The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191-member National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is "to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world." The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.
The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. At Geneva level, the Health and Care Department's (HCD) New Strategic Direction 2023 focuses on Health Systems Strengthening and WASH Systems Strengthening through four pillars: Global Health Security, Global Health Protection (UHC), Global WASH Services and Transformative Partnership.
The Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP) is a workstream within the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria and is an integral part of RBM's Country and Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC). AMP is a global partnership including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations. Housed and chaired by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), AMP is focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in ITN campaign and continuous distribution activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementing ITN distribution through all channels; and (3) technical assistance to national malaria programs and partners based on requests.
Job Purpose
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Global malaria and vector control initiatives face significant biological and non-biological threats which have led to plateauing or reversal of progress. These challenges have been exacerbated by global funding cuts for both insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and operational delivery budgets alongside population growth and increasing instability in many malaria-endemic countries. This is forcing national malaria programmes (NMPs) and their partners to consider alternatives to the typical cycle of three-year (for most countries) universal coverage ITN mass distribution campaigns coupled with ITN routine distribution through health facilities, including more diversified and potentially lower-coverage approaches tailored to population demographics, malaria transmission, insecticide resistance profiles, ITN access and use data and other factors. Despite almost a decade of testing alternative channels for ITN distribution, key questions remain unanswered to provide evidence for large-scale reconsideration of the ITN distribution status quo. Moreover, tools for decision-making are not sufficiently aligned to NMP needs or streamlined across partners to ensure optimal use to maximize impact on disease transmission.
Optimizing ITN distribution through campaign and continuous channels will require a shift from advocating for universal (100% access, with a minimum 80% use target) to optimal coverage, maximizing averted malaria cases with available funds. This may involve moving away from distributing ITNs everywhere to more targeted approaches - for example, prioritizing ITN distribution through routine antenatal care (ANC) and immunization services, prioritizing biologically vulnerable infants and pregnant women; other continuous distribution (CD) channels such as schools; and new approaches.
NMPs are increasingly confronted with pressures to consider, select, and implement a range of the most cost-effective options for ITN distribution. Following sub-national tailoring initiatives to determine the core sets of interventions for malaria control and elimination by geographical area, NMPs are also required to make decisions at national and sub-national levels, according to settings, priorities and available budget.
To better understand the costs and cost drivers of different channels for NMPs, inform decision-making and reinforce NMP use of traditional and non-traditional data for monitoring, learning and adapting, the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP), a workstream within the RBM Partnership to End Malaria (RBM) is implementing work to better understand and guide ITN Channel Optimization.
Project objectives and timelines
Objective #1:
To support NMPsto develop country-focused guidance and tools and generate the evidence needed to inform national decision-making to optimize ITN deployment (type, scope, scale, channel and frequency) and equity within restrained budgets.
Desired outcomes:
To identify and mitigate multifaceted financial and operational constraints in planning and implementation of ITN distribution.
Job Duties and Responsibilities
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Overall objective of the consultant
The overall objectives of the consultant are:
Project coordination support and management, tracking of progress against deliverables and project timeline, review of deliverables, liaison with national consultants and partners, organize internal project meetings and provide project updates for key stakeholders.
Oversee coherent development and dissemination of key resources to support programmes in estimating coverage and impact outcomes for two to three delivery channel combinations at sub-national level.
Specific objectives and activities of the consultant
Project Coordination
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Support country selection for up to three country case studies
Set up program management, including finalization of the agreed technical deliverables; development of partner TORs; organization of a shared online workspace, and establishing regular team member meetings
Review and finalize the ITN Channel Optimization project workplan
Organize regular planning meetings with ITN Channel Optimization team members for planning, coordination, progress reporting through review of the project workplan
Share draft project resources and deliverables with case study country and global stakeholders for review and compile inputs for action by project team members
Coordinate with the IFRC/AMP Officer, Malaria and Health Service Delivery and Operations to develop reporting templates and activity tracking tools to manage ongoing reviews of team member task outputs and programme deliverables, reinforcing both timeliness and quality. Progress and alignment with the project timeline for agreed deliverables will be tracked through:
+ Monthly succinct progress reports, shared with the Global Fund as requested
+ A project activity and task tracker (e.g., Excel)
Expansion and Dissemination of Project Resources:
Identify priority gaps for updated AMP operational resources and tools to refine and strengthen existing ITN distribution toolkits and guidance, decision-making and planning, channel selection, ITN distribution strategy and budgeting for optimal and cost-effective achievement of impact for ITNs within resource constraints. This may be done through online consultation with partners who are working on ITN CD assessments and guidance / tools together for a conversation (e.g., through the Continuous Distribution Working Group) to identify formats that best respond to needs.
