Title: Malaria Program Specialist

Team: USAID/Nigeria MEL Support Activity

Project: USAID/Nigeria Health Population and Nutrition (HPN) Office

Location: Federal Capital Territory – Abuja, Nigeria

Reporting to: Assessment and Evaluation Advisor

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

Period of Performance: February 2025 – August 2025

Number of Positions: 1

Navanti supports a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Support Activity 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). It 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.

Overview and Evaluation Purpose:

USAID/Nigeria has engaged the MEL Support Activity to conduct a final performance evaluation of the President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) to inform the design of a new PMI-USAID-funded malaria control program in focus states. The evaluation findings' primary audience and end user is the USAID Nigeria mission's Health, Population, and Nutrition (HPN) office.

The purpose of this evaluation is to determine the activity’s achievement of program goals and results and associated underlying reasons for achievement and/or non-achievement. Also to assess the effectiveness of PMI-S’s implementation approaches and determine if the program has contributed to any change in coverage of malaria interventions and a reduction in malaria morbidity and mortality by using proxy indicators. The evaluation should seek to identify best practices, lessons learned, innovations, and gaps in PMI-S’s implementation. The evaluations will also provide an opportunity to share lessons learned with USAID/Nigeria and other key stakeholders.

About President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) Activity:

The PMI-S project was designed to implement interventions in selected PMI-focus states and to provide technical assistance to the State Malaria Elimination Programs (SMEPs) and National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEPs).

• Task Order Two - Federal level support (NMEP)
• Task Order Three - Four states (Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ebonyi, and Sokoto)
• Task Order Four - Initially four states (Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, and Oyo), however, three states (Bauchi, Kebbi, and Sokoto) were added in 2024.

The four main objectives of the Task Orders include:

1. Objective 1: To improve the quality of and access to comprehensive malaria case management.
2. Objective 2: To improve data quality, interpretation, and use.
3. Objective 3: To improve drug-based prevention and treatment approaches (intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy [IPTp] and seasonal malaria chemoprevention [SMC] in TO 04 states only).
4. Objective 4: To strengthen existing health systems and improve State Malaria Elimination Program (SMEP) program management.

The PMI-S project was designed to support key pillars of malaria control which include the prevention of malaria in pregnancy through Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTp) and prevention of malaria in children aged 03-59 years through seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) and to support prompt diagnosis and treatment of all malaria cases.

The PMI-S project was designed to implement interventions based on the above-listed pillars in select PMI-focus states and to the NMEP in Nigeria. It is intended that, by the time the PMI-S project ends, there will be a sizable coverage and use of high-impact malaria chemoprevention and case management interventions in focus states in Nigeria, measured by increased coverage for each of the key malaria indicators for chemoprevention and case management of malaria.

It is expected that if we strengthen existing health systems and capacity in effective program management and evidence-based decision-making at state, Local Government Area (LGA), ward, and health facility (HF) levels, and if we inform and mobilize health workers to implement malaria services according to national and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, then comprehensive malaria case management and drug-based prevention and treatment approaches will become more available and accessible at scale, resulting in measurable reductions in malaria morbidity and mortality in target states and communities.

The estimated start date will be February 2025. The evaluation is expected to last until June 2025.

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

Position Description:

Navanti is seeking a Malaria Program Specialist responsible for providing technical support to the team leader and the evaluation. The malaria program evaluation specialist will ensure a contextual understanding of the evaluation as regards malaria programming, health services delivery at primary and secondary healthcare levels, and health service planning and programming. Under the guidance of the MEL Support Activity, the malaria program specialist is expected to work closely with the USAID/Nigeria-HPN team. The specialist is expected to have done a similar evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa, or other countries with similar context.

The Malaria Program Specialist will be supported by the team leader, subject matter expert, and a senior program evaluation specialist. The Malaria Program Evaluation Specialist will consult with and facilitate input from all team members throughout the evaluation.

The team will use a combination of literature review, mixed methods through focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews to gather insights to answer the evaluation questions. The team is also expected to propose an evaluation methodology/approach as required to respond to the evaluation questions.

Locations (Evaluation Coverage):

Akwa Ibom, Benue and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

Responsibilities:

The Malaria Program Specialist must demonstrate good knowledge evaluation, malaria programming, health services delivery at primary and secondary healthcare levels, and health service planning and programming. The Malaria Program Specialist will:

• Participate in the evaluation kick-off session with USAID/Nigeria.
• Conduct desk review of the activity and support malaria service, SBCC, and service delivery contextual issues and social inclusiveness understanding of the evaluation.
• Work with the senior program evaluation specialist and other team members to design the data collection instruments and ensure they address all evaluation objectives.
• Support stakeholder analysis with particular attention to malaria service, SBCC, and service delivery
• Support the interpretation and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data.
• Support in preparing reports of research findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in planning, developing, coordinating, and administering research tools.
• Support to perform quality assurance reviews of both quantitative and qualitative data.
• Work with the team leader and other team members in writing or editing technical reports and summaries of findings.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to perform desk reviews and identify additional information required for analysis.
• Work with the Team Leader and other team members in preparation and presentation of the In-brief and Out-brief to USAID/Nigeria and other stakeholders as requested.
• Support the team leader and other team members in developing the draft Evaluation report with support from the team members, taking into consideration feedback from the Out-brief presentation.
• Work with the team leader and other team members to respond to USAID comments on the draft report, incorporate USAID/Nigeria staff comments into the final version of the report, and finalize the report.
• 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:

• S/he should have at least six (6) years of relevant experience in integrated service delivery programs in Nigeria with a strong bias for primary health care systems. This should be a medical doctor with a master’s in public health, health economics, Demography/Population studies, Sociology, or any other relevant social science field.
• S/he should be a technical expert with experience implementing comprehensive malaria programs especially in the context of primary health care in Nigeria.
• S/he must have experience implementing malaria programs and a demonstrable grasp of technical malaria strategies.
• S/he should have a demonstrable understanding of the health system context in Nigeria.
• S/he must demonstrate strong experience with an understanding of socio-cultural context with the implementation of health interventions in Northern and Southern Nigeria.
• Demonstrate skills with data collection procedures, surveys, interview guides, and analysis of data
• Have an excellent ability to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• S/he should demonstrate excellent ability to communicate in English, both verbally and in writing.

The STTA should adhere to ethical guidelines, obtain informed consent, and protect the confidentiality and anonymity of participants.

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