Lead Consultant – Comprehensive Value Stream Mapping of Insecticide-Treated Net (ITN) Campaigns in Nigeria, Mozambique and 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 AMP delivers on the three in-country data collection and reporting missions, that high-quality visualization of outputs is completed on time and that coordination and communication are maintained with the prime (McKinsey and Company) on the project.

Working in close collaboration with the prime, AMP staff and the project team, the consultant will be responsible for ensuring project implementation and producing deliverables according to the established project timeline.

Specific objectives and activities of the consultancy:

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

Project management and communication

• Ensure effective management of the project, including planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting
• Establish a communication, coordination and reporting schedule (including templates as needed) with the prime contractor
• Coordinate the project including:
  • Manage the project team composed
  • Track activities and progress against deliverables
• Support the planning and implementation, as well as analysis of data and review of reports, for the three countries
• Participate in country- and specific calls as organized to monitor project implementation
• Participate in AMP weekly calls, to update on status activities.

In-country work and observation of campaign processes

• Establish workplans with the three senior consultants to ensure deliverables are achieved, including collection of information and data available in-country and communication and coordination structure established for check-ins on progress
• Work with prime to develop and agree on data collection tools and supports, reporting frequency and timing
• Support senior consultants with the mapping of every step of the ITN planning, procurement and distribution process: document review, data tools and mapping
• Undertake key informant interviews with identified stakeholders in the three countries
• Support the preparation and planning of direct observation visits to campaign implementation areas
• Collect documents, data, etc. for each country
• Set up filing/archiving system in collaboration with team members

Post-observation/KII work and deliverable submission

• Review of findings from each country and summarizing data in format for sharing with prime
• Compile findings from document review, KIIs and direct observation for each country
• Review country reports and provide inputs
• Work with the editing and lay out consultants to ensure high quality final reports and visualization of supply chain and data flows for each country
• Support the finalization and submission of the final report(s) to the Global Fund

Deliverables:

The following are the key deliverables:

• Final tools and templates for data collection agreed with the prime contractor
• A comprehensive and accessible report with detailed methodology, analysis, and recommendations for improving efficiency and effectiveness of ITN distribution, based on the end-to-end value-stream mapping exercise, including on-site observations, and expert interviews and reviews. The report should include:
• Detailed value stream map tracking ITNs from arrival at point of entry to the country to distribution, including optimization and efficiency gain opportunities.
• Process visualization, using flowcharts to visualize end to end processes from ITN arrival in-country to distribution, including optimization and efficiency gain opportunities.
• Data flow mapping for each step of ITN distribution campaign (including but not limited to supply chain data, distribution, enumeration, registration etc), including optimization and efficiency gain opportunities.
• A comparative analysis of supply chains managed by partners such as PMI and UNICEF.
• 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

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.

Experience:

• Minimum five years’ experience with project management
• Minimum 10 years’ experience with Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN) distribution processes, particularly campaign-based distribution.
• Proven experience in value stream mapping and supply chain analysis, logistics or pharmacy management, particularly within global health or related sectors.
• Demonstrated knowledge 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 English and French.

The consultancy timeframe will be from 1st of September to 30th of October 2023.