Support the national consultants in case study countries and AMP global team members to organize a practical workshop to finalize and/or test the adaptable tools for planning and implementation of the updated approach and together insights and feedback from NMPs to further strengthen and update the tools and toolkits.
Support NMPs and team members in dissemination of project resources through existing networks and mechanisms. including:
AMP weekly calls
AMP TA meetings
Vector Control Taskforce meetings
Bi-annual technical update meetings with WHO GMP and other key partners
Presentations to and participations in panels and webinars, including RBM Vector Control Working Group, Surveillance, Monitoring and Evaluatiion Working Group (WG) annual meetings and webinars
AMP Annual and other partner meetings
Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)
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Outputs and deliverables
Mission deliverables will include leading and providing quality assurance for the following:
Project Coordination
Country selection criteria and priorities
Partner TORs developed and finalized
Project workplan developed and regularly reviewed (e.g. during regular team member meetings), critical issues raised to the IFRC staff team for resolution
Regular project team meetings organized and facilitated, with action items shared post-meeting
Draft project outputs, resources, and deliverables reviewed by key stakeholders
Project reporting supported, in collaboration with the IFRC/AMP Officer, Malaria and Health Service Delivery and Operations. This includes
Gathering project partner inputs for regular (e.g. monthly) succinct progress reports, and sharing with key stakeholders as applicable/appropriate
Expansion and Dissemination of Project Resources
New and updated AMP operational resources and tools developed to refine and strengthen existing tools and resources
Conversations organized with partners who are working on ITN CD assessments and guidance / tools together (e.g., through the CDWG) to identify formats that best respond to needs to NMP needs
A practical workshop organized in at least one case study country to finalize and/or test adaptable tools for planning and implementation of the updated approaches
Reporting
Regular verbal and written project summaries and progress updates on deliverables, challenges and key strategies to achieve project outcomes provided as requested by IFRC/AMP and the donor.
Weekly written situation reports during project travel missions and a mission trip report provided within 10 days of returning from project travel and support.
Mission report provided within 10 days of the end of the consultancy period with key issues, recommendations, and next steps.
Other project and deliverables tracking updates provided, as requested by IFRC/AMP and the donor.
Education
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Preferred
Master's degree in public health
Expertise in ITN distribution activities
Experience
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Strong experience in designing and implementing public health programs
Led the design and rollout of large-scale public health initiatives.
Developed program strategies aligned with national health priorities.
Monitored and evaluated program outcomes to ensure effectiveness.
Coordinated multi-sectoral teams to implement health interventions.
E
xperience drafting evidence-based guidance in the area of public health
Developed guidelines, protocols, and standard operating procedures.
Synthesized scientific literature to inform public health recommendations.
Collaborated with experts to ensure guidance reflects current evidence.
Drafted policy briefs and technical notes for stakeholders.
Prior experience working on malaria prevention activities
Implemented vector control and malaria prevention campaigns.
Monitored malaria incidence and program coverage data.
Coordinated distribution of insecticide-treated nets and preventive therapies.
Knowledge, Skills and Languages
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Fluency in English
Strong written and verbal communication in English.
Ability to prepare reports, presentations, and technical documents in English.
Experience participating in English-language meetings, workshops, and conferences.
Fluency in French
Strong written and verbal communication in French.
Experience drafting technical documents and reports in French.
Ability to facilitate French-language meetings, workshops, and trainings.
Competencies, Values and Comments
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Support to be provided to the consultant
. The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Lead - Malaria Programmes, who will be responsible for the overall management of the project and quality control of work products and deliverables.
The consultant will be working closely with project team partners and the national consultants to ensure the coordination and timely completion of project deliverables.
The consultant will be supported by the Officer, Malaria and Health Service Delivery and Operations, for all administrative/financial matters, as well as for travel planning logistics.
The estimated level of effort is nine days per month from mid-November 2025 to end-December 2026. Travel is necessary for the consultancy.
Compensation within the consultancy is based on a daily rate, with eight billable hours equalling one day for billing purposes.
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