Purpose of consultancy

The Strengthening Midwifery Services (SMS) project is the main support to the Government of  South  Sudan  on  addressing  Human  Resources  for  Women’s  Reproductive  Health, especially midwives for skilled birth attendance. The Project forms a major component of the overall UNFPA Country Programme of support to the Republic of South Sudan. The current Phase II of the SMS project is estimated at USD $47.0 million project within the broader support to Human Resources for Health by the Government of South Sudan and partners.  The Strengthening of the Midwifery Services Phase II (2015/2016 – 2019/2020) project in South Sudan is co-funded by the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). Main objective is to specifically address the critical gaps in human resources for maternal and new born health with a gender sensitive and human rights approach in South Sudan. The Ministry of Health and UNFPA in South Sudan are planning to outsource consultancy to develop training and deployment costed investment plan focusing on SMSI & II project to  ensure  achievement  of  the  desired  results,  and  sustainability  beyond  project.  The investment plan will help identify exiting and forecasted resources required and ways of securing them, to support projected human resources training and deployment needs for health professional categories supported under the project. (market based and matched supply and demand of health work force) for the coming 10 years i.e., 2020-2030.  The outcome of this exercise will also help government and stakeholders identify evidence-based strategies and programme/project interventions for more efficient and effective impact of the SMS project interventions and its sustainability. Last but not the least, it will serve as a tool to enhance government leadership and ownership of  strengthening  health  systems  including  human  resources  development  by  securing required resources from government budget and donor funds to ensure access to gender responsive, environmental friendly quality maternal health services and sustain SMS project interventions. The objective of the consultancy is to develop investment plan during coming 5 years beyond end of SMS II project (2020). that  will  address  quality  training,  recruitment,  deployment,  and  retention  challenges impacting maternal health service delivery in South Sudan.

Specific objectives of the costed investment plan are:

• To analyze the existing financial and in-kind support from the Government of South Sudan, health sector stakeholders and other partners for the training and deployment of health care professionals, particularly midwives, Obstetrics and Gynecologists, Clinical Officers and Associate Clinicians (under task shifting).
• To identify the ways of increasing or expanding this support from the existing and other sources to calculate the cost of different scenarios of HRH development until  2025, based on the national HRH strategy and other relevant existing policy documents
• Develop training and deployment costed investment plan (5 years) for midwifery and other professionals with midwifery skills with consideration to different scenarios related to political and socio-economic situation of the country

For the Health Sciences Institutes (HSIs) the plan should identify how the four HSIs currently supported by the project (JCONAM, Wau, KajoKeji and Maridi) will be sustained including feasibility of the boarding model for medium - long-term for the supported HSIs. In doing this, reference should be made to the recommendations from the Cost Benefit Analysis study. The investment plan will also propose on how other HSIs including Aweil, Rumbek and Torit will be supported and sustained to train qualified mid-level health cadres.

 

Consideration should also be made of the possible scenarios for the above: for example,

1. Scenario 1: status quo,
2. Scenario 2: catastrophic - deeper insecurity and economic crisis,
3. Scenario 3: positive: improvement in security and economic situation.

For all scenarios consider variables such as: quality of the training, cost, local vs international HSI management, Government of South Sudan budget capacity and willingness to contribute, others donors’ interests, etc.

 

Scope of Work

The consultant/s will undertake a detailed analysis within the stated objectives bearing in mind the specific South Sudan context and capacity constraints. In doing so, the country experience in executing training of various health care providers with focus to midwifery and other professionals providing maternal health services would be taken into consideration. The  analysis  would  also  include  investments  made  on  selected  health  facilities  as practicum and deployment/employment sites. The analysis will focus on financial and other resources including in kind contributions invested in the HSIs and other scholarship training programmes for training midwives, nurses, associate clinicians and specialized doctors supported by SMSI and II. The consultancy will also include exploring status of enabling environment such as legislations, establishment of regulatory bodies. Based on the in depth analysis, the consultant is expected to come up with an investment plan outlining the following:

 

• Mapping available financial and in-kind resources to support the trainings and deployment and potential for increased financial resources from government and other partners
• A 5 years HR requirements by factoring in the supply and demand of health personnel in the public and private sector and associated costs of different HRH/RMNH cadre training and deployment in the system.
• Resources required to support the SMS project funded 4 HSIs and to continue training midwifery and nursing as well as resources needed to support training of the projected number of various RMNH cadre for the planned period.
• SMS project and other partners contribution required to support in country and/or scholarships training of associate clinicians, Obstetricians and anesthesiologists etc., based on projected potential need.
• Calculates salary and incentives (financial, as well as the monetary value of non-financial incentives, such as free meals, transport, and accommodation), as well as initial training, capital and equipment expenses, and compares them with the projected funds availability.
• The concept of 'fiscal space', i.e. a country's ability to find the financial resources required to finance the anticipated spending by taking into account the country's expected economic growth, the current level of GDP, the share of Government resources allocated to health, and the share of health spending devoted to personnel.

