A national consultant to develop a tool kit for Respectful care and effective communication Consultant

Consultant Medical & Health Programme & Policy

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, care

Respectful care refers to the provision of healthcare services that prioritize patients' autonomy, choices, rights, preferences, and values, while treating them with empathy, and compassion. It involves acknowledging and understanding the cultural, religious, and social beliefs of patients, and providing care that is free from discrimination, bias, and judgment. It also means ensuring that patients have access to timely and appropriate care, and that their privacy and confidentiality are always respected.

Scientific evidence is available on the positive impact of promoting and improving provision of respectful on health outcomes through increased patient engagement in their own care, reduced stress, improved trust and communication between patients and providers as well as increased client satisfaction. Despite this body of evidence, care provided at different levels of the system continues to be plagued by disrespect and abuse, ranging from emotional, physical and in extreme cases sexual. Such findings have been documented in studies of recipients of labor and delivery care as well as of outpatient health care services in Tanzania. To address this, several initiatives have been undertaken, including the development of national guiding documents like the "Respectful and Compassionate Care Guideline”, and implementation of the Beyond Bias model for adolescent sexual and reproductive health services. The majority of these initiatives have been vertical, addressing certain subpopulations receiving specific interventions or care.

To reduce the siloed approaches where specific guidance is developed for specific target groups and disease programs in Primary Health Care, UNICEF is supporting the development of an integrated respectful care and effective communication tool kit based on already existing guidelines and implementation experience in Tanzania for day-to-day practice.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work:

The overall aim of this consultancy is to develop a tool kit for respectful care and effective communication and train master trainers, in close collaboration and under the leadership of the directorate of Nursing and Midwifery services of the Ministries of Health in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar respectively. The tool kit should be developed for use in everyday practice by health workers in PHC facilities and will include aspects such as privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, and the encouragement of autonomy in decision-making. To illustrate respectful care in action, and to promote in-facility training, the toolkit will incorporate real-life case studies and examples of best practices. These practical examples will serve as valuable inspiration and guidance for healthcare workers in their day-to-day interactions. Effective communication strategies will include communication techniques including active listening practices, empathy-building, and strategies to address challenging situations.

The detailed scope of work will include:

1. Design methodology and time frame for the assignment including how and when to engage stakeholders.

2. Comprehensive desk review and comparison of existing documents – guidelines and training materials - for respectful care and effective communication.

3. Literature review of published studies and grey literature on respectful care and effective communication interventions, approaches and evaluations in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar.

4. Conduct and analyze qualitative data from Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) on perceptions of respectful care and effective communication.

5. Develop the first draft of the respectful care and effective communication tool kit drawing on desk and literature reviews and qualitative assessment and incorporating gender aspects.

6. Pretest the tool in purposively selected facilities and villages/Streets in mainland and Zanzibar.

7. Present the draft tool kit to stakeholders in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar for technical validation before finalization.

8. Develop the final version of respectful care and effective communication tool kit.

9. Train master trainers on the use of the tool kit in line with its dissemination.

WORK ASSIGNMENT, DELIVERABLES, TIME FRAME AND PAYMENT

WORK ASSIGNMNET

DELIVERABLES

TIME FRAME

PAYMENT IN %

Inception: Outlining methodology and approach for the assignment, interview guide, relevant framework and data analysis methods, and timeline.

Inception report

10th Sept 2023

10%

Report from the desk review and KII and FGDs: Key issues found from the existing respectful care work as well as the beyond bias with involvement and engagement of the directorate of nursing and midwifery services (DNMS), SMI, IPs and community members

Desk review and KII report

1st Nov 2023

15%

Draft of the respectful and dignified care tool kit: based on the findings from the desk review, KII and FGDs, develop the first draft of the toolkit.

Draft 1 of the respectful and dignified care tool kit

1st Dec 2023

10%

Pretest of the respective and dignified care toolkit: Purposely select facilities and communities, pre-test the toolkit & collate feedback/results of the pre-test

Pre-test report

10th Jan 2024

10%

Develop a revised draft of the toolkit incorporating findings from the field.

Draft 2 of the respectful and dignified care tool kit

1st Feb 2024

20%

Validate the revised draft: Present the revised draft of the tool kit to stakeholders, collate feedback to inform the final draft

Report of the validation meeting

10th Feb 2024

5%

Final draft of the respectful care and effective communication care toolkit based on the comments from the validation meetings with key stakeholders.

Final version of respectful and dignified care tool kit

20th Feb 2024

20%

Training of master trainers on the PHC toolkit for respectful care and effective communication

Report from training of master trainers and power-point presentation developed for the training

31st March 2024

10%

TOTAL

100%

PAYMENT SCHEDULE. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/output is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines

ASSESSMENT / SELECTION PROCESS AND METHODS Evaluations: The applicant should submit both technical and financial proposal which clearly stipulate how the work will be conducted. The Financial Proposal should include all costs of this assignment including fee, travel costs, accommodation as UNICEF will not pay any DSA.

Proposals will be both technically and financially evaluated. The technical part will carry a weight of 75%, in which the consultant will put clear his/her technical approach to ensure quality attainment of each deliverable and the consultancy in totality. The financial part will carry 25% showing the proposed budget breakdown of consultancy cost for each deliverable (fees, travels and accommodation) and eventual total consultancy cost.

LOCATION, DURATION & LOGISTIC The consultant will operate remotely.

The validity of the contract will be for 7 months. The consultant will be required to travel to Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, and Zanzibar.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in medical anthropology, public health, social sciences, quality of care, primary health care or other relevant field 8-10 years of relevant experience of working on respectful care, effective communication, or social behavioral change in the Tanzanian health system
• Experience in stakeholder engagement and communication at both, national and sub-national levels, including with front-line health care providers
• Research experience of collecting and analyzing qualitative data
• Research experience of literature review and content analysis of guidelines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent project management skills, including time and deliverables management
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Swahili is required

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

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Added 10 months ago - Updated 10 months ago - Source: unicef.org