Roster of consultants -Human Resources for Health (HRH)/Health System strengthening Experts

Purpose of the Consultancy

The WHO Nigeria is supporting the efforts of the Government of Nigeria in strengthening the HRH situation in Nigeria through evidence-based policy and plans, HRH interventions, improving retention and performance of health workers and encouraging production and evidence-based distribution of health workers in Nigeria. The consultancy's main goal is to strengthen Nigeria's Human Resources for Health, at national and sub-national levels. The consultancy will support the government on some HRH interventions including HRH analysis, evidence-generation, policy-making, developing transformative strategies for scaling up HRH development strategies, policies, and tools, developing training manuals, capacity building, establishing an investment case/plan for HRH using results from Health labour Market Analysis, optimizing health worker retention, implementation of Workload Indicator of Staffing Needs (WISN) for equitable distribution, performance management system and development of retention policy

Background

One major weakness of any health system is the poor state of its health workforce: Nigeria is one of the 55 countries with a severe shortage of health workforce, this is made worse by inadequate investment in the production of more health workers and implementing strategies to optimize the available stock of HRH. The main HRH challenges include shortages and inequitable distribution of the health workforce, poor HRH planning, uninformed policy decisions, inadequate recruitment and retention strategies, and inadequate training capacities. These challenges result in disparities in health workforce densities by geographical locations (urban and rural areas) and levels of health care delivery. These disparities in the distribution of health workers have been strongly associated with lack of access to quality health care and poor health indices of populations. In recent times the Government of Nigeria through the Federal and State Ministries of Health, increased its momentum to enhance an equitably distributed, competent and effective health workforce by strengthening the Human Resources for Health (HRH) strategic planning. However, achieving and maintaining an equitably distributed, competent and effective health workforce is a continuous efforts requiring not only synergy among partners, but, also, innovative, and comprehensive national and state planning and strategic actions

Deliverables

The Consultants will work under the supervision of the World Health Organization Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Health to deliver one or several duties from the following list:

Output 1: Country support on various aspects of HRH analysis and evidence-generation for policymaking

Deliverable 2.1: Undertake literature review, landscape, bottleneck analysis and situation analysis on HRH at national or state levels by employing relevant research methods.
Deliverable 2.2: Support conduct of health labour market analysis (HLMA)
Deliverable 2.3: Document country case studies or best practices of HRH interventions and develop state Health workforce profiles.
Deliverable 2.4: Technical guidance on mid-term or end-term documentation of implementation of HRH policies and plans.
Deliverable 2.5: Facilitate policy dialogue on different areas of work around HRH, in advancing the design and implementation of system reform

Output 2: Developing transformative strategies for scaling up HRH development strategies, policies, and tools, including competency-based curricula development and reviews.

Deliverable 3.1: Development of costed HRH annual operational plan and conduct of joint annual review (JAR) applying the whole-of-government approach

Deliverable 3.2: Support the process for developing HRH policy and HRH strategic plans, considering health labour market forces, population, and health system needs in addressing shortages and maldistribution of health workers including gender, and inequity in access to health workers.

Deliverable 3.3: Support the country in strengthening regulatory bodies and states to coordinate the development of evidence-based curricula, facilitate accreditation, expand training places, and improve certification and continuous professional development of health workforce cadres.

Output 5: Establishing an investment case/plan for HRH as a vital component of health financing and investment towards UHC and the SDGs

Deliverable 5.1: Support to develop and implement an investment case on HRH to address health system needs in the health workforce and maldistribution of existing Health workers

Deliverable 5.2: Support in translating Essential Health Service Packages into health workforce needs, cost, and the health, social, and economic return on investment at PHC
Deliverable 5.3: Support capacity building of Health managers, policymakers and health workers on Human Resources for Health and Leadership, develop training materials and coordinate adaptation of training manual for certificate programs.

Output 6: Optimizing health Worker Retention, equitable distribution and Performance

Deliverable 6.1: Build the capacity of health sector stakeholders, including ministries of health, in planning and negotiation of bilateral agreements informed by HLMA

Deliverable 6.2: Support the country in building capacity by applying the Workload Indicators of Staffing Needs (WISN) tool for equitable distribution and for developing staffing norms for PHC workers.

Deliverable 6.3: Support the country in establishing evidence-based mechanisms for the retention, motivation and improving performance of health workers. Through the conduct of studies and development of policies, guidelines, and tools for improving retention and performance of health workers.

Deliverable 6.4: Support the implementation of strategies for optimizing health workforce utilization through integrated task-shifting and sharing in States and conducting capacity building for health workers

Qualifications and experience

Education:

Essential: Postgraduate degree in health policy, public health, health services management, health economics, Data sciences, social sciences or other public health-related sciences.

Desirable: PhD or advanced degree/ fellowship in the relevant areas highlighted

Work Experience:

Essential: 10 years’ experience in health systems at sub-national, national and/or international level(s) with health workforce experience covering one or more of the areas of expertise presented above.

Desirable:
• Relevant work experience with Academia, UN agencies or other recognized national and international non-governmental organizations

Skills and knowledge

Excellent analytical, planning, and organizational skills
Ability to work independently to deadlines
Ability to work in a team with limited supervision
Technical competence in health systems and service delivery management and organization

Language requirements

Excellent proficiency in English is essential.

Location

The Consultant(s) will be working primarily on-site with the Ministries of Health in Abuja or selected states throughout Nigeria

Travel

No international travel is planned given the scope of the mission. If travel is involved, full medical clearance is required. The Consultant (s) will have limited travel for field activities in the LGAs and for workshops, WHO will support logistics for the travels

Medical clearance

The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work. The Consultant (s) will have limited travel for field activities in the LGAs and for workshops, WHO will support logistics for the travels

Hiring Unit:

ULC

Remuneration and Expected duration of the contract (Maximum contract duration is 11 months per calendar year)

• Remuneration: TORs are classified at the national pay of NOC level.
• Expected duration of contract: between 1 month to 3 months depending on duties assigned

Additional information

This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
A written test may be used as a form of screening.
If your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and is committed to putting the WHO Values Charter into practice.
WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment, and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority, and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment, and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment, or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant.
WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social security contributions, or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions, and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.