Africa Human Capital Development Plus (HCD+) headquartered in Abuja Nigeria is looking for the services of consultants to design an Education and Skills Development Advocacy Strategy for Sierra Leone, covering the entire country. Africa HCD+ is a continental platform that provides technical assistance to regional economic communities and member states in the Human Capital Development ecosystem. It has been designed to act as an African voice for advocacy, accountability, and transparency on HCD and seek to accelerate political commitments,  decision-making and funding for key priorities towards realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) #1 – 6 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The organization, through increased HCD advocacy, focuses on five thematic areas/pillars:

•  Health and Health Security
•  Nutrition and Food Security
•  Education, Skills Development and Labor Participation

4) Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion and Digital Economy

5) Gender Transformative Human Capital Development

Background

Investing in human capital—education, skills, health, and economic welfare—leads to significant national development. The World Bank defines human capital as a mix of knowledge, skills, and health that enables productive societal contributions. However, Africa lags in human capital development due to various challenges, including political and economic instability. With the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approaching, in 2030, no country is on track to meet all targets, a situation worsened by the recent COVID – 19 pandemic and global conflict in Europe and other part of the world. Africa, already vulnerable in crucial sectors for human capital development, requires a coordinated, multi-layered advocacy approach to drive investment and reforms for improving human capital outcomes.

HCD+ is an independent platform funded by various donors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and will have the capacity to serve as an African voice for advocacy, accountability, and transparency on HCD. It aims to incubate a regional advocacy and technical assistance hub on human capital development advocacy towards increasing African Governments’ commitment, decision-making, funding, and accountability to developing human capital across the continent in line with realising SDGs #1 – #16 in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many of these countries including Sierra Leone, have made HCD a national priority as part of their commitment the SDGs, but also as part pf their national medium-term plans. Despite this ambition countries still counting to struggle on how to move there HCD agenda forward.

Therefore, HCD+ is Leveraging a mix of advocacy methods, that will focus on five pillars: (i) Health and Health Security; (ii) Nutrition and Food Security (iii) Education, skills development, and labour participation; (iv) Entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, and digital transformation and (v) Gender transformative HCD.

As part of its overarching Advocacy Strategy, HCD+ has developed guiding messaging for different groups of stakeholders, including the Conference of Heads of State and Government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Communities, Civil Society and the Media and many others across its five pillars of focus. Messaging for the health sector is focused on getting stakeholders to invest in the health systems for improved health outcomes to increase the  productivity of citizens. Messaging for the health security sub-sector is focused on getting stakeholders to invest in the national and regional health systems strengthening for pandemic preparedness and response.

Additionally, Country Entry Strategies have been developed for its initial focus countries of Nigeria, Ethiopia, Niger and Kenya. Sierra Leone has recently been added to the basket of countries to be supported by HCD+. Given the unique circumstances being experienced by each country, these terms of reference have been developed for a consultant or firm to design HCD’s Health and Health Security Advocacy Strategy for Sierra Leone with a focus on priori-identified health and health security focus areas.

Objectives of the Assignment

The objective of this consultancy is to develop a comprehensive, multi-faceted Health and Health Security Advocacy Strategy on Human Capital Development for Sierra Leone that will inform policy, engage stakeholders, raise awareness, and drive action in the following areas, with the end impact of improve the national HCD indicators. Health plays a critical role in human capital development, as the physical and mental well-being of individuals directly impacts their ability to learn, work, and contribute to society

•  Nutrition and Food Systems
•  Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
•  sexual and reproductive health right (Menstrual hygiene, fistula and incontinence, )
•  Improving zero-dose vaccination for under 5s
•  Health Data improvement
•  Health Security Advocacy
•  Primary Health Care Advocacy
•  Health Financing to strengthening FCHI and ensure no financial barrier to health
•  Advocacy against unequal or inequitable health services delivery – health for all life stages – from baby to elderly
•  Mental health
•  Digitisation of the health system

Scope of Work

The consultant/firm will be responsible for:

•  Conducting a thorough analysis of the current situation in each focus area across the targeted countries.
•  Identifying and mapping key stakeholders and target audience groups.
•  Develop a situational analysis for each country, focusing on current enablers and/or deterrent for HCD in health
•  Developing a set of clear, impactful messages tailored to different audiences.
•  Proposing a range of online and offline advocacy activities and campaigns.
•  Creating a detailed operational/implementation plan with realistic timelines.
•  Establishing a framework for monitoring and evaluating the strategy’s impact.
•  Proposed a dissemination approach for the advocacy strategy with respect to the different stakeholders.

