objective of the health sector is to transform the under-resourced, ill-equipped, dysfunctional and inadequate health infrastructure and healthcare delivery system to make it high quality, efficient, reliable, cost-effective, affordable and sustainable. This will increase access for all the population (particularly mothers, children and the elderly). 

The National Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Plan 2019–2023 for Sierra Leone was developed in line with this new direction. The process of development was based on a systematic approach to determine the strengths and challenges of the nursing and midwifery systems. It was also to outline service provision strategies within the wider remit of the relevant policies of the MoHS and global provisions. Preceptorship systems development was identified as a key focal area for competency building for quality improvement in midwifery education.

UNFPA is currently implementing the DFID supported Saving Lives Programme which is aimed among others to improve the lives of children, adolescents, and women and reduce preventable maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. A key component of this is the deployment of skilled providers especially midwives for the implementation of a quality of care package for women, mothers and their newborn.

Main objective of the consultancy

This consultancy is aimed at operationalising a holistic approach to preceptorship in Sierra Leone to inform a comprehensive academic preparation of midwifery students in both the pre-service and clinical environments.

Specific objectives are:

The consultant will work in collaboration with country office team to:

• Contribute to providing technical assistance to the Directorate of Nursing and Midwifery of the MoHS in all matters pertaining to midwifery preceptorship;
• Support the development of the preceptorship policy and guidelines;
• Work with midwifery schools to implement the national preceptorship policy in the academic and clinical environments;
• Provide role modelling in improving the skills of preceptors and students according to ICM midwifery competencies, educational and regulatory standards;
• Strengthen the capacity of the faculties in midwifery schools to effectively apply principles of preceptorship to facilitate students’ competency-building.

Activities:

The National Midwifery Preceptor is required to:

Development of preceptorship policy and guidelines

• Support the development of the midwifery preceptorship policy
• Translate the midwifery preceptorship policy into actionable steps to operationalize preceptorship at the institutional and clinical settings 

Capacity building and clinical preceptorship

• Support the midwifery schools to conduct clinical site assessments for choice of accredited clinical sites
• Support faculties in midwifery schools to carry out standard preparatory activities (per policy) for effective clinical placement of students’ and the practice of objective structured clinical examination (OSCEs) into academic preparation of students;
• Build capacity of faculty to apply the concepts and principles of the preceptorship policy to students’ clinical skills improvement
• Build capacity of Sierra Leone Midwives Association members on effective preceptorship techniques
• Build networks with other health care professionals and support clinical sites to implement preceptorship policy for a successful students’ experience
• Provide preceptorship supervisory support to students and clinical sites;
• Conduct an assessment of preceptorship experiences by students over the period

Deliverables

• Implementation plan for integration of Preceptorship policy in schoolswith sustainability plans;
• Adapted clinical site assessment tools and number of sites assessed;
• Number of faculty trained in preceptorship;
• Implementation guidelines for the integration of objective structured clinical examination as a standard for students’ academic clinical preparation in Sierra Leone;
• Weekly updates on progress made in implementing midwifery interventions;
• A monthly report on the progress in the establishment and implementation of midwifery preceptorship interventions in UNFPA and the MoHS;
• Final report of the consultancy

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered:

Six months beginning 17 June, 2019, the final deliverables pertaining to these activities are due by December 31st, 2019.

Deliverables: (in hard and soft copies)

• Monthly reports on activities implemented due on last Friday of every month
• Implementation plan for integration of Preceptorship policy by 15 July, 2019

• Adapted clinical site assessment tools 31^st July, 2019
• Number of faculty trained by 30^th November, 2019
• Number of sites assessed by 31^st October, 2019
• Implementation guidelines for the integration of objective structured clinical examination by 30^th September, 2019

Qualifications and Experience

• Degree/diploma certification in Midwifery or Nursing
• License to practise midwifery
• Master’s degree in Midwifery preferable; An advanced degree in public health or related field could also be considered
• At least 5 years’ mid to senior-level experience in capacity development and quality improvement in midwifery
• Technical expertise in designing Midwifery related interventions, focused on promoting best practices in quality improvement, training, coaching/mentoring and supportive supervision
• Field experience in the implementation of International Confederation of Midwives standards for midwifery services
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines and under intense pressure to perform
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software applications
•  Fluency in oral and written English.
• Previous experience in working with the UN is desirable
• Ability to work independently;
• Fluency in English, verbal and written.

 How to Apply:

• All applications (CV and cover letter) including their technical proposal, with "Consultant:  Midwifery Preceptorship Interventions" in the subject, should be sent to the email address registry-sl@unfpa.org at latest by 10 June 2019.