Development of the Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) Policy and strategy - Consultant

Background of the project

The USAID Community Health Activity (USAID CHA) is USAID Liberia's flagship community health program and fits within a greater framework of planned development priorities that seeks to strengthen Health, Nutrition, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) systems at national and sub-national levels. To attain this intermediate result^[1], the USAID CHA works to strengthen the Liberian community health system to provide health care services in hard-to-reach areas while transferring National Community Health Program (NCHP) ownership to the Government of Liberia. Throughout the life of USAID CHA, coverage of Community Health Assistants (CHA) in underserved districts will increase, and the capacity of CHAs to deliver quality health services will be strengthened, as well as county health teams and communities’ capacity to plan, manage, and monitor health services.

The USAID Community Health Activity is a 48-month health project designed to:

1. Increase coverage of CHAs to population ratio in underserved districts and communities in Bong, Lofa, River Gee, and Grand Kru Counties.
2. Improve the quality of health services through trained, supervised, and motivated Community Health Workers (CHWs) including (CHAs, Community Health Services Supervisor (CHSS), Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs), Ministry of Health (MOH), National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).
3. Improve County Health Teams’ (CHT) and communities’ capacity to plan, manage, and monitor a comprehensive delivery of health services.

Purpose / Project Description:

The Community Animal Health Workers’(CAHWs) program was launched in 2018 after several international and in country assessment have revealed several gaps within the Veterinary Services. Mainstreamed among those gaps was the need to recruit and development human resource capacity at the minimum to conduct animal (domestic) disease surveillance and response, treat as well as carry awareness messages for the better good of animals’ production and overall, to improve the Public Health. World Organization for Animal Health Performance of Veterinary Services gaps analysis and the Surveillance Evaluation Tool (FAO) were the two major assessments that were conducted prior to the CAHWs program being launched. However, there are challenges in the implementation of this program. Those challenges range from the lack of policy driven incentive scheme to the non-population proportional to size deployment of trained CAHWs. Moreover, the Vet services still do not have an up-to-date legal instrument to drive it activities since it was drafted in 1976.

Those challenges have negatively affected the purpose of the program and as such, it has left those trained either leaving the system or being demotivated to carry on their duty as per the TOR that was given them.

These challenges mentioned above along with many others that were not mentioned, justified why there is a critical need to develop a CAHWs policy and strategic documents to safeguard the work of those involved as well as the public.he consultant under the technical supervision of the MOA (technical and legal units) with the overall supervision from the IRC, and in close collaboration with the agencies of the GOL (such as the FDA, NPHIL and MOH) and the relevant development partners, will conduct desk review and lead the drafting and finalization of the Community Animal Health policy of Liberia. The consultant will ensure delivery of a comprehensive community health policy and strategy covering all relevant areas of animal health and associated disciplines, clearly outline responsibilities and authorities, and provide guidance on successful implementation of the policy to have an effective animal health service delivery at the community level in the country. With delivery been completed and review between April 15-June 30,2024. Note that these are estimated and/or anticipated deadlines.

Consultant Objectives:

The primary objective of this consultancy is to develop a Community Animal Health Policy and strategy that will address key health issues, outline preventive measures, and establishes guidelines for the management of animal health within Liberia.

Scope of Work:

The consultant is expected to:

• Conduct a thorough review of existing animal health policies and related documentation.
• Engage with key stakeholders, including government agencies, veterinary professionals, local communities, and NGOs.
• Assess the current state of animal health within the community and identify key challenges and opportunities.
• Produce a succinct analysis report of the situation of AH service provision in the Liberia giving justification for development of the new policy.
• Propose a comprehensive policy framework, including key principles, objectives, and strategies. The new policy should be aligned to existing national regulations, laws, livestock policy framework, as well as to regional, continental, and global frameworks.
• Develop detailed policy recommendations, guidelines, and actionable measures.
• Organize and/or facilitate a workshop to deliberate on the draft policy and validate it.

****Please note that the activities are not exhausted, it is subject to increase by the TWG***

Deliverables:

1. Inception Report: Provide a detailed work plan, methodology, and timeline within the first two weeks of the consultancy.
2. Draft report with a concise analysis report of the national regulatory framework and actual implementation arrangements for the community health policy in Liberia. This includes stakeholder engagement component.
3. Draft Policy Document: Develop a comprehensive draft of the Community Animal Health Policy for review.
4. Stakeholder Consultation Report: Summarize feedback obtained from stakeholders during the consultation process. Consider integrating into the analysis.
5. Draft strategy document: develop a comprehensive draft strategy that complements the Community Animal Health Policy for review.
6. Validation workshop report
7. Final Policy and strategy Document: Revise the draft based on feedback and submit the final version of the Community Animal Health Policy and strategy.

Timeframe / Schedule:

• A total of 60 days (April 15-June 30,2024) is required for this consultancy.
• The Consultant will report to:Project Director, Deputy Project Director, and Program Coordinator-CEBS
• The Consultant will work closely with: Deputy Project Director, and Program Coordinator-CEBS
• Deliverables for April 1-May 31,2024