Consultancy to Conduct Cross Border Health Policy and Practice Analysis in Mandera Triangle at Interpeace

Background

The tri-border area where Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia converge, also known as the Mandera Triangle, is almost entirely inhabited by Somali communities with close cross-border social, economic and development connections. The significant portion of the population is considered cross-border mobile populations (CBMPs) which are composed of: mobile pastoralist looking for pasture; refugees; seasonal cross-border laborers, persons engaged in cross-border economic activity; undocumented migrants; internally displaced persons (IDPs) and communities hosting refugees and IDPs. CBMPs face major barriers to access of basic healthcare needs due to the complex socio-political dynamics of the public health system in the context of migration and cross-border mobility. While it is easy for clinical and public health workers to provide healthcare needs to a static population, the health outcomes for CBMPs are often difficult to monitor and implement.

The health and nutritional status of the populations in the Mandera Triangle, which is marked by chronic malnutrition as well as disease movement and morbidity, is influenced by several factors. These include limited access to healthcare, poor socio-economic and civil security, food insecurity, poor childcare practices, population, limited water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure. These factors are compounded by and influence persistent cycles of conflict and insecurity in the region.

Addressing these challenges requires thorough understanding of the unique needs of CBMPs as well as the interconnections between the health challenges and conflict drivers; effective cross-border coordination between key health and political actors in the three countries and developing and implementing policies and approaches that expand access to and provision of health care services while contributing to building sustainable peace in the region.

Interpeace, in partnership with the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) seek a consultant/policy expert to analyse existing cross-border health policies (and their responsiveness to peace and conflict dynamics), identify gaps that limit effective health service provision and access, and provide recommendations for strengthening cross-border health policies to render them more responsive to the specific health and peace needs of the CBMPs. The analysis will inform the development and revision of IGAD policies designed to boost household and community health security and resilience while contributing to overall peacebuilding efforts in the region.

Service Or Assignment Description And Objective(s)

The main objective of this assignment is to analyse existing and established cross border policies and platforms in view of improving these policies to foster effective cross-border coordination of health actors and enhance provision of health services to address the specific health and peace needs of the Mandera Triangle populations. More specifically, the consultant/policy expert will be expected to:

• Conduct a desk review of existing health protocols, analysing the gaps in responsiveness to the needs of CBMDs and the conflict dynamics in the Triangle
• Analyse the gaps between the existing protocols and practices in service provision by health actors in the Triangle
• Consult key stakeholders on how policies on cross border health can be developed or refined to respond to the specific health and peace needs of the Mandera Triangle populations, particularly the CBMPs.
• Develop a draft situation analysis report including policy options for strengthening Cross Border Health Policies to be more responsive to the health and peace needs of CBMPs

Scope of work

The anticipated duration of the evaluation is 25 days with a minimum of 10 days to be spent in the Mandera Triangle (Mandera County of Kenya, Dholo and Mubarak zone of Ethiopia and Belet Hawa and Elwak District of Somalia). The anticipated start date is 25 January 2021 with submission of the final draft by end of February 2021.

Activities, Deliverables

The Consultant Will Carry Out The Following Duties

1: Development of the protocol for the assignment : the consultant will develop a checklist for the collection of relevant documents and information. This protocol will be reviewed by Interpeace and the cross-border health technical team prior to the implementation of activities.

2: Documents review and field visits:

The Consultant Will Carry Out The Following Activities

• Desk review : The consultant will collect and review the relevant documents for the assignment through the developed tool
• Country visits : The consultant with the support of staff seconded from the ministry of health of the three respective countries and through our partner IGAD will conduct interviews with key stakeholders in the health sector, relevant government institutions and the communities. These visits will focus on collecting relevant country documentation for review and information that will enable in identifying the gaps between the existing policies and practices in service provision by health actors in the Triangle

3: Development of Draft situation analysis report:

Based on the desk review and findings from the field, the consultant will draft a situational analysis report which will be discussed and enriched through a regional validation workshop.

4: Validation workshop : The consultant will facilitate a 2 -day workshop that will bring together member states ministries and partners to present the findings/outcome of the situation analysis and desk review and to refine the recommendations developed by the consultant.

5: Preparation of final report : The consultant will incorporate comments and contributions from participants and develop the final report including specific policy options.

Key Deliverables

The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables:

• Inception report including situation analysis tools and checklist for document collections
• Draft Situation analysis report
• Final report with the policy options

Qualifications

General professional experience

• Solid knowledge and understanding of health sector policies and key health challenges in the Mandera Triangle region
• Knowledge of peacebuilding
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in policy analysis and development
• Graduate degree in Law, public health, or any other relevant health related degree.
• Sound understanding and application of policy concepts, methodologies and tools
• Willingness to travel to the regions
• An ability to work within tight deadlines
• Good analytical and report writing skills
• Good communication and facilitation skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Good computer literacy

Specific Professional Experience

The consultant should be a highly knowledgeable person in policy analysis and development