 

The Consultant will prepare an investment plan with 3 scenarios Scenario 1: status quo, Scenario 2: catastrophic - deeper insecurity and economic crisis, and Scenario 3: positive: improvement in security and economic situation The Consultant will develop draft report and discuss them with MOH and UNFPA for finalization. Donors GAC and SIDA will provide their inputs to the reports. The Consultant will present the final draft report to the stakeholders including MOH, donors and UNFPA, and incorporate feedback and finalize the report. The consultant will be responsible for completing the whole process of conducting the analysis and reporting.       

 

Duration & working Schedule 

 

Methodology

The consultant will develop a clear methodology for data collection, analysis and developing the report in line with the concept note (attached) The methodologies to be used in this exercise should be those that will

a)  enable extraction of retrospective information regarding health professional trained since the first phase of SMS up to the current phase,

b) Use the recently developed MOH led/owned deployment/tracking and retention plan as major input for this exercise.

c)  Documenting/listing of the professionals/students currently undertaking the courses

d)  Follow up and tracking the employment/deployment status

e)  Assessing the conditions of work based of information on parameters for criteria for ideal working conditions

f) Rapid assessment the existing demand for the health professionals both in government and non- government sectors

Based on these parameters, the consultants will develop detailed methodology that will be agreed upon with MOH/UNFPA as part of the proposals and inception report.

Some of the key sources of information include the

• Health Sciences Institutes/training colleges (Management and faculty),
• MOH Directorates of Training and Professional Development, Human Resources, Reproductive Health
• Government Health Facilities (National and State level)
• NGOs and UN organisations especially those working RMNH and likely to recruit the related staff
• Private clinics/hospitals
• Graduate Health Professionals trained under the project
• Students still under the training
• MOH Senior management
• UNFPA management and project technical staff
• Donors particularly for supporting Human Resources for Health including GAC, SIDA, DFID, World Bank, HPF, EU.

 

Place where services are to be delivered

The consultancy will have to take place in South Sudan, mainly in Juba.

 

Delivery dates

The final report is to be submitted both electronically and in hard copy by the last day of the consultancy.

 

Monitoring and progress

Expected Results/Deliverables

• Inception report that includes detailed analysis framework including draft outline of the report and schedule should be submitted after the initial consultative meeting with MOH and UNFPA.
• Submit draft HR investment plan report on midwives and related maternal health professionals to MOH and UNFPA for review and comments
• Present draft report in a consultative workshop with partners
• Submit final report both in hard and soft copy to MOH and UNFPA (within 3 days after receiving the comments)

The findings can only be shared and disseminated after due consultations with Ministry of Health and UNFPA.       

               

Supervisory arrangements

The consultant will work in a participatory manner under the leadership of the Ministry of Health Director General for policy and planning and UNFPA Representative and in close collaboration with line Directorates, particularly Directorate of Reproductive Health, and Directorate of Policy, Planning, M&E , Directorate for Human resource, Directorate training and professional development and Research and UNFPA technical team. UNFPA together with MOH will organize and facilitate stakeholder consultative meetings and validation workshop. A reference group chaired by MOH and composed of relevant directorates from MOH and UNFPA will be constituted to oversee the quality aspects of the study.

 

Expected Travel

The consultant is expected to travel from home country –Juba and back to home country. One round trip will be paid (unless agreed otherwise) Some in country field visit(s) will be expected.

 

Required Expertise/Competencies/Qualifications

The consultancy will be conducted  by a team of specialists  (International and national). The International consultant must offer the following demonstrated experience, knowledge and competencies:

• Consultant undertaking the task should have Master’s or PhD Degree in a relevant field (e.g. Human resources management/development, public health management, Health economics, statistician)
• At least seven years of experience working in the field of public health, human resource management & financing, Health economics, statistics. Experience in health systems strengthening in developing countries
• Demonstrable experience of developing public health strategic documents for example, national human resources development plan, national health accounts, costing investment plans, cost effectiveness/benefit analysis of Health programmes preferably public health programmes
• Working experience with the UN is an advantage
• Ability to clearly articulate and consolidate information on findings is important
• Language requirement: excellent command and knowledge of English including reading and writing; and knowledge of Arabic will be a very strong asset for the national consultant.
• Ability to perform within timeframe and meet deadlines
• Previous working experience in health systems strengthening in Africa will be an added advantage

 

Inputs / Services to be provided by UNFPA

UNFPA will provide logistical support to the consultants including

 

a)  Space for meetings

b)  Transport to and from offices

c)  Depending on availability, arrange for accommodation in security cleared premises

 

HOW TO APPLY

Applicants are kindly requested to send their application to  ssco.vacancies@unfpa.org by COB 16 April 2018. Applications received after this date will not be taken into consideration. All applications should be cleared marked with Subject Line “Developing of investment plan Consultant (International Post)”.

 

Applicants will be short-listed on the basis of their qualifications and work experience. Only the short-listed candidates will be invited for interviews.

 

IMPORTANT: There is NO application processing or other fee at any stage of UNFPA application processes.