ABOUT AFRICAN CONSTITUENCY BUREAU FOR THE GLOBAL FUND (ACB)

The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has two constituencies representing Africa namely the Eastern and Southern African (ESA) and West and Central Africa (WCA) constituencies. The two constituencies took a joined-up approach in 2012 with a twofold intent: to ensure that constituency priorities are reflected in Global Fund strategy and operational plans; and to strengthen the presence, voice and contributions of the constituencies, through their delegations, in all Global Fund governance deliberations and processes. The constituencies adopted a new governance framework that amongst other things, established a joint ESA and WCA Bureau – the African Constituencies Bureau, ACB – a policy think tank that support ESA and WCA Global Fund board members, committee members and delegations. Its primary functions include ensuring effective engagement, representation and participation of African constituencies in Global Fund processes. It also seeks to enhance the capacity of the African constituencies to shape Global Fund policies and processes. The constituencies comprise a total of 47 countries.

The ACB, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ensures effective engagement, representation and participation of African Constituencies, ESA and WCA, in Global Fund Board processes.

background to this Opportunity

The Global Fund, the biggest multi-lateral mechanism is at the centre of the global community’s efforts to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030. The fund is in the process of developing its post-2022 strategic plan. There is so much at stake for this plan given it will be the last before the 2030 goal of ending the three epidemics. It cannot be business as usual and the margin for error is therefore extremely limited.

Africa bears the biggest share of the global burden of malaria and HIV and a considerable burden of TB. As the epicentre of the epidemics, it is critical that the continent is at the forefront of developing evidence-based interventions that will turn the tide of these epidemics and engage in discussions on the Global Fund’s next strategy. This will be a huge demonstration of the continent’s ownership of global strategies towards ending the three epidemics in 2030.

In May 2016, the World Health Assembly (Resolution WHA69.20) called on the WHO to take all necessary measures to support access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable medicines for children. While the focus was on children, the resolution can also extend to the entire health sector which the African continent needs to tap on.

The Catalytic Framework for Ending HIV, TB and malaria has the first strategic investment area focused on health systems strengthening and recognizes PSM systems as one of the catalysts towards the world’s efforts to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030. Access to affordable and quality assured medicines, commodities and technologies is also highlighted as can be seen below:

• Strengthen and sustain the African pharmaceutical industry, through prioritizing investment, regulatory harmonization, creating an enabling environment for local production, and addressing weak market integration;
• Build in-country essential skills in manufacturing and management through technology transfers and South-South and North-South cooperation;
• Enforce standards, building capacity and promoting greater regional legislative and regulatory harmonization; and
• Diversify and bring innovative strategies which show economies of scale, with clear efficiency gains and measures.

The Common Africa Position (CAP) on TB towards the 2018 UNGA HLM on TB prioritized two pillars of health systems, health financing and strategic information. Of the former, the following are necessary to strengthening the PSM systems:

• Access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable medicines;
• Research and development on appropriate medicines for diseases that affect children and ensure that high-quality clinical trials are undertaken;
• Strengthen national regulatory systems including pharmacovigilance and post-market surveillance; and
• Heterogeneity with a wide range of quality standards and regulations to facilitate a safe, timely, and reliable delivery of goods at a reasonable cost and at operations scale.

As can be seen from the foregoing, therefore, strengthening health system, including PSMs, is an important priority for Africa if the region is to end the epidemics or achieve UHC by 2030. The ACB is therefore seeking to hire a consultant that will support the organization to conduct a desk review into PSM and market-shaping aspects of RSSH in Africa and provide evidence-informed guidance on how the Global Fund’s next strategy can strategically meet the region’s aspirations vis-à-vis PSM and market-shaping.

Scope of Work:

Below is the expected scope of work under this assignment:

• The consultant is expected to undertake a desk review of the latest available evidence on countries faced with displacement, fragility and instability (COEs) and implications of this phenomena on delivery of HIV, TB and malaria programmes. The consultant must review applicable literature from peer-reviewed and published articles, normative evidence and guidance from leading technical organizations and policy and research think tanks, evaluations and reviews such as the Global Fund, technical organizations like the World Bank, WHO, UNHCR, etc. and other organizations such as the African Union. The consultant will be expected to share these resources for the ACB’s intranet which countries can access to further their work around COEs.
• An in-depth mapping of countries affected by displacement, fragility and instability in Africa detailing the key trends, the progress and gains being made to meet objectives against HIV, TB & malaria, what’s working and what’s not working, remaining gaps and bottlenecks, best practices, enablers and the opportunities for streamlining HIV, TB and malaria programming in these regions;
• Identify key global and African commitments relevant to displacement, fragility and instability;
• Identify, review, analyze and compare applicable policies (similar to the Global Fund’s COE policy) from relevant organizations working in environments fraught with displacement, fragility and instability;
• Where possible, the consultant shall be expected to interview and engage with key stakeholders to probe for, and validate, research findings. This shall include participating in the planned Constituency engagement sessions being organized by the ACB to identify the continent’s priority health issues and interventions, as part of a process to provide input to the next strategy for the Global Fund; and
• Make evidence-informed recommendations on how Africa can maximize investments towards ending Malaria, TB and AIDS in regions affected by displacement, fragility and instability. The recommendations must address strategies, gaps, opportunities, enablers and actions needed to be taken by the Global Fund in its post-2022 strategy to streamline implementation of HIV, TB and malaria programs.

Deliverables:

• Under this assignment, the consultant is expected to deliver the following deliverables:
• Provide an inception report detaining how the work will be conducted. This should be provided one week after signing the contract.
• A draft report detailing priority issues identified as strategic to Africa towards the next Global Fund strategy, the key findings and recommendations in word format.
• A final report, no more than 50 pages[1], and making use of annexes, detailing the key findings, including:
• A 3-paged Executive Summary of the research providing a synopsis of the key findings and recommendations;
• Document some best practices globally and in Africa in particular
•  Recommendations relevant for African countries towards integrating climate change and environment thinking as part of efforts to end the three epidemics by 2030. The recommendations
• A PowerPoint presentation detailing the key findings and recommendations of the desk review.

Terms of the appointment:

The successful consultant will be expected to complete this assignment within 30 days and should be willing and available to participate in a dissemination meeting with various stakeholders, including countries, technical partners and funders.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• An advanced university degree in PSM, pharmacy, public health, public policy, health systems, or health policy.
• A PhD in a relevant field will be an added advantage.
• Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, logistics, purchasing and supply or other relevant discipline such as public health, health policy or public policy.

EXPERIENCE:

• Preferred: A pharmaceutical or procurement and supply chain management systems expert with a minimum of 10 years of experience working in HIV, TB and malaria across the prevention, care and support and treatment continuum, including program design and implementation, research and policy development for PSM programs and interventions. Experience of working in Africa will be an added advantage.
• Experience with undertaking PSM system planning and design, deployment and implementation, monitoring and evaluation and market shaping in Africa.
• Experience with publishing peer-reviewed scholarly articles, including on various aspects on PSM and market-shaping strategies.
• Experience with disseminating research findings and making conference presentations with relevant stakeholders.