Terms of Refernce for Stakeholders' Survey for COECSA Strategic Plan 2021-2025 Development at College of Ophthalmology of Eastern Central and Southern Africa

What is College of Ophthalmology of Eastern, Central &Southern Africa?

The College of Ophthalmology of Eastern Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) is a specialized virtual College founded in 2012 after a successful voluntary merger between the Eastern Africa College of Ophthalmologists (EACO) and Ophthalmological Society of Eastern Africa (OSEA). The College seeks to work in tandem with regional and global initiatives and to support international commitments including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), WHO Vision2020: the Right to Sight; WHO AFRO Road Map for scaling up HRH; 4th EAC Development Strategy; national eye care plans in the region, and national development plans.

COECSA plays a critical role in the sector because of its mandate and available expertise in eye care at different levels. Its work augments what other partners are doing and provides a basis for further intervention in other areas that COECSA is not involved. For example, research, reviews of curricula, development of standards, quality assessments, and policy reviews provide data and information from a technical standpoint which can be used for further programmatic intervention. COECSA, therefore, places premium on partnership and collaboration in the sector because it is the synergy that is brought by working with others that produces results. This is the reason why COECSA sees itself as a catalyst for action by many actors. COECSA is a constituent member college of the Eastern, Central &Southern Africa -College of Health Sciences (ECSA -CHS).

COECSA’s Vision

“Eye Health for all in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.”

COECSA’s Mission

To improve the quality of eye care through training, research and advocacy; provide leadership in eye care; and create a forum for exchange of ophthalmic skills, knowledge and resources in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.

Core Values

COECSA’s work in eye health is undergirded by:

• Teamwork –We shall endeavor to work in collaboration with organizations that have similar vision and promote teamwork within and between member countries.
• Innovativeness –COECSA seeks to promote novel ideas that facilitate better ways of delivering interventions and services**
• Integrity – The institutions shall seek to remain transparent, committed and accountable to its constituency and partners by fostering good governance and accountability.**
• Inclusiveness –COECSA believes in embracing diversity and fairness as an overarching principle in health systems.

Strategic drivers & Goals

COECSA’s macro and microenvironments were reviewed and the issues prioritized in terms of the impact and risk.

• Through this process, key drivers that the strategy 2017 -2020 addressed were identified below.
• There is a chronic shortage of human resources in eye health. This is in terms of the quantity, equitable distribution, and retention of trained staff.
• The quality, type of training and post training support is inadequate for ophthalmology in Eastern Central &Southern Africa.
• There is still inadequate infrastructure, equipment, guidelines / curriculum for ophthalmologists in all academic and non academic institutions in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa
• Growing demand for advanced sub-specialist training in ophthalmology
• There is inadequate integration and resourcing of eye health training and services in health systems
• The regional evidence base is inadequate, capacity low and dissemination weak on all key areas of ophthalmology education, training and practice in the region.
• Insufficient opportunities for continuing professional development for ophthalmic professionals.
• Emanating from the above strategic drivers, were four broad strategic goals that informed the COECSA 2017 -2020 strategic Plan;
• To improve the number of skilled and motivated eye health workers
• To promote evidence based standards and guidelines of practice in eye health
• To influence the inclusion of HReH in HRH policies and plans by providing leadership an relevant expertise
• To develop into a strong organization that is able to efficiently and effectively deliver on its programs sustainably.

COECSA’s Mandate

COECSA's mandate is: to contribute to Human Resources for Health (HRH) through quality training in ophthalmology; set standards for professional ophthalmic practice; facilitate continuous professional development; and, promote research which advances ophthalmology in the region. The above mandate is achieved through;

Scholarships: COECSA, in partnership with eye health partners and governments offer full and partial scholarships to students who intend to pursue ophthalmology at M.Med level and who are not able to pay for their training. They must be enrolled to study in any one of the participating universities in the region. This is in keeping with COECSA’s mandate of increasing the number of ophthalmologists in the region.

Sub Specialty training: The purpose of sub-specialty training is to enhance technical capacity so that teaching units and the ECSA region has expertise in different sub specializations. These include: Childhood Blindness, Orbits &Occuloplastics, Vitroretinal Surgery, Public Health for Eye Care and Glaucoma among others. By having the personnel in place it will help reduce the loss of opportunities associated with blindness. Currently there are patients having to either wait for long periods of time to be attended to by subspecialists or go to hospitals outside the country at very high costs. Many of those affected end up not being able to access these services.

South-North/South-South linkage: This is a twinning program that creates linkages between the universities in the region and other centres of excellence in other countries in the North or South to facilitate continuous learning through training and exposure to best practice and research in ophthalmology. Currently, the universities in the region have had fruitful links with universities in the United Kingdom including St Thomas Hospital, Birmingham University, Bristol University; Liverpool University, and University of Munich in Germany. COECSA also has existing links with the Royal College of Ophthalmology, UK; LV Prasad Eye Institute, India; Aravind Eye Care System, India.

Promoting Research: COECSA supports different types of research that advance eye health care in the region in line with the college research strategy. These include policy research to enhance evidence-based policy development in eye care, clinical research to improve skills and knowledge in ophthalmology, epidemiological and operational research to enhance intervention in eye healthcare. The research will be published in reputable ophthalmic journals in the region and beyond.

