JOB POSTING Technical Health Specialist

SUMMARY ABOUT THE PROJECT

Field Support Services Project (FSSP) is a five-year project (October 2019 – October 2024) funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and managed by Cowater International. FSSP provides administrative, financial, procurement, and logistical services as well as support to the in-country development programming for the Government of Canada through the provision of technical specialists in gender equality, governance and human rights, and environment and climate action and assisting GAC in procuring and managing local development initiatives. These programs will take place in Indonesia and the ASEAN regions.

BACKGROUND

Ensuring the health and well-being of all is essential to poverty eradication efforts and achieving sustainable development, contributing to economic growth and prosperous communities. Health is also an inalienable human right according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as good health allows people to reach their full potential, children to be better able to learn, workers to be more productive and parents to care for their children better. It is also a key indicator of a country’s progress: a nation with a healthy population is more likely to experience sustained growth. Good health is also essential for the stability of entire regions, as pandemics, which transcend borders, can have severe social and economic impacts on families and communities, and can put increased pressure on health systems.

Although global health has improved significantly in recent decades, this benefit has not been shared evenly within and among nations. Several hundred million people across the globe continue to go without basic health services, especially in rural areas and in the most impoverished communities. More than six million children die each year and nearly 300,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth, many from preventable causes.

For Canada, health has been a long-standing focus of its development efforts and remains a top priority. Through its engagement in international forums and in advancing critical development issues, Canada is recognized as a leader in global health. Working with developing countries and development partners, Canada is helping to strengthen health systems to ensure that critical services, medicines, and interventions reach the most vulnerable and the hardest to reach, particularly women and children. Our approach also includes training front-line community health workers and other key personnel, such as midwives.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)

In 2017, Canada committed to $ 650 million over 3 years to improve the reproductive health and rights of women and children. Canada’s assistance aims to help the poorest and most vulnerable, including in fragile and conflict-affected states and address barriers facing the most at-risk and marginalized populations, Indigenous peoples/ persons with disabilities and ethnic and religious minorities.

Better Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All in Indonesia (BERANI) is a project funded by the Government of Canada, in partnership with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The project aims to transform sexual and reproductive health rights for women and young people in Indonesia. The project works with midwives to improve the quality of companions and childbirth and address key gaps in gaining access to comprehensive sexual services and information for young people, as well as supporting community-based advocacy and programming to prevent gender-based violence and harmful practices (focusing on child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting).

Partnerships are a key component of Canada’s approach in the health sector. Working collaboratively with international organizations and Canadian civil society, life-saving vaccinations, nutritional supplements, and other medicines and commodities can be delivered more effectively and efficiently, thus providing communities with the means to prevent and treat leading diseases and illnesses. These include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition and undernutrition, and other primary causes of mortality and morbidity.

In Indonesia, Nutrition International (NI) is Canada’s main nutrition partner and a global leader in tackling micronutrient deficiencies. It seeks to improve the health and nutritional status of the most vulnerable, delivering essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, iron, folic acid, zinc and iodized salt in approximately 60 countries. NI’s work focusses on women’s and girls’ nutrition, which is aligned with Global Affairs Canada’s overarching priority of advancing the empowerment of women and girls globally. In Indonesia, NI has been active since 2006 and Canada has been supporting NI with over C$30 million in funding. 

Canada also works closely with international organizations such as the World Health Organization; Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and many other key partners.

SUMMARY OF THE POSITION

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) requires the services of a Technical Health Specialist (the Consultant) to assist the program with its health, nutrition, sexual and reproductive health and rights development initiatives. The Consultant will be responsible for leading the provision of high-quality health policy and technical advice to GAC; engage with relevant actors; make relevant linkages to GAC’s programmes; provide analysis for strategies, projects and briefings; and represent GAC as requested.

