Senior Consultant – Comprehensive Value Stream Mapping of Insecticide-Treated Net (ITN) Campaign(s) in Cameroon

Background:

Insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaigns represent the main channel for rapidly scaling up access to and use of mosquito nets for malaria prevention. Since the first national integrated campaign in 2004 targeting children under five with an integrated package of interventions, over three billion ITNs will have been produced and shipped to malaria endemic countries for use for malaria prevention as of the end of 2023. Over time, ITN campaign distribution has changed, moving from integration with immunization and other interventions targeting the same age group (children under five) to standalone campaigns targeting the entire population at-risk of malaria to drastically reduce malaria transmission through maximizing access to ITNs. The switch from integrated to standalone campaigns involved a significant number of operational challenges, in particular the need to register or count everyone in each household in a target area to ensure sufficient ITNs to achieve campaign targets, an enormous number of campaign actors to be trained, coordinated, supervised and monitored and the massively increased volume of ITNs and other commodities to manage, as targets moved from vulnerable populations to all population at-risk. More recently, multi-product campaigns have become a norm, adding another layer of complexity for campaign management from ITN delivery and distribution to social and behaviour change communication to manage household expectations.

The ITN supply chain is one of the most critical aspects of any ITN campaign: without nets, no distribution can take place even if people have been registered, received vouchers and are mobilized to participate. Supply chain decisions and management have enormous implications for campaign operations.

To better understand the overall in-country supply chain, from point of entry to exit of ITNs from the supply chain, the Global Fund is undertaking a comprehensive value-stream mapping of ITN procurement and distribution, offering granular insights into the cost, time, and environmental impact at every stage for campaign-based distribution, to inform interventions required to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of ITN procurement and delivery, including options to significantly reduce the environmental impact throughout the supply chain. The project aims to create detailed value-stream mapping of the ITN distribution process, from initial planning to distribution, offering granular insight into cost, time, and environmental impact at every stage for campaign-based distribution methods.

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) is a workstream within the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria and is an integral part of RBM’s Country and Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC). AMP is a global partnership of more than 40 organizations, including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations. Housed and chaired by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), AMP is focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in ITN campaign and continuous distribution activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementing ITN distribution through all channels; and (3) technical assistance to national malaria programmes and partners based on requests.

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention will be sub-contracted by McKinsey and Company, who will be the prime contractor for the Global Fund. AMP’s role on the project will be to collect data and information on the in-country supply chain in three countries – Cameroon, Mozambique and Nigeria – using tools and templates agreed with the prime contractor. AMP will be responsible for the collection of data and information, mapping of time and data flows and developing country-specific reports. Additionally, AMP will pull together cross-cutting areas of convergence across countries, as well as major outliers, as part of providing recommendations for improved supply chain management and efficiency.

AMP has built a team of TA providers over the past 15 years, 80% of whom are based in malaria-endemic countries. AMP has focused on identifying strong candidates for TA provision in malaria endemic countries and building capacity through deployment to other countries and through team building strategies. The current AMP TA pool of approximately 30 TA providers includes all areas of expertise typically requested for ITN campaigns (e.g. strategy/operations, logistics, social and behaviour change [SBC], monitoring and evaluation [M&E] and digitalization). For areas of expertise requested outside the “typical” technical skills, AMP either recruits new TA providers to meet the skill set or facilitates linkages between the national programme and organizations that specialize in certain areas (for example, use of geospatial tools for microplanning). The TA pool includes Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone consultants.

Overall objective of the consultancy:

The overall objective of the consultancy is to ensure that data and information are collected in Cameroon to allow for a high-quality value stream mapping of the ITN supply chain from point of delivery in the country to the end user, as well as exit from the supply chain as applicable.

The senior consultant will be responsible for the project implementation and deliverables in-country, working in close collaboration with the project lead, AMP staff and the project team.

Specific objectives and activities:

In line with the overall project proposal and the scope of AMP’s work, the consultant will be responsible for the following:

In-country work and observation of campaign processes:

• Support development of the in-country workplan, ensuring that specific information and data can be collected at all levels
• Map every step of the ITN planning, procurement and distribution process: document review, data tools and mapping
• Set up filing/archiving system in collaboration with the lead consultant and team
• Perform the desk review and collect the relevant data, including previous AMP reports and local fund agent (LFA) reports as available
• Identify list of key informants and stakeholders
• Undertake key informant/stakeholder interviews
• Prepare and undertake field visits for direct observation visits
• Organize the data collected in the format required for submission to the prime

Post-observation/KII work and deliverable submission:

• Summarize key findings and write report and recommendations
• Provide analysis of the data collected
• Draft the country final report to be submitted to the Lead Consultant
• Support the editing and visualization of the supply chain and data flows for the country
• Support the compilation of the findings from across the countries and prioritization of recommendations for improving effectiveness and efficiency of campaign supply chains

Deliverables:

• Detailed value stream mapping for the ITN campaign from in-country delivery to distribution to the end use and exit from the supply chain, including recommendations for optimization and efficiency gain opportunities
• Final country report
• Final visualized flow charts for key processes for the country supply chain
• A MS PowerPoint presentation summarizing the key highlights of findings included in the report, suitable for sharing with stakeholders and decision-makers

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy:

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention’s mandate aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 as it supports the achievement of strategic aims:

1) Save lives, protect livelihoods and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises

2) Enable healthy and safe living

Project objectives and timelines:

Objective #1: Scaling up and maintaining universal coverage targets of malaria prevention with ITNs through all available channels including mass distribution campaigns and continuous distribution channels.

Desired outcomes: To address inefficiencies in planning and implementation of mass ITN distribution campaigns and continuous ITN distribution.

Support to be provided to the consultant:

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Manager – Malaria Programmes, who will be responsible for the overall management of the project and quality control of work products and deliverables. The Manager – Malaria Programmes will be supported by the Lead Consultant on the project, who will be overall responsible for day-to-day operations. The consultant will be supported by the Consultant for AMP Technical Assistance Support for project for travel support, reporting, and coordination activities such as calls/meetings.

The work will be performed in-country.

The consultancy timeframe will be from 28 August – 30 October 2023.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience with ITN distribution processes, particularly campaign-based distribution.
• Proven experience in value stream mapping, supply chain analysis and logistics particularly within global health or related sectors.
• Expert in supply chain data management and tracking systems.
• Proven track record in conducting fieldwork, literature review, expert interviews, and iterative expert reviews in a global health context.
• Fluency in French.