Senior National Consultant at Malaria Consortium

Established in 2003, Malaria Consortium is one of the world’s leading non-profit organisations specializing in the prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases among vulnerable populations. Our mission is to save lives and improve health in Africa and Asia, through evidence-based programs that combat targeted diseases and promote universal health coverage.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior National Consultant

Location: Osun
Employment Type: Contract
Timing of Consultancy: Schedule of the assignment (October-November 2024)

Background

• Malaria remains a public health problem despite progress in the last two decades. Even though the overall under-five mortality rate (U5MR) reduced by 15.9 percent, from 157 to 132 per 1000 live births between 2008 and 2018. The reduction in infant mortality rate (IMR) during the same period was 10.7 percent (from 75 to 67 per 1000 live births), with no noticeable change in the neonatal mortality rate over the same period (NDHS 2019).
• Perennial Malaria Prevention (PMC) formerly known as Intermittent Preventive Treatment in infants (IPTi) is the administration of preventive antimalarial drugs to children to provide personal protection against malaria where transmission rates are moderate to high. Despite the WHO recommendation, PMC is not yet recommended as one of the interventions in the Nigerian Malaria Control Policy. Providing evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the intervention at field level will be key for policy uptake.
• Malaria Consortium received funding to carry out an effectiveness-implementation hybrid project on feasibility and effectiveness of PMC in Nigeria. It is aimed at generating the required evidence to inform policy and possible scale up of PMC in Nigeria, and ultimately contribute towards a reduction in under five mortalities in the country. The project – a four-year commitment which became effective on the 1st of November 2020 – will be carried out in Osun state.

Project Goal

• The aim of this project is to generate the required evidence to enhance the adoption of PMC policy and scale up intervention, and ultimately reduce childhood deaths due to malaria in Nigeria.

Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC)

• As part of the intervention of the PMC effect study, social and behavior change communication (SBCC) will be conducted to highlight the importance of taking children for routine immunization. This is aimed at improving awareness of PMC and routine immunization, reinforce its acceptability, instill confidence in the intervention among caregivers & health care workers, and increase demand for routine immunization & PMC. SBCC will be an integral part of the project that will instigate community sensitization and outreach activities for increased PMC demand generation. Key target populations, especially caregivers of children less than two years, including pregnant women and their partners, Ward Development Committee (WDCs), Religious and Traditional leaders.
• The Community dialogue tools (community dialogue flipchart and guide) that will use two-way participatory interpersonal communication to increase community access to contextually appropriate information on malaria, immunization and PMC uptake has been developed. These SBCC materials will also address misconceptions and myths including damaging socio-cultural beliefs. The project intends to train the community mobilizers prior to implementation of the SBCC activities.

Purpose of the Assignment

• The purpose of this assignment is to train community mobilizers on community dialogue for SBCC intervention in Osun state.

Scope of Assignment

• The following activities will be carried out by the consultant.
• Preparation of training materials for facilitating community mobilizers' training
• Facilitate training of trainers (TOT) workshop for community mobilizers training in Osun state.

Specific tasks for consultant:

• Develop a PowerPoint presentation for training community mobilizers at the State and LGA level
• Plan and facilitate training of trainer workshop to build SBCC capacity of community mobilizers
• Submit an overall report of assignment.

Deliverables:

• PowerPoint presentation of community mobilization training
• Pre and post-tests
• Training evaluation
• The overall report of the assignment

Qualifications and experience
Essential:

• Postgraduate Degree in Communication, Social Sciences, Health Promotion or related fields.
• National or state consultancy expertise with at least 10 years’ experience in developing SBCC training guides and design, and pre-testing of SBCC materials/
• At least 10 years’ experience of community engagement, and ideally the community dialogue approach.
• At least 5 years of professional experience in health systems research.
• Experience working on similar assignments in the past.
• Familiarity with the EPI and malaria programs
• Proven experience in writing reports for public health programs or projects in Nigeria or similar developing country context
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills in English, and Yoruba (desirable).
• Excellent analytical, writing, synthesis, communication, facilitation skills and problem-solving skills
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft software for graphic design.

Desired:

• Extensive knowledge of the Nigerian public health sector.
• A proven ability to work as part of a team and to be self-managing.
• Experience in setting up and facilitating training with stakeholders.
• Ability to work with little or no supervision.
• Good writing and reporting skills.
• Good presentation skills.
• Proven academic experience, including pieces of research, publications, and written reports.

Application Closing Date
28th October, 2024.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note
Applicants who do not follow this specification will be disqualified:

• Only Shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and as a result, the process may conclude before the advertised deadline. Therefore, early applications are highly encouraged.
• Malaria Consortium does not accept or ask for payment during recruitment. We also would not accept hardcopy CVs; all applications should be sent through the above link.