EPI CBO Monitoring Checklist: Crown Agents (CA)

Deadline: 4 November 2020

Background

The Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) was introduced in Zimbabwe in 1982 with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The primary objective was to vaccinate all children below the age of one year against six killer diseases: polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis, pertussis (whooping cough), measles and tetanus. Since then, new vaccines against other severe vaccine-preventable diseases have been developed and introduced such as the pneumococcal vaccine introduced in 2012, human papillomavirus (HPV) and the rotavirus vaccines which were both introduced in May 2014.

Zimbabwe is in a fortunate position because the EPI National Policy adopted in 2000 is able to include many of the new options into the National EPI and adjust the EPI schedule according to the disease epidemiology in the country. Zimbabwe is currently not meeting the Global Vaccine Alliance Performance (GVAP) target that all districts within a country should have DTP3 coverage of at least 80%. The Zimbabwe Joint Appraisal Report (JAR) 2018 mentions that all provinces had an increase in the number of unvaccinated children for Penta 3 except for Chitungwiza and Masvingo that had a decrease.

Children not vaccinated with Measles 1 showed a decrease from 2015 to 2016 and were on the rise again in 2017. It also states that there are districts who failed to achieve 80% coverage for DTP3, MCV1 and MCV2. Crown Agents (CA) seeks to address the religious hindrance to EPI service utilization by involving Pro-vaccine / pro-health religious leaders in healthcare management through community engagement / dialogue and incentivising positively to positive outcomes. Community Based Organisations (CBOs) will be contracted into a formal role to work with communities and rural health centres in the specific districts. It is against this background that CA seeks to outsource a consultant to develop a CBO Monitoring checklist which will track, understand, and ultimately improve the quality and reach of services that are provided by CBOs and VHWs to communities.

Scope of Work

The CBO Monitoring Checklist consultant will be expected to develop the complete set of the CBO Monitoring Checklist and also travel to pilot test the tool before finalizing it.

Outputs

The CBO Monitoring Checklist.

Key qualifications and competencies of the consultant

Advanced degree in relevant field such as public health or epidemiology;

Minimum of five years of experience in M&E;

Expert in monitoring and evaluation, including developing and implementing M&E tools is required;

Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills and experience is required; Experience in public health surveillance;

Experience in event-based surveillance as it relates to community-based surveillance and health facility event-based surveillance is a plus;

Proficiency in quantitative and qualitative data analysis;

Good writing and communication skills with grammatical proficiency and attention to detail;

Strong written and verbal communication skills with diverse stakeholders;

Interested in strengthening public health surveillance and health systems strengthening; Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access,)