United Republic of Tanzania: Support Development of a Strategy on Regional Nutrition Forum and Knowledge Sharing for the East, Central and Southern…

Organization: Nutrition International
Country: United Republic of Tanzania
Closing date: 09 Sep 2018

Background

Technical Assistance for Nutrition (TAN) is a project supported by UK aid from the UK government, which seeks to improve the capacity of SUN countries to design, deliver, and track the progress of nutrition programs and to generate, learn from and adopt knowledge of what works. Nutrition International is contributing to TAN by coordinating the provision of technical assistance to help national SUN focal points in select countries to overcome gaps in capacity for the design and delivery of multi-sectoral national nutrition plans, tapping into its global hub to source and deploy the expertise needed and to generate, learn from and adopt knowledge of what works.

The East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) is an intergovernmental organization that was established in 1974 to foster cooperation in health in the region. Its mandate is to promote and encourage efficiency and relevance in the provision of health services through advocacy, capacity building, coordination, inter-sectoral collaboration, and harmonization of health policies and programs. The nine active member states of the ECSA-HC are Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Apart from the 9 member states, ECSA-HC has been working with other countries located in the East and Southern Africa region including Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Seychelles, Namibia and Somalia to address the health challenges in the region. ECSA-HC works within the mandate given by the Conference of Health Ministers’ and member states. Through the cluster of Non Communicable Diseases, Food Security and Nutrition (NFSN), ECSA-HC taps into regional and international expertise to promote sharing of experiences and best practices, identifying priorities, building capacity of member states and advocating for improved policies and programmes that contributes to the reduction of the burden of malnutrition in the region.

Since the launch of Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) movement, 8 out of 9 ECSA-HC member states have joined. These countries are: Eswatini, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Countries in the region have also developed multi-sectoral nutrition policies, strategies and plans in addition to implementing a number of nutrition specific as well as sensitive actions to tackle the existing nutrition challenges. Undernutrition, increasing overweight and obesity rates in both children and adults, stunting prevalence of (>20%) in 8 of the countries and micronutrient deficiency in children under five and pregnant and lactating women are still public health concerns of particular interest. Countries in the region continue to make good progress; for example, both Kenya and Lesotho are working towards the establishment of nutrition Multi Sector Platform (MSP) ¹ Despite these and many other successes, the burden of malnutrition in the region, remains high. While some countries are on track, others are lagging behind in the implementation of nutrition actions. This could be attributed to limited repackaging, sharing of good practices and scaling up of knowledge, lessons and evidence resulting from implementation of these actions among countries within the region. Thus, nutrition coordination and knowledge management are identified as important aspects in addition to continued political will and prioritization of nutrition on all agendas.

Through this TA support, it is envisioned that by creating a strategy for holding a regional nutrition forum and identifying a framework to mobilize resources, this will help bridge the above gap and will facilitate learning between member states and subsequently foster increased collaboration and knowledge management in support of addressing common regional nutrition challenges and scaling up nutrition.

Objectives of the TA

Overall objective

The overall purpose of this TA is to provide short term support for the development of a strategy including resource mobilization framework for the ECSA-HC annual learning events. The strategy will include a proposed action plan responsive to the ECSA-HC’s strategic vision, objectives, and results-orientation.

Specific objectives

1. To review existing country specific food and nutrition security policies; identify gaps and areas of synergy for scaling up multi-sectoral nutrition programmes that can be resolved through regional knowledge sharing platform;

2. To develop a detailed strategy for improved synergy on scaling up multi-sectoral nutrition programmes through annual learning forums including a donor/ development partner/ government engagement plan with key contact persons including a detailed risk matrix and;

3. To identify other funding opportunities internationally, regionally and locally and provide recommendations for next steps.

Expectations

This technical assistance is expected to contribute significantly to the initiation of regional nutrition forum and knowledge sharing platforms within ECSA-HC regions. The main outcome will be enhanced planning, prioritization, financing and coordination of multi-sectoral nutrition interventions within the region.

Specifically, the TA support will:

1. Generate lessons on the effectiveness of the multi-sectoral nutrition coordination through the regional platform.

2. Develop strategy in facilitating resource mobilization for nutrition coordination and knowledge sharing among countries in the region.

Scope of Work

The consultant will be expected to undertake the following activities and produce the listed deliverables:

Specific objective 1: To review existing country specific food and nutrition security policies; identify gaps and areas of synergy for scaling up multi-sectoral nutrition programmes that can be resolved through regional knowledge sharing platform.

Activities

· Summarize the overall goals and activities of the assignment, including deliverables in this contract, through consultation with ECSA and Nutrition International.

· Conduct a desk review of food and nutrition security policies and identify the barriers hindering scaling-up multi-sectoral nutrition programme in ECSA countries.

· Review the vision, goal and objectives of existing food and nutrition policies in the ECSA countries and identify potential opportunities to effectively influence scaling-up multi-sectoral nutrition programmes.

· Based on the above task, prepare at least 3 case studies to show case theory of change for an effective influence on multi-sectoral nutrition policies and programs drawing on lessons learned from any of the 13 countries.

Deliverables:

· Detailed methodology and work plan for the TA.

