The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide support the Gambia Red Cross Society in the start-up of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) funded “Accelerating Malaria Elimination in the Gambia” Project with a focus on ensuring the project is designed, planned and budgeted to achieve a high level of success and significantly contribute to the efforts of the Government of Gambia towards malaria elimination.

Background

According to the 2023 World Malaria Report, the large disruptions to malaria services during the COVID-19 pandemic drove up malaria incidence and mortality rates at a time when progress against the disease had already stalled. In terms of both malaria cases and deaths, the world is worse off now than before the pandemic. Five countries – Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Uganda – bore the brunt of these increases, hindered by multiple challenges. The impacts of extreme weather events, conflict and humanitarian crisis, resource constraints, biological threats, and inequities have impeded recovery. The number of global malaria cases in 2022 was significantly higher than before the pandemic in 2019. From 2000 to 2019, the number of global malaria cases fell from 243 million to 233 million. There were an additional 11 million cases in 2020, no change in 2021, and then an increase of 5 million cases in 2022, for a total of about 249 million cases. Similarly, the number of global malaria deaths in 2022 was higher than in 2019. Since 2000, malaria deaths declined steadily from 864 000 to 576 000 in 2019. With the onset of the pandemic, the number of deaths increased by 55 000 in 2020, to 631 000. Marginal decreases in the following two years resulted in an estimated 608 000 deaths in 2022 – 32 000 more deaths than before the pandemic.

The most recent Global Fund grant cycle (allocating funding for 2024 – 2026) did not achieve funding targets and led to significant gaps in many countries’ national malaria strategic plans to achieve control and elimination targets. The China International Development Cooperation Agency, recognizing the funding gaps, has committed funding to the Gambia Red Cross Society and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to complement existing funding from major malaria donors – the Government of the Gambia, the Global Fund and, most recently, the US President’s Malaria Initiative – with a focus on specific activities.

The GRCS project will be implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the National Malaria Control Program and will focus on capacity building in target communities to effectively prevent and control malaria and provide high-quality health services. The two-year project aims to:

1. Improve malaria prevention and early health care seeking behaviors.
2. Improve malaria/integrated community case management at community level.
3. Reduce malaria transmission among children under five years old in Kanifing Municipal Council and Kombo North.
4. Strengthen multilateral coordination and communication and contribute to wider international/regional coordination with key stakeholders in the Gambia.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSULTANCY

HR/staffing and other cluster support:

• Support recruitment and onboarding (on-the-job training) of project officer and other project staff in the Gambia Red Cross office

Project management support:

• Lead establishment of detailed project timeline for year one of the project, indicating detailed activities that will lead to achievement of key deliverables/milestones
• Support development of project management tools and materials
• Support planning for the communication commitments defined in the project proposal
• Support implementation of project management tools for financial tracking of expenditures per activity/output; and
• Support development of standard tools and templates for reporting implementation progress and data weekly/monthly in alignment with the donor reporting requirements

Coordination and technical, training and preparedness support

• Review the project proposal and budget submitted to CIDCA, the activities funding by US PMI in the Malaria Operational Plan and the Global Fund funding application to ensure solid understanding of the fit between the CIDCA funding and other large-donor funding for malaria
• Work with GRCS and National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to review and refine the project proposal (e.g. geographies, targets) in line with the final Global Fund proposal and with the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) funding decisions to ensure alignment and complementarity
• Establish M&E framework, indicators, data collection methods and tools
• Realign project proposal and indicators for discussion with CIDCA and approval
• Support the GRCS to identify key stakeholders (internal and external) and ensure their roles, influence, and expectations are clearly outlined
• Organize a partner coordination meeting with Global Fund and US PMI to review NMCP/GRCS decisions and align on workplan for coming year
• Establish project steering committee (NS + NMCP) that will act as core links between the two organizations and a schedule for meetings, members, etc.
• Establish quarterly working meetings for progress updates with partners and resolution of issues arising (e.g. where activities are linked across partners)
• Define data circuit for submission, cleaning, analysis and use of program data for decision-making, data visualization
• Support development of project implementation materials, tools, supports, etc.
• Support development of training agendas, materials, etc.
• Support development of a social and behaviour change plan, materials and work plans for community engagement, mobilization, etc.
• Set up a regular and effective coordination mechanism with IFRC Dakar and Beijing delegations and communicate on a regular basis on project implementation and challenges
• Ensure a strong coordination platform with CIDCA and other key Chinese entities in The Gambia
• Perform any other duties assigned and in line with the project

Project objectives and timelines:

Objective #1: Ensure high-quality program planning, budgeting and implementation-ready materials are ready for the Gambia Red Cross Society malaria project.

Desired outcomes**:** The Gambia Red Cross implements a high-quality, timely and respected project in support of target communities.

Objective #2: Scaling up and maintaining universal coverage targets of malaria interventions.

Desired outcomes**:** The Gambia Red Cross successfully implements, monitors and evaluates the project activities to ensure efforts lead to established targets for malaria elimination in the Gambia.

Support to be provided to the consultant

The consultant will work closely with the Gambia Red Cross Society, supported by the IFRC Dakar cluster office and the IFRC Geneva malaria team.

Timeframe

The consultancy timeframe is upto December 31, 2024.