This consultancy is unique. Organizations often recruit for Project Directors/Chief of Party at the time of submitting a solicited call for proposals with the caveat of ‘contingent on a winning bid,’ but IRC is taking a new approach with this proactive design process. We seek a consultant who can both develop an effective strategy for Nigeria and CAR that secures funding and, if successful, could become the leader of delivering on this strategy as an integrated component of the IRC country program.

The consultant will dual report to the Nigeria and CAR Country Director and a member of the Movement against Malnutrition leadership team throughout the period of the consultancy. The consultant will also engage directly with the MaM Executive Director, the Nutrition Global Practice Lead, as well as other members of the MaM leadership team for different functional support and engagement (eg. fundraising, advocacy, and communications). An advisory group for MaM will also support the consultant both to provide steers and learn from the work of the consultant.

Scope of work

• Engage IRC internal stakeholders country program, regional, and central teams) and a wide range of external stakeholders to create a plan for a radical scaling and simplification effort. Identify key elements of the plan including but not limited to:
• Who are the key local leaders of the effort (Principal Recipients in the Global Fund model)
• → Once identified agree with these stakeholders in as much detail as possible on:
• What could a concise, high quality, transparent planning and budgeting process to align stakeholders and budgets look like
• Who might we expect to be key partners, both governmental and non-governmental (including private sector)
• What would be an appropriate geographic scope based on different hypothetical budget levels
• Support local leader(s) in facilitating a participatory design workshop/conference, including resulting in a thorough SWOT analysis for achieving 80% scale in a defined geographic location including
• What health systems building blocks are relatively strong or weak
• What specific tactics could be used to target bottlenecks to scale
• What cost-effective approaches may be prioritized in this setting
• What are the greatest risks to scale and what mitigation measures can be put in place
• Develop/write a compelling data-driven proposal & plan for scaling up malnutrition treatment coverage based on the collaborative design work; validate the proposal/plan with a network of partners.
• In collaboration with the IRC country program as well as MaM leadership, make recommendations on what internal structures are needed within IRC to ensure radical transparency, efficiency, local collaboration and achievement of targets including:
• Program org structure and staffing (including to support extensive work in partnership)
• Financial/grants management (including extensive partnership)
• Governance of the program in [[Nigeria/CAR]]
• Measurement and accountability
• Communications and transparency
• Sustained advocacy

Deliverables:

A complete draft program plan including:

Stakeholder analysis, identification and documented high level agreement with key stakeholders. (This should include at minimum top 10-15 national stakeholders, 10-20 pg write up)

Description of the agreed approach, maximizing the principles of simplicity, accountability, transparency and local leadership building on the funding, planning and measurement models established by Gavi and the global fund. (20 pg write up)

Preliminary workstreams and indicative activities aligned against the SWOT results

Preliminary internal organizational structure and staffing

Preliminary budgeting and financial flows

Preliminary project timeline including inception phase, launch and programming at scale

Selection Process:

As part of the consultant selection process, short-listed candidates would be asked to:

• Submit a past writing example (at least 20 pages)
• Complete a timed assignment
• Participate in a panel interview

Minimum Qualifications:

Requirements:

• At least 15 years of experience with increasingly complex roles in public sector leadership, strategy and delivery
• Experience developing strategic plans for complex public sector programs
• Experience interacting at all levels of government, civil society and the private sector
• Demonstrated ability to bring divers stakeholders together to achieve outputs, outcomes and goals
• Deep knowledge of the country contexts
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Fluency in French (for work in CAR)
• Knowledge of public health issues, actors and concepts
• Specific knowledge of nutrition a plus

Standard of Professional Conduct: The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.