Consultancy to develop a Training Tool Kit for combined Vitamin A supplementation for children 6-59 months and Deworming for children 12- 59 months at Helen Keller International

ituation Context

Vitamin A is a micronutrient of public health importance as it is essential for a child’s growth and development. It helps to prevent and decrease the severity of many infections by enhancing the immune system and reducing overall child mortality by 23%. It also reduces deaths from measles by 50% and diarrhea by 40%.[1] Vitamin A deficiency can lead to increased susceptibility to disease, particularly diarrheal diseases which are a leading cause of death in children under five in Kenya. Additionally, this deficiency can also lead to anemia and blindness.

Worm infections cause or worsen malnutrition and anemia, both of which have serious negative impacts on children of preschool age who are in a period of intense physical and mental growth. Simultaneous administration of micronutrient supplements and deworming drugs decreases recipients' susceptibility to disease, increase nutrient absorption and eliminate the amplifying effects that nutrient deficiency and worm infections can each have on the other's ill health effects. Malezi bora strategy in Kenya provides opportunity to improve coverage of child health interventions through outreaches. This strategy recommends combination of various child health interventions to reap the total benefits associated with combination of services e.g. saving on costs. However, during malezi bora in Kenya, most counties focus on acceleration of VAS alone. ECT project therefore focused on combining VAS for children 6-59 and deworming for children 12-59 months to leverage on the health and cost benefit benefits of combination of the two essential health services.

About Every Child Thrives (ECT) Project

Since October 2016, Helen Keller International (HKI) and Effect: Hope are supporting Vitamin A Supplementation and deworming programs in 3 counties: Kilifi, Kwale and Siaya. The program focuses on supporting the County Health Management teams to plan, implement and monitor routine delivery of VAS and deworming (VAS+D) and Malezi Bora events. The project also entails a strong support to gender equity.

The project is organized in 4 streams:

1. Stream 1: Strengthening the local health care system by increasing the capacity of local community health workers (CHWs) and volunteers to implement an integrated NTD-MDA and Vitamin A supplementation program for boys and girls under 5.
2. Stream 2: Increasing the coverage of vitamin A and de-worming for boys and girls under 5 using an existing community based Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Mass Drug Administration platform combined with micronutrient supplementation.
3. Stream 3: Increasing knowledge and demand for vitamin A and de-worming through community engagement around vitamin A deficiency and the need for supplementation as well as de-worming in children ineligible for school-based programs.
4. Stream 4: Ensuring equitable access to vitamin A and de-worming for all eligible boys and girls under 5 (6-59 months) by ensuring that all gender and disability-based barriers to the program delivery are identified and addressed to maximize equitable program access.

The Purpose of the Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to document lessons learnt in the process of implementation of VAS while collating training materials that were used at every level of implementation into a package which will be termed as a VAS and deworming training toolkit. This training package will be helpful to anyone who plans to implement combined VAS and deworming in future.

Objectives of the Consultancy

The main objective of this consultancy is to develop a training toolkit for combined Vitamin A supplementation for children 6-59 months and deworming for children 12-59 months.

The specific objectives are:

• To develop a training guide and a manual for combined VAS and deworming for health workers and community health volunteers
• To incorporate gender integration training guides in VAS and deworming training toolkit for both health workers and community health volunteers.
• To incorporate job-aids in the VAS and deworming training guides for health workers and community health volunteers

The Scope of Work

The consultant will work in consultation with Helen Keller Intl, effect: hope and national stakeholders to design and develop the training toolkit.

The consultant is expected to

• Develop an inception protocol detailing their understanding of the key items in the toolkit and a work plan schedule.
• Carry-out a desk review of all relevant materials, including existing VAS training manual, deworming training toolkit, ECT visual checklist, ECT gender equality training guide, ECT Gender Equality Strategy, project factsheet and previous project training reports.
• Develop the toolkit and modify it based on recommendations from effect:hope or Helen Keller Intl if necessary
• Undertake consultation with key stakeholders during consolidation of the toolkit.
• Present Draft toolkit to Helen Keller Intl for feedback and comments

· Finalize and design the final toolkit in readiness for printing

Timelines

This consultancy is expected to commence Mid-April to end of May 2020

Qualifications required

• Hold at least a MSc in a relevant field (e.g., public health, nutrition, sociology, education etc.)
• Demonstrated experience in development of training curriculums, manuals or guidelines
• Demonstrated experience of working with public health programs, with a preference for nutrition programs
• Good working relationship with Ministry of Health, and county departments of health