SHOPS Plus Consultant Opportunities in Kenya

1. Project Operations Consultant

SHOPS Plus: Engaging Kenya’s Private Health Sector in DHIS2

Background: The Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) Plus project is USAID’s global flagship initiative in private sector health.

The overall purpose of the project is to improve health outcomes and increase the use of priority health services through the strategic engagement of the private sector in health systems.

The project concentrates on family planning and reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; and HIV and AIDS.

SHOPS Plus currently is seeking a consultant to assist with an effort to pilot the use of DHIS2 as a platform to both

(1) increase private sector data sharing with government health management information systems (HMIS), and

(2) improve management and use of routine data by private sector facilities.

The pilot will focus on family planning services delivered through private drug shops and pharmacies in Kenya.

SHOPS Plus will explore opportunities to use existing IT solutions that are compatible with DHIS2 to simplify and reduce burdensome reporting processes.

Such platforms provide an opportunity to provide rapid feedback that can help strengthen providers’ business practices (e.g., data on usage rates and method mix), thereby demonstrating the value of the system and increasing participating providers’ support for the system.

Analysis of DHS data shows that the private sector is an important source of family planning users around the world, especially for youth populations.

Ugaz, JI, M Chatterjee, JN Gribble, S Mitchell. 2015. Regional trends in the use of short-acting and long-acting contraception accessed through the private and public sectors. International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

SHOPS Project. 2015. Reaching Youth with Modern Contraception. Bethesda, MD: Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector, Abt Associates.

With its flexibility and simplicity, DHIS2 presents an opportunity to implement an easy-to-use, simple reporting system that providers can use to record their service delivery statistics and share routine service delivery data with the national HMIS.

Many country governments and larger private sector organizations have already started using DHIS2 to this end, yet significant gaps remain in the private health sector.

Independent private health care providers, especially at the drug shop and pharmacy level, have largely not adopted any means of participating in government HMIS.

National governments, who increasingly use routine data to monitor progress, therefore see an incomplete picture.

Improving private sector participation is therefore essential to gaining an accurate understanding of family planning use in a country, monitoring progress toward global FP2020 goals, and developing health sector strategic plans.

In addition, improving data management will also have a benefit to the private providers themselves, as they will have better and more frequent data to help them better plan, budget, and forecast needs for their facilities.

The pilot will have four phases:

Pilot design: Work with relevant stakeholders to develop a recruitment strategy identify pharmacies to target for participation; agree to reporting requirements; identify current barriers to reporting among pharmacies; and adapt systems to connect with DHIS2 platform for pilot.

Recruitment of drug shops and pharmacies: Develop and use a business case that outlines the potential benefits for providers from improving their reporting of routine data to recruit participants for pilot that vary in terms of size, type, location, etc.

Pilot implementation: During this period, SHOPS Plus will provide technical assistance to the pilot facilities, public sector officials, and other stakeholders to facilitate reporting of FP statistics.

Activities will include training participating providers on the reporting requirements and systems, providing supervision and mentorship to pilot participants, review reports for data quality issues, and troubleshoot any problems.

The consultant will also facilitate between SHOPS Plus project staff, Ministry of Health officials, and pilot participants to ensure that all participating pharmacies and drug shops have access to the necessary registers, as well as data collection and reporting forms.

The implementation will be broken up into two phases: a 1-2 month training period followed by a 6-month pilot period.

Pilot learning: Over the course of the pilot period, SHOPS Plus will analyze collected data to

determine if there are changes in the amount, quality (e.g., accuracy, precision, completeness, timeliness, consistency, etc.), frequency, and usability of data from participating facilities in the public sector HMIS.

SHOPS Plus seeks to recruit an Operations Consultant to work with the project team to appropriately adapt DHIS2 for use by the private drug stores and pharmacies for data entry, data analysis and report generation.

The pilot project will work with the key stakeholders and the enrolled drug stores and pharmacies to identify the relevant data elements and indicators that need to be collected.

This will be reconciled against the current data capture form in DHIS2 ‘Facility Contraceptive Consumption and Request Form’ to isolate any gaps.

The LOE of 47 days is estimated to complete the task with a period of performance start from October 30, 2016 to June 30, 2017.

The consultant will report to SHOPS Plus project staff and will be responsible to work with MOH and UON to:

Coordinate activities in and communication to participating pharmacies and chemist (12 days)

Schedule and co-ordinate meetings (3 days)

Support training activities related to the DHIS 2 Pilot (5 days)

Manage database of support to pharmacies (5 days)

Manage database of support to specific personnel in pharmacies (5 days)

Participate in management meetings when required (3 days)

Establish a liaison service for participating pharmacies (6 days)

Log requests for support and schedule support to pharmacies (3 days)

Provide logistics support across DHIS 2 activities as needed (5 days)

Deliverables

Record of requests from pilot participants

Database of support provided to pilot participants

Notes and records from meetings as required

The successful candidate will have the following qualifications:

Experience working on USAID-funded projects and knowledge of USAID procurement regulations

Superior organizational and communication (written and oral) skills

Experience coordinating large numbers of stakeholders from multiple organizations

2. IT Consultant
SHOPS Plus seeks to recruit an IT Consultant to work with the project team to appropriately adapt DHIS2 for use by the private drug stores and pharmacies for data entry, data analysis and report generation.

The pilot project will work with the key stakeholders and the enrolled drug stores and pharmacies to identify the relevant data elements and indicators that need to be collected.

This will be reconciled against the current data capture form in DHIS2 ‘Facility Contraceptive Consumption and Request Form’ to isolate any gaps.

The LOE of 47 days is estimated to complete the task with a period of performance start from October 30, 2016 to June 30, 2017.

The consultant will report to SHOPS Plus project staff and will be responsible to work with MOH and UON to:

Coordinate activities in and communication to participating pharmacies and chemist (12 days)

Schedule and co-ordinate meetings (3 days)

Support training activities related to the DHIS 2 Pilot (5 days)

Manage database of support to pharmacies (5 days)

Manage database of support to specific personnel in pharmacies (5 days)

Participate in management meetings when required (3 days)

Establish a liaison service for participating pharmacies (6 days)

Log requests for support and schedule support to pharmacies (3 days)

Provide logistics support across DHIS 2 activities as needed (5 days)

Deliverables

Record of requests from pilot participants

Database of support provided to pilot participants

Notes and records from meetings as required

The successful candidate will have the following qualifications:

Experience working on USAID-funded projects and knowledge of USAID procurement regulations

Superior organizational and communication (written and oral) skills

Experience coordinating large numbers of stakeholders from multiple organizations

Send applications to: Sean_Callahan@abtassoc.com

Applications due by October 21st, 2016

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