Cholera Senior Consultant - WASH

IFRC is a strong advocate of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control engaged as a technical, operational and leadership partner. IFRC and its membership have a broad reach in providing public health and WASH programming worldwide and has started to use its resources to support cholera control activities in countries. IFRC has recently contributed to the development of the National Cholera Control Plan in Ethiopia and will continue to support countries to develop and implement their NCPs. Importantly, the One WASH programme established late 2019 under the umbrella of the Global Roadmap aims at supporting 20 cholera affected countries and their communities to reduce cholera deaths and ultimately eliminate cholera by 2030. As per GTFCC’s strategy, projects will be implemented in cholera hotspots where WASH conditions are poor, and communities often marginalized. The Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) is a partnership of more than 50 institutions, including NGOs, academic institutions, and UN agencies, with a secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO). The GTFCC brings together groups working across multiple sectors to support countries in the implementation of the global cholera prevention strategy, Ending Cholera: A Global Roadmap to 2030, which targets a 90% reduction in cholera deaths globally and cholera elimination in 20 countries by 2030.

IFRC was selected to host the Country Support Platform (CSP) with funding of BMGF. Country Support Platform (CSP) will be established, initially for 3 years, to provide the Global Task Force for Cholera Control (GTFCC) a network or structure to provide multisectoral support to target countries for the development and implementation of their cholera National Control Plans (NCPs). The CSP will function as an operational arm of the GTFCC, effectively as an extension of the GTFCC hosted by the IFRC, under the direction of the GTFCC Secretariat and operationally accountable to the GTFCC. The CSP objectives will be aligned with the GTFCC Global Roadmap to end cholera to extend GTFCC support primarily at country level to realise the expected outcomes of the Global Roadmap.

The multi-disciplinary approach of the CSP will encompass a role that augments the GTFCC Secretariat and memberships activities in Advocacy and Resource mobilization for expansion of the CSP and its support to country level; effective use and ensuring availability of OCV; effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting of CSP efforts including evidence based impact and sustainability at country level; supporting the formulation of NCP’s; seeking resources and encouraging partnerships to roll-out cholera preparedness, response and long-term mitigation programming; improve epidemiology data collection and analysis to inform targeting and mapping of interventions; improve National level Laboratory facilities; provide guidance on WASH inputs both short term and longer term during outbreaks and in cholera hotspots and encourage the application of research outcomes and best practice while encouraging a flexible and responsive human resource pool that may be directly sourced from WHO and\or GTFCC members, individuals, research bodies and academia which should include a strengthened response capacity coordination function to act rapidly when outbreaks occur.

Cholera advisory and proposal revision services to support the WASH team in Geneva and regions. 

Support and advise the WASH team in cholera , Public health, and epidemiology to support the implementation of the CSP projects on behalf of the GTFCC and to support the implementation of activities embedded in the IFRC Cholera Flagship.

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy

AOF 5 – WASH

WASH is an ‘area of focus’ for the IFRC and membership and IFRC is recognised as a major WASH player for which effective data collection, data analysis, information sharing and knowledge management for the RC/RC WASH sector is crucial both internally within the membership and externally with peers and partners. 

Desired outcomes

CSP

• Support to the CSP - (Development of National Cholera Plans and any other cholera-related support, with a focus on integrating WASH and Health)
• Coordinate the development of a WASH costing tool and guidance, in collaboration with the GTFCC partnership and other experts as required
• Support the implementation of WASH baseline assessment in cholera affected countries

Cholera flagship

• Assist the cholera initiative (vision, tool and/or any other cholera-related support)
• Support to capacity building & cholera trainings (Oral Rehydration Therapy and/or any other cholera-related support)

General

• Developing new cholera project proposals (global , regional or country specific)
• Back up the assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of cholera projects (to support cholera operations, or to do real-time cholera response evaluations to ensure cholera response are aligned with the cholera framework strategy, etc.)

Consultancy outputs

• CSP
  • Representation in GTFCC Surveillance and WASH technical working groups (in person and/ or virtually)
  • Support the development of CSP related projects
  • Support the development of a WASH costing tool in collaboration with GTFCC partners
  • Support the refinement and implementation of a methodology for WASH data gathering and processing for basic WASH assessment
  • Provide in country support if requested by countries and based on availability of consultant
• Cholera flagship initiative
  • Support the development of the cholera vision and plans 2023-2025
  • Support the mapping and monitoring of the IFRC cholera footprint

Method of delivery and reasons for selecting that method

Remote and in country support with regular updates on activities through a monthly report. This will allow to adjust priorities as identified by the WASH team, the CSP and CSP supported countries.

Support to be provided to the consultant

Weekly calls; During potential deployments, travel costs, accommodation and per diem will be covered by the IFRC for the duration of the deployment, in addition to the consultancy fee per working day.

Schedule for payment of fees (Indicate deliverables and timeframe, e.g. milestones, reporting deadlines, etc.)

The consultant can send invoices after 15 days worked.

Management of consultancy

The consultant will be managed by the CSP coordinator, based in Geneva.

This consultancy will be conducted remotely and perhaps a trip to Africa and/or another international travel will be required to support various projects.

Required

• Masters or Doctorate in Public Health / Epidemiology or a Public Health discipline. 

Preferred

• An university degree in engineering.

Required

• At least 7 years of professional experience related to cholera control strategies implementation, evaluation and/or research.
• Experience with cholera outbreak preparedness, response and prevention programmes both at national and international level.
• Experience with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes both at national and international level.
• Experience in training development and capacity building.
• Experience in developing proposals, Planning, monitoring and evaluation  programs and projects.
• Experience in working in low-income countries with Govt and local organizations.

Preferred

• Previous experience with the Red Cross Movement.

Required

• Fluently spoken and written English and French.
• Understanding of the global health policy-making process.
• Ability to understand a wide range of academic research (clinical trials, social science research, discovery science, implementation research, etc.)
• Results oriented and demand driven individual, entrepreneurial, ability to lead in unprecedented and/or ambiguous situations.
• Outstanding networking, representational, communication and negotiation skills. An ability to be proactive and persuasive.
• Develops a strategic and pragmatic vision on the future of cholera control.
• Ability to work within a multi-cultural, multilingual, multidisciplinary environment.
• Good communication and writing skills: ability to effectively communicate complex scientific concepts to people with different levels of scientific background.

Preferred

• Good command of another IFRC official language (Spanish or Arabic).

Values: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability.

Core competencies: Communication; Collaboration and teamwork; Judgement and decision making; National society and customer relations; Creativity and innovation; Building trust. Foster a co-creative environment with colleagues in the GTFCC and CSP with National Governments including actors in the relevant external environment.

Managerial competencies: Is an expert at managing and leading cholera control projects, and skilled at managing and developing others.

Functional Competencies: Has a proven record in securing significant programmatic funding / budgets / resources. An excellent communicator and networker within and outside the health & WASH community [creating networks]. Acts as a professional development role model for others.

Application Instructions

• Please submit your application in English.
• Please include in your motivation letter your availability and your current Daily Fee Rate in CHF.