Infrastructure development: COECSA has supported development of infrastructure for eye care in teaching universities, under then EACO, to support ophthalmology training as well as service delivery. This included building new units, refurbishing existing facilities and providing equipment. This is in an effort to improve the capacities of the teaching units to provide quality training for the students.

Public policy and advocacy: COECSA aims to be a champion of health policy reform in the region. COECSA advocates for pro-people health policy that is evidence-based and that promotes equity, access, and efficiency in eye healthcare.

Assignment brief

COECSA’s institutional development and programmatic direction is guided by its periodic five year strategic plans. The current Strategic Plan (2017 – 2020) has expired. In order to discharge its mandate, COECSA needs a new five-year (2021-2025) strategic plan that shall define the core business of the College, key strategic approaches and the best institutional arrangements to deliver on the core business.

As part of defining the core business, the planning process will chart the long-term strategic direction for COECSA by reviewing the College’s vision, mission, strategic goal, objectives, and core values. These form the institutional philosophy that inspires and guides institutional excellence and superior performance.

In preparation for the new 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, COECSA will be using the services of an independent consultant to facilitate the survey of the organizational stakeholders on the major achievements under the 2017-2020 strategic plan and receive feedback on the next key priority focus areas for the period 2021-2015.

This will help COECSA gain insights about where it is now, gather information that identifies where it should be in the defined future, and generate decisions that will bridge the gap. The consultant is to initiate the survey, facilitate the assignment and help compile the stakeholders’ feedback in a participatory manner under the guidance of COECSA Secretariat.

The Purpose of the assignment

Purpose

The purpose of the study is stated below:

1. Establish feedback from the stakeholders of COECSA on the achievements under the 2017-2020 strategic plan and document the lessons learnt;
2. Develop a consensus among the stakeholders of COECSA on where the organization wants to be in five years (the key priority focus areas), and the strategies to get there;

Scope of Survey

The project targets to survey both internal and external stakeholders as indentified in the COECSA 2017-2020 strategy. The survey is expected to make a follow-up of relevant stakeholders who are directly and indirectly affected by COECSA’s work over 2017-2020 period to achieve the study purpose as stated in section 2.2 and 2.2 above.

Nature and Duration of the Assignment

This is a mixed-methods survey that will be carried out in conformity with the standards and practices of any research. The consultant shall take lead of this assignment, coordinate all the survey activities, and be responsible for the deliverables of this assignment.

The consultant shall jointly with COECSA, identify comprehensive participatory methodology for undertaking this survey. The methodology must include but not limited to the following: use of online structured questionnaires, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) with the relevant groups of people; and any other methodology as proposed by the consultant.

The consultant will review all the tools that will be deployed and direct this assignment. He/she will define an appropriate sample size using scientifically sound methods in a way that will avoid selection bias and ensure that the survey meets the principles of participation involving both male and female stakeholders. In addition, the consultant will develop a “Manual of Procedure” detailing the complete process of survey.

Expected Deliverables and timelines

1. Work-plan: The Consultant is expected to share a detailed work-plan as part of his/her proposal to undertake the assignment.
2. Research protocols: Review the protocols and instruments necessary to operationalize the survey, to include appropriate sampling and targeting of areas and individuals and organizations that are core to COECSA’s strategy.
3. Manual of Practice: Review and agree on the methodology and tools, schedule and persons to be interviewed.
4. Draft Report: The Consultant will submit a draft survey report by 30th March 2021 to the Chief Executive Officer for review by COECSA Team.
5. Final Report: Within one week of receiving the COECSA’s team feedback on the draft survey report, the Consultant will submit a final report on or before 10th April 2021.
6. Dissemination: To effectively disseminate findings of the model for wider learning on the key achievements under 2017-2020 strategic plan and COECSA’s 2021-2015 strategic priority areas and build consensus amongst stakeholders on the next strategy focus areas.
7. Logistical Support
   1. The College of Ophthalmology of Eastern Central &Southern Africa will make all logistical arrangements, and any travel arrangements where necessary for the Consultant.

Required Qualifications

• Individual consultant or consultancy firm shall have a demonstrated competence in having undertaken similar work before. The consultant must demonstrate knowledge and skills in the following areas:
• Experience in conducting strategic plan development in not-for profit sector;
• Knowledge of the regional dynamics in the health sector in ECSA;
• Strong analytical, writing and presentation skills;

Essential qualifications include:

• A Masters’ degree in the relevant field (Social Sciences, Public Health, Development Studies, Community Eye Health, or any other related field);
• Minimum 5 years proven experience in the design and development of strategic plans;
• Demonstrated evidence of having completed similar assignments;
• Working knowledge of the role of professional colleges is an added advantage.

Other Requirements:

The application should contain a technical and financial proposal. The technical proposal should clearly show the understanding and interpretation of the assignment in the context of strategy development, the methodology to be used in undertaking the assignment, time frame and activity schedule.

The financial proposal should include the daily rate as well as an indication of all other support costs that may be involved to successfully undertake the assignment.

Only shortlisted candidates/firm will be contacted.