Consultant

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USAID-Health for Life Project is seeking Consultant to Further Analysis of Nepal Health Facility Survey, 2015 Data for the USAID-Health for Life (H4L) Project financed by USAID and working primarily in coordination with the Government of Nepal’s Ministry of Health (MoH). As a result, Health for Life Project has a significant national presence to support the testing and roll-out of national-level policies, guidelines and programs. In addition to the national focus, the Project covers 12 districts in the Mid-Western Development Region; 3 in the Western; one each in the Eastern, Central and Far-Western Regions; and in 10 (Dolakha, Dhading, Gorkha, Kavre, Makwanpur, Nuwakot, Ramechhap, Rasuwa, Sindhuli and Sindhupalchowk) most earthquake affected districts to strengthen district and village health systems and help identify and implement best practices. H4L collaborates with a wide range of stakeholders, including academic and research institutions, training centers, media partners and civil society.

The primary goal of Health for Life (H4L) is to strengthen the Government of Nepal’s capacity to plan, manage and deliver high-quality and equitable family planning, maternal, newborn, and child health services.  H4L activities directly address key health system constraints in the following areas: local health systems governance, data for decision making and evidence-based policy development, human resources management, quality improvement systems, and knowledge and behavior change. 

The NHFS, 2015 revealed gaps in knowledge around key elements of health service provision and quality of care that could not be addressed without further analysis of the data beyond what had already been completed for the final report. The purpose of this analysis is to improve the quality of care in government programs based on the findings. It is expected that the relevant stakeholders will benefit from the findings. Some of the issues for further analysis were raised by participants in national dissemination seminars. It was thus deemed important that further analysis be undertaken in an effort to fill the gaps.

This Consultant position will be based in Kathmandu, Nepal.  

Responsibilities:

• The consultant will work closely with the Health for Life project’s Quality Improvement (QI) team. The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:
• Review the report, variables and dataset of the NHFS, particularly as related to quality of care of ANC, FP and IMCI services – 2 days
• Coordinate with the QI team to prepare and finalize the analysis plan based on the variables identified by the consultant and Health for Life (Table 1) – 2 days
• Conduct further analysis, using appropriate statistical tests with disaggregation for facility type, facility managing authority, region, qualifications of the provider and sex of the provider, wherever possible and compile the findings, in coordination with the QI team  – 10 days
• Prepare a report and presentation, and assist to finalize those by incorporating comments from the QI team  – 6 days 

Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in Epidemiology, Statistics, Public Health or other related areas with at least 3 years of experience in research in Low Middle Income Country
• Intermediate to advanced level skills of data analysis 
• Proven experience of writing manuscripts and articles
• Preferably a STATA user
• In-depth understanding of Nepal’s health systems at district and sub-district levels, including service delivery, readiness, quality assurance, access and utilization

To Apply:

Qualified applicants should submit a resume with contact information to Operations Manager, Health for Life (H4L), P. O. Box: 3172, Lalitpur, Nepal or email: marora@rti.org with “Consultant” in the subject line.  Deadline is 15 August 2017; however, applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Telephone inquiry will not be entertained.