Key Areas of Exploration

Developing an advocacy strategy that covers various health, health security, and social issues requires a nuanced and strategic approach. HCD+ recognises that each proposed focus area requires a tailored approach that considers the local context, stakeholders involved, and the specific challenges and opportunities within each domain. It is therefore expected that this assignment will explore the following areas and applicable country-specific areas:

•  Nutrition and Food Systems:
•   Education and Awareness
•  Access and affordability of Healthy Foods
•  Underfeeding (malnutrition and overfeeding (Obesity)
•  Sustainable Food Production
•  Advocacy for food fortification for preventable disease .
•  Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH):
•  Infrastructure Development – access to safe water
•  Hygiene Promotion
•  Policy Advocacy
•  Living condition – well sanitised and ventilated homes?
•  Sexual Reproductive health and right (Menstrual Hygiene, Fistula, and Incontinence:)
•  Comprehensive sexual education and family planning
•  Awareness and Destigmatisation on FGM, menstruation etc)
•  Access to Products and Services on SRHR eVmWEpc BIpnb
•  Support and Rehabilitation Services of victim of abuse, violence and exploitation
•  Improving Zero-Dose Vaccination for Under 5s: ( reduce vaccine defaulters for children under 5) and other preventable diseases
•  Vaccine Public Awareness Campaigns
•  Vaccine Accessibility
•  Collaboration with Health Authorities
•  Awareness on Routine supplementation and availability of products
•  Fortification of food for preventable diseases – anaemia etc
•  Health Data Improvement:
•  Data Collection and Management
•  Gender and age disaggregated data
•  Capacity Building management
•  Utilisation of Data for Policy Making and for community empowerment
•  Country National HCD Dashboard or Subnational dashboards
•  Health Security Advocacy:
•  Disease Prevention and Control and laboratory capacities for detection of pathogens
•  Public awareness on public Health and early reporting signs
•  Highlight impact of outbreaks/epidemics/pandemic on HCD
•  Strategies for preparedness and response.
•  Primary Health Care Advocacy
•  Stakeholder Engagement on improving health care services in rural and venerable communities
•  Policy Integration on services and comprehensive services
•  Monitoring and Evaluation
•  Health Financing to strengthening FCHI and ensure no financial barrier to health
•  Prevent poverty from seeking health (avoid catastrophic and impoverished health expenditures
•  Advocate for improvement of the free health care and extension to other vulnerable groups
•  Advocacy against unequal or inequitable health services delivery – health for all life stages – from baby to elderly

Advocate for equity – health for all irrespective of when, where, how, they were born or decide to live.

Deliverables:

The consultant/firm is expected to deliver:

•  An in-depth advocacy strategy document for HCD in Health.
•  An actionable implementation plan.
•  A validation report summarising findings from stakeholder consultations.
•  A monitoring and evaluation framework for the strategy.
•  A PowerPoint presentation and news brief for the exercise and document

Timeframe

•  Preliminary Research and Survey Design: 1 week
•  Data Collection and Stakeholder Engagement: 2.5 weeks
•  Data Analysis and Strategy drafting: 1 week
•  Strategy Validation meetings: 1.5 weeks
•  Report Compilation: 1.5 weeks
•  Evaluation Criteria:

The below table details the required documents to support with the evaluation S/N

Description of required documents

1 Detailed research firm profile with registered address, functional email, telephone numbers and point of contact. F or an individual consultant, detailed cover letter and curriculum vitae addressing our request capturing proven experience in developing frameworks and strategies related to human capital development, health system and strengthening.

2 C context: Strong understanding of the socio-economic and cultural context of Sierra Leone and Excellent stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills.

3 Academic Qualifications: Attached CVs of consultants detailing clearly their academic qualifications and experience.

4 Experience in HCD and Health system, security and strengthening projects . Attached copies of previous services/work s contract.

5 Detailed work plan – Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality reports and conduct impactful training sessions and a detailed work plan on how you intend to implement your proposal.

6 Financial Budget – Give a financial breakdown of both professional services fees for the consultant and other operational costs. See details of budget and payment schedule.

Budget and Payment Schedule:

The total budget for this consultancy is being determined. Payment will be made in instalments based on milestone completion:

•  Upon submission of initial (inception) report: 30%
•  After draft strategy presentation: 40%
•  Upon final strategy and validation report approval: 30%

Reporting and Coordination:

The consultant will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer at HCD+ and will coordinate with the relevant departments/teams within HCD+.