Public Health Specialist Consultant

The scope of Work for a Short-Term Public Health 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 Nepali Public Health Specialist to conduct the first component.

2. Purpose and Tasks

Under this short-term consultancy, the Nepali Public Health Specialist will assess the third area of the GGMS evaluation. Sample questions that the consultant will answer include:

• What can CRS do to improve the organization of the private health sector? Are there existing associations or organizations that can provide leadership and representation of private health providers that would benefit from institutional support?
• Are there private provider networks that CRS can strengthen and/or expand through social franchising in order to improve quality, expand access, and create an association of members capable of engaging the government in policy dialogue?
• What regulatory bodies need to do more to improve the quality of products and services in Nepal? What investments or activities are needed to bring this about?
• What is needed to promote more private sector engagement by the public sector and more constructive dialogue between the public and private health sectors?
• Are there health financing strategies (other than supply-side subsidies) which could help to make private sector services more accessible and serve as an incentive to improving quality standards?
• What new products or service areas would benefit from social marketing activities to create demand and build viable commercial markets?
• What opportunities are there for potential partnerships between commercial product or service suppliers and social marketing programs to generate demand and make the products or services more accessible?
• What government entities (national or provincial) could lead total market strategies for key health products and services?  Which health products and services are most in need of better coordination and segmentation strategies to improve market efficiency and equity?

In order to answer evaluation questions, the Public Health 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 consultant include the following:

• Nepali national with extensive experience in public health in Nepal and understanding of the health system and national health strategies and programs;
• Private health sector experience strongly preferred, including demonstrated understanding of the governance and regulatory environment impacting the private health sector;
• Fluent in written and verbal Nepali;
• Highly proficient in written and verbal English.

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