Individual Consultant to develop a National Hygiene Promotion Strategy and approach for Madagascar, 90 working days, Home-based, Madagascar

Contract

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Background and Purpose

In Madagascar, only 23% of people have a hand washing device with soap and water present. Significant disparities exist because the access rate is 39% for urban areas against 19% for rural areas. Even more glaring is the disparity by level of wealth, with only 3% of the poorest quintile having access to soap and water (MICS Madagascar 2018). It is also worth noting that between 2012 (ENSOMD) and 2018 (MICS-6), in urban areas there has been a substantial decrease in access to WASH in general where the access to hygiene decreased from 10% to 20%. In a context where already 42% of children under five are malnourished lack of hand hygiene continues to sustain the vicious cycle of dirrhea and related diseases including chronic malnutrition.

The COVID-19 pandemic reminded the pivotal role of hand hygiene in protecting people and preventing the transmission of the virus. In this context hand hygiene is essential in all settings; households, public places, institutions, etc. Hence to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 by 2030, accelerating the acess to sustianbale handwashing services is citical. The momentum created as a result of the pandemic facilitated Madagascar to position handwashing as a social norm. Ensuring access to sustainable hand hygiene products and services such as improved handwashing facilities, regular supply of water, soap and hand sanitizers need further interventions. A multi-faceted approach including the participation of private sectors, civil society organisations, academia, donors, community leaders etc. has become a pre-requisite in this challenged situation.

Hence, the Government of Madagascar plans to develop a national handwashing strategy to promote equitable and sustainable handwashing practice in the country.

In this light, to support Ministry of Water and Sanitation to develop National Hygiene Strategy and Costed Implementation Plan in Madagascar for 2022-2030 an external support is needed. This requires a dedicated full-time expert who understands international practices and emerging trends in the sub-sector.

Justification

The main purpose of the assignment is to support the Ministry of Water and Sanitation in Madagascar to develop a National Hand Hygiene Strategy with Costed Implementation Plan covering both development and emergency contexts. This demands a dedicated full-time expert with an expertise and knowledge on international practices and the global emerging trends in the sub-sector. An external support is therefore needed to accomplish this assignment which is in line with AWP Output 1, activities 1.4 and 1.5.

How can you make a difference?

Objectives

GENERAL OBJETIVE :

The main objective of this consultancy is to support Ministry of Water and Sanitation to develop a comprehensive National Hand Hygiene Strategy and costed implementation plan for Madagascar for the period of 2021-2030. The strategy and implementation plan will outline specific targets to be reached within the time frame.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES :

Establishing a clear country strategy and implementation guidelines and standards that are endorsed to be used nationwide and in different settings (households/community; schools and health care facilities) and locations (urban, rural) including both development and emergency context for hand hygiene.

Special attention is to be paid to ensure that the document bridges the COVID-19 response and the mid- and long-term national development plans on hand hygiene including infection prevention control (IPC) ;

i. A resource mobilization strategy (from donors and other partners) and government allocations.

ii. Recommendations on market-based solutions on innovative hygiene products and business solutions based on information around household level acceptance/ willingness to pay and current hand hygiene practice.

iii. Enhancing hygiene education by identifying suitable approaches for hygiene promotion.

iv. Recommendations for effective coordination (national, district; households, schools and health face facilities) and strategic positioning of hygiene in different sectors (Education, Health, Nutrition, WASH) in Madagascar, and relevant roles and responsibilities of relevant departments and authorities of government and partners.

v. Monitoring tool to enable track progress on access to hygiene.

vi. Communities of practice that brings together diverse stakeholders to discuss innovations and best practices on hygiene.

Activities and Tasks

• Conduct a review on global, regional and national documents, including recent national hygiene strategies, developed in similar settings, which have taken into account recent health pandemics and climatic emergencies to develop a synthesis of existing and current hygiene information for better positioning of hygiene across different sectors, government and developing partners.
• Conduct analysis of hand hygiene financing landscape and develop a resource mobilization strategy.
• Engage in wide consultations and discussions with various key actors including line ministries (Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Health, etc), UN agencies, key donors and other major bilateral stakeholders, Private Sector, Research and Development actors and NGOs, both at national and sub-national levels including discussions at household level to understand the willingness to pay and current hand hygiene practice to gather information that could better contextualize the Strategy.
• Develop a draft national hygiene strategy and costed implementation plan. The plan should clearly indicate innovative and market-based approaches and solutions to accelerate access to hygiene. It should have a clear systhesis of hygiene education and promotion approaches including actionable recommendations. It should focus on key hygiene aspects including hand hygiene for all. The Draft Strategy will be presented by the Consultant in a formal consultation workshop with key stakeholders for inputs. Afterwards incorporating the inputs in the draft plan, the consultant will present the final strategy in another formal consultation workshop with the key stakeholders for validation.
• Analyse the feasibility of advocating / replicating recommednations from the Soap VAT exemption study made by CBA where the increase of handwashing practice was estimated to range from 29 % to 35%.
• Recommend a monitoring tool to enable track progress on access to hygiene.
• Provide technical support to roll out in the road map and the monitoring and evaluation tool, including training of sector stakeholders.

Methodology

This assignment requires extensive consultation with stakeholders from various sectors. She/he will report to the Chief of WASH on a bi-weekly basis to ensure easy coordination of activities and timely resolution of challenges that may emerge. She/he will, together with WASH Specialist and Ministry of Water and Sanitation, hold regular planning and monthly review meetings.

The consultant will facilitate a validation and a wrap-up meeting with key sanitation and hygiene stakeholders.

The scope of the assignment will also require the consultant to collaborate with UNICEF Communication for Development, Health and Nutrition and Education teams.

The duration of this contract will be for a total of 90 days over the period of 5 months starting from 1 October 2021 till 31 January 2021.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Public Health or a field relevant to international WASH related development assistance. Additional training in Health Education or Communication for Development (Programme Communication) is an asset. *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in the WASH Sector, in developing contexts.
• Previous experience in supporting countries in developing WASH related policies, strategies and implementation plans.
• Familiarity with SDGs, the hand hygiene for all initiative and other related global trends and priorities, most up-to-date country experiences.
• Strong analytical, writing and communication skills.
• High standard of written and verbal English an French language skills.
• Familiarity with the local social and cultural context is highly recommended.
• Fluency in English and in French are required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Terms of references.docx

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.