The Consultant will provide GAC with high quality, evidence-based, health and nutrition policy and program advice. The advice should be timely, demonstrate efficiency and value for money in delivering services, and aligned with GAC’s health and nutrition policies.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Working on a day-to-day basis under the direction of GAC’s Sector Team Lead and in close coordination with the GAC HQ specialists, the expected services of the Technical Health Specialist will include, but not be limited to:

a.     Provide Advice and Support to GAC

• Advise and update GAC on the latest development progress, trends (including donor landscape mapping) and priority challenges related to various health issues such as nutrition, SRHR, with a focus on family planning and sexual and gender-based violence and others in Indonesia and ASEAN region;
• Review, analyse and provide technical comments and recommendations on project documents for GAC-funded projects in Indonesia’s health programming including Project Implementation Plans, annual work plans, progress reports, and evaluations;
• Inform GAC on various processes regarding regional, national, and local policy-making and the role of the health sector in those processes. This includes identifying and assessing relevant information and policy questions at national, local and ASEAN region and providing relevant recommendations and lessons taken from those analysis through written health reports and papers;
• Identify the resources needed to accomplish results involving multiple stakeholders and find solutions to obstacles affecting key deliverables;
• Advise GAC on the extent to which its health projects are: i) aligned with government policy and sector priorities; ii) meeting the goals and objectives of GAC development policies; and, iii) are coordinated with the activities of other development partners, including civil society, as well as with provincial/district government policy and sector priorities; and
• Identify opportunities for synergies among investments across GAC delivery channels (bilateral, partnership, regional, and multilateral).

b.    Support for External Coordination and Engagement

• Support GAC’s role in policy dialogue fora, such as donor-government coordination groups and ASEAN Secretariat;
• Participate in, and/or provide technical support to GAC at the Technical Working Groups within the coordination structure;
• Participate in and provide technical support to joint initiatives with other development partners and stakeholders (e.g. reviews, joint field visits, joint monitoring and evaluation exercises, multi-stakeholder consultations, or events);
• Provide technical advice to help ensure and increase Canada’s visibility in its development activities and policy positions in the health sector; and
• Support Canada’s advocacy, outreach activities and initiatives.

c.   Program/project monitoring.

• Monitor health projects through project monitoring missions, discussions with stakeholders and desk reviews:
• Become familiar with key documents relating to the project/program including approval documentation, Country Programming Frameworks or Strategies, contractual agreements with project/program partners, the Project Implementation Plan, Baseline reports, Annual Work Plans, Project Financial and Narrative Reports, etc.);
• Assess project performance against the Logic Model and Performance Management Framework including the indicators (and their targets) as well as project risks;
• Provide recommendations for improvement including adjustments and corrective action when problems and constraints hampering effectiveness of implementation have been identified;
• Assess the enabling environment, political/social/cultural/environmental context within which the project/program works, identifying trends and keeping Canada as a donor abreast of actual and potential changes in context; and
• Provide other services related to the monitoring of the project such as analysis, document preparation, reviews, etc. as requested by GAC.

d.    Developing and maintaining networks.

• initiate contact and meetings;
• participate in seminars/meetings/workshops;
• organize and or participate in health donor and other related meetings.

e.     Providing general support for the operation of GAC’s field office activities in Indonesia and ASEAN region

·      Support database and data collection;

·      Review documents and editorial support ;

·      Organize meetings/visits and document and report on key messages.

·      Contribute to communication activities with photos, writing event updates for social media or further publications.

f.      Providing oral and written briefings on any of the above services through ad-hoc and regular meetings/conference calls with GAC’s Indonesian Program sector lead, GAC HQ specialists, and team.

g.    Any other relevant tasks as assigned by the GAC.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Education:

• Graduate degrees (Masters degree required, PhD or equivalent would be an asset) in public health, epidemiology, health economics, health financing, or other related fields. Candidates with combined degrees will have an added advantage.

Minimum Experience:

• Minimum of 8 years as senior specialist or senior program management positions in one or more of the following areas: sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition, health systems, public health program management, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, operations research in health, results-based financing. Experience in two or more of these areas is advantageous.

GAC requires the services of one national technical health and nutrition expert who has a solid knowledge of general and specific health issues, a good knowledge of Indonesia and the ASEAN context, general knowledge of official development assistance principles, and a good knowledge of the Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of Indonesia’s health system at regional, national, and local government level including knowledge of Indonesia’s health strategies, plans, and flagship programmes;
• Knowledge of GAC policies, programs, and initiatives, particularly as they relate to gender equality and reproductive health, nutrition, family planning and other health issues;
• Knowledge and application of epidemiology and public health;
• Knowledge and understanding of the global health context including international health architecture;
• A drive for results, including a proven track record of high standards/accountability for work products, meeting deadlines, an ability to prioritize tasks within his/her work program and strategies for working collectively with others on the team to deliver products of the highest caliber;

• Ability to deliver quality reports or assessments in a short time;

• Good facilitation skills and ability to generate ideas from, and build consensus among, a wide variety of stakeholders;
• Client oriented; and
• Demonstrated ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and a professional commitment to promote a culture of gender equality and social inclusion.

