Consultant 12-136

Job Location:

Job Description:

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through
health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.


Scope of Work
(Please note that each working day is equivalent to 8 hours)

• Review relevant existing plans and templates including: BCP templates, Contingency Plans (eg. UNCT Contingency Planning Framework), sector pandemic preparedness plan drafts developed in PREPARE countries (eg. selected plans developed in the Philippines), other national sector pandemic preparedness plans (eg. Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, US, Ireland, etc.). Several of such documents will be made available to the consultant by PREPARE and additional ones might be used from other sources. (4 working days)

• Produce draft templates of a Multisector Coordination Plan and a Sector Pandemic Preparedness Plan addressing at least (the list below is not exclusive and other relevant issues, for example those addressed in BCPs could be included, if relevant). The templates should provide the relevant chapters and headings in a way that it guides the users intuitively to identify the relevant contents that need to be defined and inserted into the templates. Relevant explanations on the contents of the plan should be given in the additional manual to be developed by the hired individual (see below). (5 working days)

• Issues to be covered in the template (amongst others):
? How will the government coordinate response to humanitarian issues arising in the wake of a developing pandemic
? Description of the coordination structure and mechanisms
? Roles and responsibilities of relevant actors and sectors
? Description of the linkages between health sector response & coordination and multisector/humanitarian response & coordination

• Sector Plan
? What specific support to the response activities of the government and the health sector could the sector or specific service providers within the sector provide during a pandemic in order to support?
? What actions should be taken by the respective ministry and other key actors and service providers in order to assure continuity of operations within the sector?
? What specific support and information would the key actors and service providers within the sector require from the government and the health sector in order to enable continuity of operations?
? What kind of “Sector Crisis Response Management (SCRM)” structure should be defined within the sector in order to mitigate the impact of a pandemic on the sector and the service providers and to maximize a most effective support the sector can provide to the response of the government and the health sector?
? Who should be included in such a SCRM team and what should be the respective roles?
? What kind of communication structure should be defined during a crisis situation between the SCRM team and the key actors and service providers?
? What kind of impact (scenarios) could a pandemic have on the sector and the various service providers, including different levels of impact severity? Impact Analysis.
? What impact would the breakdown of specific services provided by the sector or certain service providers have on the response of the government and the health sector, on other sectors, on society and economy?
? Others
? List of important Annexes.

• Revise the template according to the comments and feedback provided by the PREPARE team (2 working days)
• Produce a brief and concise manual describing the contents and components to be explored and eventually inserted by the author(s) into the plan. (5 working days)
• Revise the manual based on the comments and feedback provided by the PREPARE team (2 working days)
• Train PREPARE staff to use the template, lead a workshop with government officials to introduce the template and facilitate sector technical working groupsduring the workshop in the first steps of developing preparedness plans. This activity will take place in a selected country in Africa or Asia and the costs of travel, accommodation and per diem will be directly paid by PREPARE. (9 working days, including 2 days for travel and 7 days of training/workshop)-Travel anticipated from April 11-19, 2012

***Total: 27 working days***

Period of Work

The consultancy is expected to take place in March-April 2012. Specific dates will be agreed with the consultant.

Deliverables

• Multisector Coordination Plan and manual for the plan
• Sector Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan template
• Sector Pandemic Preparedness and Response Plan development manual
• Training for PREPARE staff, introduction of the templates in a workshop and facilitation of the workshop (together with the PREPARE team)

Requested Materials

Please provide the following:
•Summary of understanding of scope of work as described
•Detailed curriculum vitae
•3 References
•Hourly rate offer, a total maximum (not to exceed) level of effort
•Statement confirming earliest day of availability for work and availability to travel during the dates stated

Please note that proposals are due to Erica O. Danquah, MPH at edanquah@internationalmedicalcorps.org no later than Wednesday, March 14, 2012.