Consultant Strategic Documentation and Opportunities at Palladium

Project Overview And Role

Background

Health Policy Plus (HP+) is a USAID-funded five-year $185 million project awarded to Palladium (formerly Futures Group) on August 28, 2015. HP+ has a mandate across global, country, and subnational levels to strengthen and advance health policy priorities in HIV, family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), and maternal health. It aims to improve the enabling environment for equitable and sustainable health services, supplies, and delivery systems through policy development and implementation, with an emphasis on voluntary, rights-based health programs, and by strengthening in-country partners? capacity to navigate complex environments for effective policy design, implementation, and financing aligned to their priorities. We carry forward proven approaches to preserve achievements. These approaches inform how we manage programs and engage with stakeholders, and tools and techniques improve decision making and the achievement of predetermined goals.

In Summary, HPP

Under predecessor USAID- and other donor-funded projects, Palladium and its partners have worked for more than two decades with Kenya and East African partners and stakeholders to improve the enabling environment for HIV, FP/RH, and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). In the past decade, Palladium (as Futures Group) led the USAID global Health Policy Initiative (HPI, 2005-2010) and Health Policy Project (HPP (2010-2015) which were both active in Kenya and several other East African countries. HPP Kenya collaborated with USAID and the Government of Kenya (GOK) Ministries of Health (MOH) from March 2012 to September 2015 on a field program that supported GOK leadership to bring the health sector into alignment with the new 2010 Constitution.

• Developed national and county-level policies, strategies, and guidelines
• Assisted with restructuring and strengthening Kenya?s health sector
• Promoted equity, inclusivity, and human rights
• Reinvigorated a national dialogue around the need for Kenya to increase sustainable, domestic financing for its health sector
• Fostered and strengthened decentralized health systems in 47 new counties
• Built financing and governance capacity
• Generated significant and fundamental data to inform decision making and ensure accountability

HPP Kenya completed the activities summarized above in the third quarter of FY2015. They are described in more detail in the many technical reports and end of project report found at www.healthpolicyproject.com/kenya.

Financing for healthcare in Kenya and much of the East Africa region continues to come from various sources, which include development partner contributions, private sector including out-of-pocket payments (OOP), and government tax revenue. Heavy reliance on out-of-pocket payments continues to be undesirable, as it can push vulnerable households, which cannot afford healthcare, under the poverty line. In order to expand and ensure access to healthcare services for all and to protect households from catastrophic expenditures, Kenya and other countries in the region need increased and intensified work to identify and implement alternative and sustainable healthcare financing mechanisms, particularly increased DRM.

These Objectives Also Serve As The Primary HP+ Program Components

In partnership with USAID/KEA, the GOK and its partners, and EAC and ECSA health secretariats, HP+ is pursuing the following specific objectives.

• Increase Sustainable Finance and Domestic Resource Mobilization for Kenya?s Health Sector
• Strengthen national and county linkages to enhance Kenya?s health finance, policy and governance
• Support regional (Eastern Africa) health networks to better position health financing agenda

Scope of Work

The Consultant will work with the HP+ US and HP+ Kenya teams on identifying opportunities for strategic documentation of achievements and results, including identifying key topics or components of a report that the HP+ team will draft in summer 2018. The Consultant will also support the HP+ teams to identify areas for technical growth and opportunities to continue to support sustainable development of the health system through policy, advocacy, finance, transparency and accountability interventions.

Main Tasks Will Include

Responsibilities

• Review workplan and key project documents and talk with key HP+ Kenya staff to identify project highlights of greatest interest to USAID;
• Develop list/outline of components or key topics to be included in a project report that will be developed to summarize the first three years of HP+ Kenya project implementation;
• Identify potential programming gaps and areas of opportunity for HP+ Kenya.

Main Qualifications Include

Requirements

• Over 15 years of experience designing, managing, and implementing USAID-funded health projects;
• Over 10 years of experience managing and/or implementing projects operating in Kenya;
• Experience working for USAID and implementing partners;
• Known, strong competencies in workplanning, project documentation/reporting, and strategic planning, including in Kenya;
• Demonstrated experience developing mid-project and end-of-project reports;
• Demonstrated experience in program evaluation during mid-project or end-of-project evaluations for USAID.