The UN Secretary-General (UNSG) appointed the Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent (IAP) in 2016 to provide an independent and transparent review of progress and challenges on the implementation of the 2016-30 Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health (Global Strategy) to strengthen the response from the international health community and member states.

To date, the IAP has delivered and disseminated three annual reports, the goal of which was to make recommendations to potentially shape dramatic stakeholder action to implement the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ health. The consultant will conduct an evaluation of the IAP to present to an External Reference Group (ERG), with the goal of assessing the extent to which the IAP engagement, advocacy, reports and recommendations have impacted stakeholders’ actions and lead to better results for women, children and adolescents to achieve the goals set forth in the Global Strategy and broader 2030 Agenda.

The IAP is an independent panel of experts, whose secretariat is hosted by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). The Evaluation will be managed by the Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) Secretariat, hosted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), according to that agency’s policies and procedures for external evaluations.

The incumbent works as part of the Online Communications Team and provides assistance with the conceptualization, translation, development and maintenance of UNFPAs online environment.

Sierra Leone has a young population – 33.5 per cent is within 10- 24 years and 39.4 per cent is between the ages of 15 – 35 years. The country faces a host of development challenges. Pregnancy rates are high among adolescents; according to the Sierra Leone Demographic and Health Survey approximately 28 per cent of adolescents aged 15 -19 years old have begun childbearing, this is higher in rural areas than urban areas (34 per cent versus 19 per cent). An estimated 30 per cent of currently married or in union adolescents aged 15-19 years have unmet need for family planning. Furthermore, among all sexually active females aged 15-19, nearly 80 percent are not using any form of contraction.

UNFPA plans support the Government of Sierra Leone, with DFID funding, to develop and roll out a national mobile health (mHealth) application to connect young people in Sierra Leone with interactive family planning information as one component of broader efforts to reduce unmet need for family planning. The proposed intervention is intended to be implemented primarily through mobile phones and will target young people in urban and rural areas of Sierra Leone.

Aim – An international individual consultant is required to support the development and implementation of an mHealth solution to equip young people with the information they need to make informed choices about family planning in Sierra Leone.

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.