Background
WHO ARE WE
Founded in 1979, Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger.
Our mission is to save the lives of severely malnourished children while helping communities become self-sufficient. Recognized as a global leader in the fight against malnutrition, Action Against Hunger has pursued its vision of a world without hunger for nearly four decades, fighting hunger in emergencies of conflict, natural disaster and chronic food insecurity. With more than 8,000 employees in nearly 50 countries, our nutrition, food security, livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene programs reach more than 20 million people every year.
The Global Nutrition Cluster Technical Alliance (GNC Technical Alliance), hosted by Action Against Hunger Canada, is a technical assistance platform that responds to technical requests, leveraging resources, capacities, initiatives and existing nutrition coordination structures. The Alliance supports practitioners by providing the following services:
Access to high quality information, capacity building resources, advice and learning curated by specialists and global nutrition agencies.
Where guidance is limited, timely access to interim consensus guidance on emerging technical issues in humanitarian nutrition, including guidance on program adaptation.
Access to experienced nutrition technical specialists to answer questions or provide more in-depth support (remotely or in-country).
The Moderate Wasting Initiative (MWI) within the GNC Technical Alliance aims to address the challenges faced by nutrition actors to access and use feasible, effective and innovative solutions to address to moderate wasting in children under five on a large scale. It will seek to support the development of programmatic solutions to manage moderate wasting at scale through a range of contextualized options, including the current standard of traditional SFP with the provision of specialized nutritious foods for those in need. . There are about 50 million wasted children in the world, and about 66% or 33 million are moderately wasted. Yet services for these children are woefully inadequate, with only about 16.6% of moderately malnourished children accessing treatment services. To further complicate the situation, there are currently no consistent global guidelines on the management of moderate wasting.
The goal of the MWI is to find feasible and replicable processes and solutions for scaling up the management of moderate wasting through testing approaches to help practitioners design context-appropriate programs. This objective is meant to be achieved by creating a space for government and key stakeholders to discuss trends, coverage and management gaps in the management of moderate wasting, as well as to identify options for closing these gaps. . The aim is to co-create and test an approach and tools to support practitioners through a process of designing contextually appropriate solutions to scale up the management of moderate wasting in 2-3 settings.
Recently, UNICEF, in partnership with IRC, ACF and Save the Children in Madagascar, embarked on a process to identify challenges in scaling up acute malnutrition services with a view to improve early detection and treatment. The survey focused on two issues: (1) insufficient operationalization of the continuum of care between severe and moderate malnutrition care services; and (2) simplified approaches that have not been studied on a large scale in Madagascar. The key question the partnership wanted to answer was: What proposals, system adaptation and monitoring/research should the country put in place? A workshop bringing together key stakeholders identified a roadmap to move forward the recommendations and adaptations that were identified as high priorities. The MWI aims to solve a problem identified by the process, namely the lack of sufficient products to treat moderate malnutrition according to the traditional protocol. The roadmap highlighted the need to conduct operational research and pilot alternative approaches to fill gaps in treatment services for moderate wasting, and ensure capitalization of results.
Objective
Action Against Hunger Canada is looking for one (1) National Consultant who is available from September 1, 2023 for 4 months. The objective of this position is to support the start-up processes of L'MWI in Madagascar. The candidate will support the coordination and implementation of key aspects of piloting the initiative in Madagascar.
Description of service
It is essential that the processes undertaken within the framework of this consultation are in line with the national nutrition agenda defined by the Ministry of Health, the ONN and the Nutrition Cluster. The consultant should work closely with all of these agencies to ensure an efficient process that reflects national priorities and avoids duplication.
The applicant will provide full proposals for the services listed below
Reflection on the positioning of the initiative/institutional anchoring and integration into existing coordination structures
o Work with stakeholders to identify members
o Investigate ways to ensure multi-sector participation
o Development of the working method within the chosen structure
o Monitoring, capitalization of activities
· Support the mapping of existing PECMAM services including multi-sectoral
o Finalize the concept note for the mapping process, focusing (1) on the actual functionality of the services and (2) in line with the new WHO guidelines on local solutions for the treatment of MAM. The concept note should also specify which multi-sectoral services will be included in the mapping.
o Identify existing data sources that can be leveraged
o Liaise with stakeholders to collect data
o Gather and analyze data to create simple maps and reports.
Selection of modalities/ initiatives and pilot sites and definition of the package
o Develop selection criteria for pilot sites (and their number) with the committee.
o Support the pilot site selection process, possibly in two stages with the districts first, then the municipalities.
o Engage with local authorities and other pilot site stakeholders for discussion and awareness raising on MWI and explore their interest in advancing it
o Agree workshop timing, participants and venue with local stakeholders.
o Identify and plan the collection of key data on malnutrition factors that will feed into the workshop.
o In collaboration with the MWI team and the committee, support the implementation of the workshop for the definition of the package
o Prepare the workshop report
o Development of a 2024 work plan / roadmap to launch the initiative
· Project management
o Work closely with government partners
o Develop work plans aligned with country, cluster and MWI objectives
o Establish travel schedules and plans as appropriate
o Develop budgets and plans for workshops
o Submit a brief monthly activity report
Profile required
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
1. At least 5-7 years of professional experience in the field of nutrition and public health in emergencies, of which a minimum of 5 years specifically devoted to APEC, including monitoring and evaluation.
2. Proven experience in launching new initiatives
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND OTHER ATTRIBUTES
Strong coordination skills and ability to work effectively with a range of stakeholders including Ministry of Health, Nutrition Clusters, nutrition sensitive/adjacent sectors and other partners.
Experience and strong communication skills (written and oral) at an appropriate level to work with government partners and other high level stakeholders.
Ability to analyze diverse information and develop recommendations for appropriate response to emergency situations.
Proven ability to deliver high quality workshops
Master's degree in nutrition or public health or equivalent
Ability to travel around Madagascar as needed
Selection criteria
- Extensive experience in carrying out similar work
- Fluency in French and Malagasy, knowledge of English desired
- The candidate must be based in Antananarivo
- Availability and ability to travel from September to January 2024
- competitive monthly rate (value for money)
Duty Station/Duty Station
The consultant will be based in Antananarivo, but will travel frequently in the region.
Supervisors
The consultant will be supervised by the MWI team which is part of the GNC Alliance technical support team. The direct manager will be the TST coordinator. The consultant will have a functional link with the WG PECMA and the ONN.
Contract mode
Service contract with Action Against Hunger Canada, starting as soon as possible and ending no later than January 31, 2024.
The consultant will be required to support the budget management of any necessary workshop or travel, but these costs will be established once the project has started and are not included in the monthly rate indicated below.C
How to apply
How to apply
Proposals in response to this RFQ/RFP must include:
Updated resume.
Cover letter, including experience in carrying out similar work.
Three references for which you have carried out similar work.
Expected monthly rates. Please provide your bids in Canadian dollars (CAD).
AAH Bargains Settlement Form duly signed
Submit the proposal before August 25, 2023 at 5 p.m. local time in Madagascar to:
procurement@actionagainsthunger.ca
Please highlight “Moderate Acute Malnutrition Consultant” in the subject line.