DRAFT Scope of Work: Technical coordinator for MCSP Child health data global conference 4

Research Consultant

Scope of Work

Review of Policies and Guidelines Related to the Nutrition of Sick and Undernourished Children at the Primary Health Care Level

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Proposed Start Date of SOW

As soon as possible – January 2018

Background

Preventing morbidity and mortality in children[1] (including newborns, infants and adolescents) is a shared global priority for child health and nutrition stakeholders. To impact the survival, well-being and development of children, assuring adequate nutrition for women and children and strengthening primary health care, including the integrated case management of childhood illness, is key. Sub-optimal care and feeding puts the (sick) child at higher risk of disease and mortality. While pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria remain the leading global causes of child death, both vulnerability to and the severity of these illnesses are exacerbated by undernutrition, which is a contributing factor in 45 percent of all under-five deaths (Black et al., 2013). Recent evidence and programmatic experience shows the importance of strengthening the nutrition component of case management [including for severe acute malnutrition (SAM)] and feeding practices during and following childhood illness, (Wazy et al., 2014), alongside strengthening IYCF practices.

With support from USAID-Washington, the maternal and child survival program (MCSP) proposes to convene a global conference to bring together stakeholders and partners from countries[2] to identify persistent barriers in nutrition interventions for the sick and/or undernourished child (including the newborn), and to identify opportunities for impactful change.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

1.  Share successful practices in implementing current policies and guidelines and the associated drivers of those practices.

2.  Identify persistent barriers to implementing a comprehensive set of nutrition interventions for sick and undernourished children in primary health care settings, and identify reasons for their persistence.

3.  Prioritize the most critical barriers (identified under objective 2), develop key actions to address these barriers and prioritize (2-3) actions to implement immediately (in the short term).

4.  Identify and prioritize common themes or barriers that require policy change, (including new or modification of guidelines) or further evidence at the global level.

5.  Agree on the roles and contributions of key partners and other stakeholders, to address the prioritized barriers to implementing a comprehensive set of nutrition interventions for sick and undernourished children in primary health care settings.

Prior to the workshop, a review of current global and country policies and guidelines will be undertaken and the review findings are expected to be the foundation of the discussions at the workshop. This scope of work describes MCSP’s need for a consultant to conduct the review.

Proposed Scope of Work

The consultant will liaise closely with the technical and management team at MCSP and will take the lead on technical aspects of the review. This includes developing a protocol and necessary tools for the initial review, collecting documents and conducting a desk-review, identifying key informants and conductiong interviews, and compiling a final written technical report of the findings. Budget pending, the consultant may present the findings at the workshop in the Summer of 2018.

The consultant’s final report will include:

  1. Background and introduction: to provide an overview of the current context of child nutrition and management of sick children at different levels of a health system, a justification why such an issue becomes increasingly important, and why country leadership is more and more relevant.
  2. Methods: to describe the techniques used to gather the data, sources of the data and why these were the most relevant
  3. Findings: to report on the results from the review of relevant documents, stakeholder interviews, group discussions and the mapping
  4. Analysis: to synthesize the findings in an organized way to examine their implications in program implementation and discuss potential considerations on the way forward.
  5. Conclusions: to look at the future, set the stage for and catalyze the discussions expected to happen at the workshop.

The anticipated level of effort this role totals 30 days between January and July 2018, with more intense and less intense periods of effort over this period.

Proposed methodology

The review will include a desk review and some key informants interviews.

  1. Desk review on existing documents relevant for the workshop, both at the global and at the country level. These include policy and strategy documents, technical guidelines on nutrition and management of specific illnesses/conditions, implementation guidelines and other materials pertaining to the health system (including supply chain, monitoring, human resources)
  1. Key informant interviews will target global and country stakeholders who have first-hand knowledge and experience about nutrition of sick and undernourished children at the primary health care level, and will seek to understand their perspectives, their actions and their motivations. The information will help explain the weaknesses and successes of the global child survival and nutrition agenda.

The list of target countries will be decided in coordination with MCSP. The number of countries will total 6 – 10.

Proposed tasks and timeline

Tasks / LOE and Illustrative time line
1.  Develop a protocol for the initial desk review:
­  Develop a protocol and the necessary tools for the initial desk review including methodology and interview tools
­  Present to MCSP and TAG for feedback
­  Review and finalize the protocol and tools / 5 days
January- Feb 2018
2.  Conduct desk-review and key informants interviews
­  Coordinate with MCSP and TAG members to collect global and country documents related to nutrition of sick and undernourished children at the primary health care level , identify and contact key informants to be interviewed
­  Conduct the interviews[3]
­  Perform the desk-review / 15 days
March-April 2018
3.  Write a technical report:
­  Draft a report and present to MCSP and TAG members for feedback
­  Review and finalize the report / 10 days
May –June 2018

Deliverables

1.  Desk review protocol and data collection tools

2.  Key informant interview notes

3.  Presentation on report/findings to MCSP and TAG members

4.  Final Report

Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Inputs and oversight

A Technical Advisory Group (TAG), composed of representatives from key stakeholders, was setup to define the overall direction of the workshop. The consultant will be responsible to coordinate with MCSP and the TAG members as needed to solicit inputs for the desk review and deliverables. The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) committee at MCSP includes:

Michel Pacque, Child Health Team Leader, MCSP

Serge Raharison, Senior Child Health Technical Advisor, MCSP

Ashley Schmidt, Senior Program Officer Child Health Team, MCSP

Justin Kavle, Nutrition Team Leader, MCSP

Corrine Mazzeo, Newborn Senior Program Officer, MCSP

The consultant will report to Serge Raharison and Ashley Schmidt (cc’ing Michel Pacqué on all important communications) and seek approval before internal and external contact is made.

[1] All further mentioning of children will assume the inclusion of newborns, infants and adolescents

[2] Countries TBD by the workshop Technical Advisory Group (TAG)

[3] Support will be provided for scheduling of interviews