Lead Consultant Vacancy at John Snow Incorporated - UNFPA (Lagos, Anambra & Kano)


Posted on: Tue 18-05-2021

John Snow Incorporated - Beginning with its management of the Nigeria Family Health Initiatives project in 1988, JSI has worked in Nigeria to improve pediatric health care, HIV and AIDS services, and strengthen the health system in-country. To that end, JSI has implemented several major USAID-funded initiatives there, including the Resources for Child Health (REACH) project in the early 1990s and more recently IMMUNIZATION basics, Making Medical Injections Safer (MMIS) project, MEASURE Evaluation, and the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT.

Today, JSI is strengthening health systems through behavior change communications, research and evaluation, strategic planning, and more through the Maternal and Child Survival Program, the vSPRING Nutrition program, and the Malaria in Pregnancy Project. Between 2009 and 2015, JSI’s Targeted States High Impact Project(TSHIP) increased access to maternal, newborn, and reproductive health and family planning services and increased community engagement to improve health outcomes in northern Nigeria’s Sokoto and Bauchi states.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Lead Consultant - Development of National Total Market Approach Strategy for Reproductive Health Commodities in Nigeria

Location: Anambra, Kano and Lagos

Employment Type: Contract

Project: UNFPA Nigeria Project

Period of Performance: May to July 2021

Number of Consultancy Days: 27 days

Project Details

As an essential component of health systems strengthening, JSI, through the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT, SCMS, UNFPA, and Global Fund-financed activities, is helping the Government of Nigeria (GON) strengthen the supply chain for maternal and child health, HIV&AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and family planning commodities. Among its accomplishments, JSI has streamlined distribution systems across commodities and health programs and improved the government’s ability to plan for its commodity needs at both the national level and in a number of states. Our focus on supply chain optimization for HIV commodities, in particular, has unified 12 separate supply chains, reduced costs and improved performance, establishing a model for harmonization and integration across programs. The GON, in concert with the Global Fund, is now seeking to apply this integrated supply chain model across all vertical program commodities. In addition, JSI has provided the thought-leadership and technical assistance to apply private sector best practices at the state level, introducing vendor management inventory (VMI) direct delivery systems in Bauchi and Ebonyi states, and supporting business process reengineering and optimization of the essential drug program in Cross River State.

Background

  • United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies, is the United Nations program dedicated to family planning, and it is the world’s largest provider of donated contraceptives.
  • The program provides technical assistance to countries to strengthen their health systems to provide access to modern contraception.
  • TMA is a concept that aims to provide goods or services sustainably and cost-effectively by using all possible available options of delivery to all segments of the population in need based on their preference and ability or willingness to pay for the said goods or services.
  • It identifies market failures – who/what is failing, how and where it is failing, as well as where to work and how to get there.
  • It looks at the health need, market performance, market structure, and target audience insight. In too many countries, too often, easier to reach urban communities have a relative surfeit of choice of Family Planning (FP) services while rural, harder/difficult – to - reach and marginalized communities have little or no access to FP services.
  • TMA facilitates consensual development and aligns the implementation of a national FP strategy that addresses access and equity imbalances.
  • TMA can be designed to move contraceptive users up the value chain to contribute - based on ability and willingness to pay - an increasing proportion of the costs of their family planning services, thereby, reducing the funding burden and consequently reducing donor dependency and contributing to sustainability.

Specific Tasks

The main objective of the consultancy is to assess the total market of reproductive health commodities in Nigeria and propose which would be suitable for what model of distribution and the target population segment. The specific objectives are to:

  • To develop and work with the set of tools to conduct country-specific situation analyses of the total market for reproductive health commodities in Nigeria.
  • Conduct interviews of Key stakeholders from the private and public sector of RH programming in Nigeria.
  • Conduct a retail assessment of RH commodities in 3 drugs and health commodity markets in Lagos, Kano, and Onitsha.
  • Produce country-specific TMA reports using a standard reporting template-tool that includes:  
  • Identification of country-specific ideal outlets for each commodity/service (specifically assess the suitability of mixing free–to–user public sector commodities with commercial varieties in one outlet)
  • Target population segment, ranging from “free-to-user”, social marketing, and commercial for respective outlets.
  • Analysis of patterns and trends in key TMA indicators, identify key variables for stratification and market segmentation, how to measure wealth, analytical approach for TMA market analysis and estimate the number of FP users based on survey data.
  • Identify the strengths and weaknesses in the RH markets in Nigeria and define anticipated challenges and possible responses during the shifting to and implementation of TMA.
  • Make country-specific policy dialogue/advocacy briefs.
  • Facilitate national consensus-generation meetings on the TMA findings.  
  • Collate inputs from key stakeholders during consensus-generation meetings to develop a draft national TMA strategy document for reproductive health commodities in Nigeria.

Key Deliverables:

  • Submission of the toolkit for landscaping analysis of TMA for RH programming in Nigeria (22nd May 2021)
  • Submission of landscape and stakeholder analysis report (5th June 2021)
  • Submission of total market approach report and PowerPoint presentations for the country TMA consensus meeting (8th July 2021)
  • Presentation of the report from the one-day national TMA consensus meeting. (10th July 2021)
  • Develop draft national strategy document for the implementation of TMA for reproductive health commodities in Nigeria (15th July 2021)

Duration:

The consultancy will not exceed 27 working days spread over a period commencing from 20th of May to 15th of July 2021 (by which all outputs must be completed).

Profile of the Consultant

  • The consultant should have a higher degree (Master’s or PhD) from a recognized University in Public Health, Business Administration, or related social sciences.
  • Should have ten years of progressive experience in public health, with a focus on Reproductive Health, with at least three years at the international/regional level. Experience in both the private and public sectors would be ideal.
  • Experience of having worked on the similar total market or market segmentation projects before. Experience with a social marketing organization an asset.
  • Good written and spoken English.
  • Excellent overall analytical skills as well as quantitative data analysis and interpretation skills.

Application Closing Date

23rd May, 2021.

Method of Application

Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV to: [email protected] using the Job Title as the subject of the email.