Required skills and experience:

The Consultant is expected to possess skills and experience in the following fields:

• Demonstrated experience working on gender issues in health programs;
• Demonstrated knowledge/understanding of the context, challenges and opportunities of health systems in low- and middle-income countries;
• Knowledge of and ability to assess and summarize current research/evidence in one or more of public health technical areas (e.g., epidemiology, demography, economics, health systems strengthening, health reform etc) and specialisms (e.g., global health financing mechanisms, health security and pandemic preparedness, reproductive health, non-communicable disease etc.);
• Prior experience in an international development institution (public, NGO or private) is preferred. Ability to function effectively in multi-disciplinary teams within a matrix environment is essential;
• Demonstrated ability in producing clear, high quality analytical written work on international health and development topics in short time frames;
• Strong interpersonal, cross-cultural and communication skills; and
• Commitment to team work and ability to build constructive and effective relationships.

Language Requirements:

The Consultant must be fluent in Bahasa and possess the following levels in English:

Oral        = 4 – Advanced Professional Proficiency

Reading = 4 – Advanced Professional Proficiency

Writing   = 4 – Advanced Professional Proficiency

Most of the reporting will be written in English.

WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

The Consultant will work from their home base with meetings/interviews with GAC colleagues and external experts. The Consultant is not permitted to sub-contract. He/she may conduct an extensive literature review, and perform triangulation by interviewing experts, if necessary.

The Consultant will report to GAC’s Sector Team Lead. Payment is conditional upon satisfactory delivery of the assignments. In the event that travel to other regions or cities is necessary, all necessary costs will be borne by GAC, through the Field Support Services Project (FSSP).

DURATION OF THE CONTRACT

The total expected duration of the assignment is approximately 120 days. All reports must be finalized and submitted within this period. The Consultant is expected to start in April 2020.

Payments will be processed against the reports (deliverables) therefore a financial report is requested for each deliverable, giving the opportunity for the Consultant to manage the number of days to spend on each deliverable within the defined timeframe.

How to apply:

Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications to admin@fssp.or.id latest by Wednesday 25 March 2020:

1. CV indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

2.    Brief statement as to why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and highlighting his/her strong experience and knowledge in one or two of the following: sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition, health systems, public health program management, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, operations research in health, and results-based financing.

3.    Financial Proposal shall be submitted in the following format:

-         The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily rate for up to 120 working days;

-         The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee and when applicable any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract, not including travel expenses.

Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidate(s) about the outcome or status of the selection process.

EVALUATION OF APPLICATION

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of the weighted criteria (70% technical score (comprising of 15% technical qualifications desk review, 25% written test, and 30% interview) and 30% financial score).

The proposals that achieve a minimum of 70% for the technical qualifications desk review shall be further considered for an interview and written test. The financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received for the assignment.

Technical Score (70%)		Financial Score (30%)
Technical qualifications desk review (based on the criteria and points listed below) (15%)
Written test (25%)
Interview  (30%)

Technical Qualifications Desk Review

The evaluation of the Technical criteria will be as follows:

St No		Criteria		Points
1		Academic qualifications of the Consultant		10 points
2		Minimum of 8 years as senior specialist or senior program management positions in one or more of the following areas: sexual and reproductive health and rights, nutrition, health systems, public health program management, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, operations research in health, results-based financing.		30 points
3		Demonstrated experience working on gender issues in health programs.		20 points
4		Demonstrated knowledge/understanding of the context, challenges and opportunities of health systems in low and middle-income countries.		20 points
5		Strong knowledge of Indonesia’s health system at regional, national, and local government level including knowledge of Indonesia’s health strategies, plans, and flagship programmes.		10 points
6		Consultant’s knowledge of other areas relevant to the assignment.		10 points
		Total points		100 points

ABOUT US

With more than 34 years’ experience, Cowater International is Canada’s global leader in management consulting services specializing in international development and has managed the implementation of over 800 projects in more than 80 countries around the globe. We work with governments, partner organizations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, financial and environmental impacts. Our adaptive approach to management has led to our award-winning work and recognition as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies in 2017 and 2018. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, Cowater International also has corporate offices in Montreal, Quebec, Paris, France, Pretoria, South Africa, and London, United Kingdom, Nairobi, Kenya in addition to project offices in a wide variety of other locations across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

We thank you for your interest in building a better tomorrow with Cowater International.