Health Shuras Consultant,
Afghanistan’s Measure for Accountability and Transparency (AMANAT),
Kabul, Afghanistan
Project Summary:
“Afghanistan’s Measure for Accountability and Transparency” project (AMANAT) is a USAID activity focused on supporting Afghan government and non-government institutions reduce and prevent corruption in the delivery of public services. The project will work closely with local counterpart agencies to identify public services that are particularly vulnerable to corruption, develop mitigation strategies, implement those initiatives, and monitor their impact. Examples of AMANAT’s reforms will include administrative streamlining, improved internal controls, e-governance applications, more open data, and establishing ethics units in government agencies. The project will also promote better communication of these reforms to generate more public trust in government. In addition, civil society, business and the media will play major roles in AMANAT by conducting robust monitoring and oversight of these institutional reforms and their impacts.
The Afghan Ministry of Public Health’s Community-Based Health Care program (CBHC) was established in 2003 and is considered a corner stone of the Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS). The main purpose of the CBHC Program is to increase community awareness of the role and importance of health promotive and preventive measures in order to contribute in reduction of the common causes of mortality and morbidities, particularly of children and mothers, The CBHC program has four elements: (1) Community Health Workers (CHWs), (2) Community Health Supervisors (CHSs), (3) Health Shuras, and (4) Family Health Action Groups (FHGs).
Health Shuras are a critical element of the CBHC. There are two types of Health Shuras in CBHC program: (1) Health Shuras at the health facility level, and (2) Health Shuras at the health post level. Currently, throughout the country, there are more than 3300 Health Shuras at health facility level, which have significant role in strengthening of the health system, increasing the coverage of health services, supporting health interventions at the community level, and supporting and counseling health providers.
These Health Shuras also provide a direct link between community members and the facilities and promote greater transparency and an emphasis on good governance with accountability.
The CBHC Program has already prepared the Health Shuras guideline to regulate and standardize the role and functions of Health Shuras and health sub-committees of the Citizens Charter National Priority Program
(CCNPP) as well as to enhance their overall capacities in promoting transparency and strengthen good governance according the revised TOR based on MEC recommendations. This is especially critical for their decision-making role at the community level and their effectiveness at holding health facilities accountable for the quality and reliability of their services
**Please note: Only Afghan citizens are eligible for this position**
Position Summary:
The Health Shura Consultant will provide technical support to conduct a needs assessment of health shuras and to design and carry out training to strengthen health shuras to monitor community-based activities more effectively, in order to prevent corruption and improve public health services. The consultant will plan and conduct an assessment and support the design and implementation of pilot training through the following tasks, in consultation with the relevant MoPH Community-Based Health Care program personnel and AMANAT public sector team. The Period of Performance is expected to be August 1, 2020 (or award date) to January 31, 2021.
Responsibilities:
· Develop assessment plan for health shura assessment
· Develop assessment tools for health shura assessment
· Collect data, take handwritten notes on all the interviews/talking points in a notebook, and type up the interviews and focus group discussion notes
· Analyze the data and write up a draft assessment report
· Revise and finalize the report based on MoPH and AMANAT comments
· Develop an action plan for training in accordance with the CBHC master plan
· Support the CBHC Department in the process of developing and revising the curricula guidelines and protocols
· Revise the training materials as needed
· Plan and conduct trainings for health shuras
· Coordinate with AMANAT on the timely conduction of trainings and field visits
· Coordinate with Citizen Charter National priority program
· Coordinate with the MoPH focal point for capacity building
· Report on activities including planning, data collection, development of assessment tools and training processes
· Participate in CBHC meetings that are relevant to the consultant’s tasks
· Follow the MoPH ’s policies, guidelines, procedures and manuals regarding the community-based programs, in designing and carrying out the consulting activities
· Assessment plan for health shura assessment based on sample of health shuras in provinces selected by CBHC and AMANAT
· Assessment tools for health shura assessment (semi-structured questionnaire and focus group discussion guide).
· Submit notes from individual interviews and focus group discussions
· Submit minutes of coordination meetings
· Draft and submit an assessment report
· Submit a final assessment report
· Submit revised curricula guidelines and protocols
· Submit revised training materials
· Review the curricula/guidelines/protocols and will revise them based on needs assessment report
· Submit training reports with attendance records
· Submit weekly email updates on progress
Qualifications:
· Bachelor’s degree in medicine (MD) from a recognized university is required; Master’s in Public Health (MPH) is preferred
· A minimum five years’ experience in assessment, design and implementation of community-based health care interventions or projects with MoPH or recognized NGOs
· Good communication skills, verbal and written
· Demonstrated ability for teamwork and
· Ability to work independently
· Computer and database skills
· Ability to travel to provinces
· Proficiency in written and spoken Pashto, Dari and English
Reasonable Accommodations: MSI is dedicated to hiring an inclusive workforce. If you would like to request reasonable accommodations during the application process, please email MSI.Dept.HRRecruiting@tetratechinc.onmicrosoft.com with “Reasonable Accommodations” in the title. Our recruitment team looks forward to engaging in an interactive process to provide reasonable accommodations for candidates.
Only candidates who have been selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls, please.
MSI is an EEO/AA/ADA Veterans Employer.
To apply: Please visit our website, www.msiworldwide.com
Company Profile:
MSI, a Tetra Tech Company, is a Washington, D.C. metro area international development firm with a 35-year history of delivering development results across the world. Our core expertise is in the fields of monitoring and evaluation (M&E), institutional development, public sector management, governance and anti-corruption. MSI has implemented projects in 90 countries around the world such as Jordan, Kenya, Indonesia, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Colombia and Mexico. As one of the leading companies in our field, MSI has partnered with organizations across all sectors of international development to support clients ranging from large bilateral and multilateral donors such as USAID, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program to national and local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks, foundations and universities. For more information on MSI, please visit our website at www.msiworldwide.com.