· Inception workshop with ECSA-HC and key stakeholders held

· Stakeholder consultation report submitted.

· Report on the policy review

· Case studies.

Specific objective 2: To develop a detailed strategy for improved synergy on scaling up multi-sectoral nutrition programmes through annual learning forums including a donor/ development partner/ government engagement plan with key contact persons including a detailed risk matrix

Activities

· Desk review of ECSA-HC strategy, work plan, funding model, and pipeline of interventions to better understand the needs and desired outcome.

· Conduct a comprehensive analysis of potential donors to assess the feasibility of securing multi-year and thematic funding.

· Map nutrition and food security donors, development partners, governments’ strategic areas of interest and explore opportunities for partnerships (and mobilizing and leveraging resources).

· Develop a plan for pursuing new donors (traditional and non-traditional) and obtaining funding for the ECSA-HC work.

· Develop objectives for fundraising, methods, tactics and focus (bilateral, private sector, public funding, foundations)

· Recommend ways to develop and maintain strategic partnerships and engagement with key donors (past, present and future).

Deliverables

· Status report on comprehensive analysis of potential donors.

· Strategy for annual learning forums including a donor/ development partner/ government engagement plan with resource mobilization and risk matrix; developed and validated.

Specific objective 3: To identify other funding opportunities internationally, regionally and locally and provide recommendations for next steps.

Activities

· Together with ECSA-HC, identify other funding platforms.

· Provide recommendations for sustaining resource mobilization towards the continuation of the regional nutrition coordination forum and knowledge management platforms following completion of this TA.

· Dissemination of recommendations to the ECSA's DJCC, HMC and other platforms

Deliverables:

· Status report on other funding platforms

· Final report including recommendations of next steps.

Use of deliverables

The deliverables under this TA will be primarily used by ECSA-HC, Ministries of Health and Nutrition and Dietetics Units/institutions of the member countries. Specifically the deliverables will be used as below:

1. To create a strategy that will be used in the setting up of regular nutrition coordination forum and knowledge sharing platform.

2. Identify potential donors of the regional nutrition forum and knowledge sharing platform.

3. Better coordination and execution of multi-sectoral nutrition programmes within ECSA region.

Duty Station/Location

The consultant will be based at ECSA-HC for activities that require physical presence e.g. stakeholder consultations and meetings. The consultant will also be expected to travel to selected countries for data collection and engagement with SUN Focal Points. When travel is not required, the consultant can work remotely from home country.

Timeline

This TA support would be for 140 days, spread over 9 months, from November 2018 to July 2019. Specific Level of Effort (LoE) will be agreed upon in consultation with ECSA and NI.

Management and Reporting/Coordination mechanism

1. The Manager NCDs, Food Security and Nutrition at ECSA HC will be the contact person for purposes of coordinating this assignment. The Director General is responsible for approving the final product and any other matters related to the consultancy.

2. NI will provide the funding for the assignment, and payment will be subject to performance and reaching deliverables as agreed upon at the moment of contract signing.

3. Nutrition International will be responsible for the coordination of technical guidance and quality assurance of the work being delivered by the Consultant

Nutrition International is committed to gender equality. Consultants are required to indicate how they will ensure that gender equality considerations are included in the provision of TA including deliverables. To support this, NI has developed the below listed tools. Examples of integration of consideration for gender equality could include, but are not limited to; ensuring government departments responsible for women are included in discussions and decision making wherever possible, gender sensitive indicators are included, emerging data is sex disaggregated, and relevant documentation related to gender is reviewed.

• Checklist – Integration of gender considerations

• Background document « Gender and nutrition »

• PowerPoint presentation « Gender 101 »

Profile/qualifications of the consultant

Education

Post graduate degree in Health, Nutrition, Public Health, Social Sciences or related field.

Professional Experience:

· More than 10 years’ experience in international development and/or the design, managing of nutrition or health related programmes.

· Familiarity with nutrition programs or initiatives in ECSA region or other parts of Africa.

· Experience in working with government institutions, public service, international organisations or equivalent.

• Excellent communication, analytical and writing skills.

· Strong client handling and analytical thinking skills, including the ability to work confidently across a variety of stakeholders and levels.

· Prior engagement working with the SUN movement an added advantage

· Strong facilitation and capacity development skills

• Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines.

Language Skills

· Fluency in written and spoken English is mandatory NI is committed to the fundamental principles of equal employment opportunity. Women are encouraged to apply.

How to apply:

Application Process

Interested candidates are invited to submit the following by email to TechnicalAssistance@nutritionintl.org before close of business 7th September 2018 EST (Ottawa, Canada).

• Up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV).
• Technical proposal: not exceeding ten (10) pages, describing the consultant’s understanding of the task, proposed methodology, responsibilities of key stakeholders and detailed work plan that breaks down activities and deliverables with associated timelines. Applicants are requested to indicate the Level of Effort (LoE) for each activity. Financial proposal: including daily fee rate, costed TA activities e.g. workshops including suggested number of trips/days in-country and any other expenses required to fulfill the terms of the consultancy (meetings, materials, etc.
• NB: Submissions without technical and financial proposals will not be reviewed.