The Ministry of Health and Sanitation prioritizes family planning as an important contributor to national development, enhancing economic growth and improving maternal and child health outcomes.

Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal, infant and child mortality rates in the world. Teenage pregnancy is also high, with 21% of women between 15-19 years having started childbearing. Although there has been a decrease in the total fertility rate from 4.9 in 2013 to 4.2 in 2019 (SLDHS 2019), it is necessary to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted and that the family is economically capable of caring for the child.

At global level, Sierra Leone has committed to improving the uptake of family planning as part of the FP 2020 initiative. The country also has a costed implementation plan for family planning (2018-2022). However, there is no existing national family planning policy and strategy to guide family planning services. With the emergence of new contraceptive methods and devices, the adoption of self-care interventions, and emerging cadres of healthcare workers as a result of task shifting, it has become necessary to develop a national policy that would guide service providers on where and how family planning services can be delivered and by whom. This is essential for implementing effective family planning services across the country as one of the contributors to achieving UHC. The policy would then inform the development of a national strategy that would address the improvement of family planning service delivery and uptake with a set target for the national modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) over the next five years.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The overall purpose of this consultancy is to work with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone to develop the National Family Planning Policy and Strategy

DUTIES:

The principal role of the consultant will be to facilitate and coordinate the development of the National Family Planning Policy and Strategy. This process will be led by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and supported by a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders from government NGOs, bilateral and multilateral partners working in the SRHR domain in Sierra Leone. The duties of the consultant are as follows:

a) Conduct a landscape analysis to review the extent to which existing national documents can support the development of the Family Planning Policy and Strategy.

b) Engage with and guide the national family planning TWG to develop the family planning policy and strategy.

c) Conduct stakeholder mapping to ensure all key players (including the private sector, regulatory bodies, partners, NGOs) are involved in developing the policy and strategy.

d) Conduct stakeholder meeting to validate the draft policy and strategy

DELIVERABLES:

Report of landscape analysis. Report indicating the key stakeholders required to be engaged in the development of family planning Policy and Strategy. Draft of the validated Family planning Policy and Strategy A narrative consultancy report of the process followed for developing the family planning policy and strategy

TECHNICAL SUPERVISION

The consultant will complete the work under the overall guidance of the WHO Representative to the Sierra Leone Country Office and direct supervision of the WCO Basic Package of Essential Services Coordinator in close collaboration with the Programme Manager of Reproductive Health and Family Planning MOHS and WCO Technical Officer RH.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

Essential:

Master’s degree in public health or other related advanced university degrees in health / social sciences.

Desirable:

Professional degree in Sexual and Reproductive Health

WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an accredited institution. The list can be accessed through this link: http://www.whed.net/

Experience:

Essential:

• At least 7 years of experience working in Sexual and Reproductive Health programmes in the Africa region.

• Proof of experience working on family planning – with a focus on the development of guidelines, frameworks, policies, strategies for family planning implementation

Desirable:

• Experience working with WHO, other UN agencies, national/international organizations would be an asset

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

Essential:

• Excellent writing skills

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

• Ability to work under pressure in a multicultural team and to keep to strict deadlines

WHO Competencies REQUIRED

• Teamwork

• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

• Communication

• Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond