Private Sector Specialist Consultant

The scope of Work for a Short-Term Private Sector Specialist Consultant:

Evaluation of the Nepal CRS Company and the Ghar Ghar Maa Swaasthya (GGMS) Project

1. Background

Since its inception as a project in 1976, the Nepal CRS Company (CRS) has been the key social marketing partner to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and a leading supplier of family planning (FP) products in Nepal. In addition, CRS has been implementing the USAID-funded Ghar Ghar Maa Swaasthya (GGMS) project since it was originally launched in 2010 and when USAID extended it for five years in 2015. The GGMS project is intended to improve the health of disadvantaged populations in Nepal by improving accessibility, availability, and use of health goods and services through the use of social marketing and social franchising techniques. Within the GGMS project, the Remote Area Initiative (RAI) targets districts targets particularly hard-to-reach rural areas. The 2015-2020 GGMS project is also intended to improve CRS’s own institutional strength and independence. During the period of implementation, CRS has been supported by technical assistance organizations. FHI360 provided support from 2010 through 2015 and SHOPS Plus has provided support from 2015 through 2020.

The USAID-funded Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) Plus project (2016-2020) is helping CRS strengthen its institutional capacity. In addition, SHOPS Plus is organizing an evaluation of the GGMS project. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess CRS’s performance in implementing the GGMS project and to inform USAID/Nepal about possible future directions for programming of social marketing in Nepal. Specifically, the evaluation will assess three areas:

1. CRS’s performance in reaching GGMS project objectives and CRS’s overall contribution to FP provision in Nepal and to national strategies.
2. The impact of GGMS and CRS activities in the private health sector, including the level of private sector engagement under GGMS, how CRS may have contributed to growing the total market for health products and services, and whether there are opportunities for more public-private partnerships.
3. Future opportunities for developing the private health sector in general and integrating social marketing in a private health sector strategy.

Given SHOPS Plus’s close involvement with CRS in implementing GGMS, SHOPS Plus is seeking three short-term external consultants to conduct each of the three components of the evaluation listed above. This scope of work details the purpose, tasks, deliverables, timeline, and qualifications for a Private Sector Specialist to conduct the first component.

2. Purpose and Tasks

Under this short-term consultancy, the Private Sector Specialist will assess the second area of the GGMS evaluation. Sample questions that the Consultant will answer include:

• How have GGMS social marketing activities contributed to the expansion of or improvement in the quality of the private health sector in Nepal? Have GGMS activities helped to grow a sustainable commercial market for the provision of specific health products and services?
• What resources or contributions, if any, has CRS leveraged from the private health sector? Have media companies given the project concessionary rates? Have the distributors, wholesalers and retailers contributed time or resources?
• Have CRS/GGMS activities (advocacy, promotion, training, supervisions, etc.) contributed to improving the quality of products and/or services in the private health sector?
• Has the social marketing program had any negative impacts on the private health sector such as crowding out of commercial suppliers or discouraging investment in markets due to their dominant market position?
• Have any CRS/GGMS activities contributed to improving the organization of the private health sector? For example, has the project strengthened any private provider organizations or established new organizations or networks of private providers to help them improve practices or engage with the government?
• Have social marketing product subsidies been well targeted to consumer groups who most needed them?
• Are there some socially marketed products for which subsidies should be reduced or phased-out to allow for greater commercial sector provision?

In order to answer evaluation questions, the Private Sector Specialist will complete the following tasks in collaboration with two other consultants:

1. Prepare an evaluation plan, including specific methodological approaches (e.g. key informant interviews, data analysis) and documentation protocol;
2. Conduct evaluation in alignment with approved evaluation plan;
3. Prepare a draft evaluation report;
4. Respond to SHOPS Plus comments and submit a final report;
5. Participate in bi-weekly calls with SHOPS Plus to discuss the implementation of the evaluation.

3. Deliverables and Timeline

The consultant is expected to use 30 days of labor between January 24 and April 5, 2019 to complete the above tasks and produce the deliverables outlined below.

4. Qualifications

Preferred qualifications for the Private Sector Specialist include the following:

• Proven experience and expertise in private sector health, including experience analyzing private health systems and/or conducting policy and advocacy work around private health sector reforms;
• Familiarity with quality improvement/assurance systems for the private sector, private health sector financing techniques, public-private partnerships, and private health sector engagement strategies;
• Fluent in written and verbal English.

The CV and a cover letter should be sent to Gopal_Bhujel@abtassoc.com by January 4, 2019 .