Team: USAID/Nigeria MEL Support Activity

Project: USAID HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (HAT) Office - Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Activity Design

Location: Federal Capital Territory – Abuja, Nigeria

Reporting to: Assessment and Evaluation Advisor

Employment Type: Independent Contractor / Short-Term Technical Assistance (STTA)

Period of Performance: November 2023 – January 2024

Number of Positions: 1

Navanti supports a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Support Activity (MELSA) program that assists USAID/Nigeria in advancing its broader organizational learning and development efforts. This program strengthens the Mission’s capacity and performance in programmatic monitoring, evaluation, learning, collaborating, and adapting. The MEL Support Activity closely aligns with USAID/Nigeria’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) and provides a broad range of specialized technical assistance, training, data gathering and analysis, field-based monitoring, evaluations and assessments, facilitation of organizational learning and adaptation initiatives, and short-term technical assistance.

Project Objective:

USAID/Nigeria has engaged the MEL Support Activity to support the new design of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) activities. The Current portfolio of OVC activities will end in December 2024. The HIV/AIDS & TB (HAT) Office in Nigeria is in the process of launching new designs for follow-on activities to the four local partners (Integrated Child Health and Social Services - ICHSSA) activities. As part of this process, MELSA seeks to engage a consultant in conducting stakeholder engagement and facilitating the co-creation process with the successful applicants for the OVC design.

The primary purpose of this assignment is to facilitate the Mission (HAT) design objectives by assisting with a variety of stakeholder and applicant engagement activities. (see Activity Overview).

The estimated start date will be November 13, 2023. The activity design is expected to last until January 2024, and the estimated LOE will be 35 days, maximum.

Candidates are reviewed on a rolling basis; early submission is recommended.

Position Description and Activity Overview:

Navanti is seeking a lead consultant who will be responsible for developing activity design protocols as they relate to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) activities. The consultant is expected to engage various stakeholders/partners of the HIV/AIDS & TB (HAT) Office of USAID mission and lead the co-creation workshop with potential applicants of the OVC project design.

Specific activities to support the Stakeholder Engagement and Co-creation of the project designs include:

• Develop a plan for Stakeholder Engagement, to potentially include the activities listed below (finalize with USAID Design Teams).
  • Key informant interviews (KII) – One of the most critical parts of Stakeholder Engagement includes one-on-one, in-depth meetings with key stakeholders such as GON (senior-/mid-/lower-level) officials of the Ministry of Health (MOH), Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and other UN partners, Global Fund, relevant Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Adolescent Youths Programs (AYP) and other beneficiaries, religious leaders, existing Implementing Partners, etc. These are important to inform the strategic design and feedback on both current activities and thoughts for future designs.
  • The consultant working with the HAT office will be responsible for drawing up a draft list of key stakeholders, drafting questions, planning, and executing the KII.
  • The consultant will analyze and synthesize data from these interviews to collate results and present them to USAID. The feedback from this process will be incorporated into stage two of the activity Statement of Work (SOW) which will involve the potential successful applicant(s).
• Co-creation with potential applicants – The consultant will work with MELSA to plan and execute a two-week review meeting with the potential applicants in order to inform the technical application submitted to USAID.
  • MELSA will be responsible for planning for meeting logistics and administrative requirements for this meeting. MELSA will work with the Office of Acquisition and Assistance (OAA), the OVC consultant, and the TEC to plan and execute this review meeting.
  • The consultant will draft a concise, summary description (format TBD) of key findings/lessons learned/innovative methods, prospective implementing partners, interventions, etc., for the new design as recommended by most stakeholders and resulting from the activities above.

The Primary audience for this design will be the HAT OVC design team USAID/Nigeria, while the secondary audience is the Program Office staff engaged in the design, the Office of Acquisition and Assistance (OAA), and other external stakeholders.

Key Deliverables:

• Develop KII and FGD guides (including the question for the Stakeholder’s engagement).
• Conduct stakeholders’ engagement activities (KIIs and FGD as applicable) for OVC to enable the design team to incorporate feedback from Civil society, local NGOs, and GON counterparts.
• Facilitate the technical review meeting for Co-creation of the technical portion/description of OVC strategies and supporting budget with potential applicant organizations.
• Submit a concise summary description of key findings/lessons learned/innovative methods, implementing partners, interventions, etc. for the new design as recommended by a CBO/Local NGO and GON stakeholders and resulting from the KII and the Co-creation meeting.
• Work collaboratively with team members throughout design, implementation, analysis, and report writing to complement each other's areas of expertise.

Qualifications:

The candidate is expected to have the following qualifications…

• Minimum of master’s degree in public health or a related field with cognate working knowledge in OVC care and support.
• Excellent report-writing and presentation skills.
• A minimum of seven years’ experience in OVC program management in sub-Saharan Africa at National and sub-national level. At least, two of the years of experience should be at the supervisory level. Experience with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis programs will be an added advantage.
• Experience with successful delivery of focused review meetings, multi stakeholder consultations, management multiple collaborators (within and outside USAID), and oral presentations.
• Excellent facilitation and coordination skills.
• Experience in collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data and deriving insights and recommendations.
• Experience in collecting and analyzing Adolescents and Young People (AYP) is desired.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills. (written and verbal English with high impact influencing skills).
• Good experience using Microsoft Office, or applicable software related to the position.
• Experience facilitating and providing leadership in collaborative and participatory processes with multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to produce preliminary and final reports on time.

Only selected candidates will be contacted for an interview. Please, no phone calls.