TERMS OF REFERENCE TO HIRE AN INDIVIDUAL INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT TO SUPPORT THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE  COMMUNITY LED MALARIA SURVEILLANCE AND RESPONSE IN RWANDA

1. Purpose of this Document

This document contains the requirements relating to the mandate for "Community led malaria surveillance and response in Rwanda." It serves as Terms of Reference (ToR) for the International Consultant.

2. Background

In the last five years, Rwanda has made tremendous progress in malaria control as a result of combined efforts in malaria prevention and treatment with an 84% drop in malaria incidence from  409 per 1000 in FY2016/17 to 47 per 1000 in FY2022/23 (89% reduction) and malaria cases from 4.8 M to only 621,000 in in the same period (87% reduction) while deaths due to malaria reduced from 536 in FY2016/17 to 51 in FY2022/23 (90% reduction).

Despite efforts made to reduce malaria transmission in Rwanda, malaria continues to represent a real public health concern with the entire population of Rwanda at risk of malaria infection.

Data suggests that  malaria cases are not equally distributed across all the 30 districts. A recent Malaria Matchbox Assessment conducted revealed that some groups might be at more higher risk of malaria infections than others. For examples, refugees, prisoners, truck drivers, security staff, boarding school students, seasonal workers and Mining Sites Staff.

In Rwanda, malaria diagnosis and treatment is provided at the community level by Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Healthcare providers at health facilities level through a passive case detection and treatment of confirmed cases. This particular approach is likely to miss out general population and special high risk groups. So, it is important to identify these groups and conduct reactive surveillance and response. In addition, a response is currently initiated at the central level – leading to delayed responses. Therefore, it is important to develop an appropriate community led malaria surveillance and response applicable within Rwanda setting. Moreover, evidence also show that achieving malaria elimination goal will require full understanding of individual based data. However, as of now, a little is known about the contribution of these groups to the residual malaria transmission in Rwanda because data is collected at the aggregated level. It is important that the community led strategy reports data at the individual level ensuring that testing is done at a fine scale to inform proper planning of targeted interventions. 

3. About Rwanda NGOs Forum

Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS & Health Promotion (RNGOF on HIV/AIDS & HP) is a network of 139 NGO members working to promote health and the wellbeing of citizens with particular focus on key and Vulnerable populations. Its mission is to promote and coordinate activities of member organizations and build their capacity to monitor and advocate for civil society involvement in all public policies and program formulation with regard to health promotion including HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria program. The three diseases (HIV, TB, and Malaria) continue to pose significant public health challenges, particularly among high-risk groups such as key and vulnerable populations including Sex Workers, People Living with HIV (PLHIV), Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW), People Who Use Drugs, Rice Farmers, Fishermen, Youth in Boarding schools, Miners, Fishermen, Prisoners, Refugees, Staffs in Hotels and Lodges, etc.

To optimize the national efforts toward malaria reduction, there is a need to evaluate the contribution of integrated interventions approach through reactive Community-based Malaria Surveillance and Response and establish/identify malaria infection characteristics and risk factors in Rwanda to inform tailored interventions.

In view of the above, Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion is looking for a high calibre International Consultant to provide technical assistance (TA) to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of Community Led Malaria Surveillance and Response strategy including the assessment of Malaria risk factors in high risk groups to accelerate malaria reduction in Rwanda.

4. Main Objectives

The overall aim of this assignment is to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of community Malaria surveillance and response strategy including the assessment of Malaria risk factors in high risk groups to accelerate malaria reduction in Rwanda.

5. Tasks to be performed

The International Consultant will work closely with Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion (RNGOF on HIV/AIDS & HP) and Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), in collaboration with other key stakeholders in the country where applicable, to deliver the following tasks:

1. Review country programme documentation such as national Malaria Strategic Plan; Malaria Operational Plan, and other malaria related documents;
2. Understand implementation and coverage of Malaria interventions for general population and high risk groups across the country in Rwanda;
3. Prepare a comprehensive protocol to support the implementation of the community surveillance and response;
4. Prepare a budget to support implementation of the protocol based on implementation districts to be recommended;
5. Incorporate inputs from RBC and partners to improve the protocol - revise and submit final protocol;
6. Recommend districts in consultation with RBC and Rwanda NGOs Forum for the implementation of the proposed approach
7. Develop electronic data collection tools
8. Support the application of ethical clearance
9. Conduct training to support the implementation of the proposed strategy
10. Provide technical support for the implementation of the proposed approach
11. Perform data analysis and provide a report on the identification of Malaria infection characteristics and risk factors in Rwanda
12. Write and submit a report to RNGOF outlining in detail the experiences during the execution of the TOR to suggest lessons for future support of related tasks.

6. Key Deliverables:

• Inception report – detailing the implementation road map, and how the ToRs will be executed
• A comprehensive protocol to support the implementation of the community based Malaria surveillance and response.
• A proposed budget for the implementation of the strategy
• Electronic data collection tools
• Provide technical support to process and obtain required research approvals
• Prepare training materials and provide training to the study teams for the implementation of the strategy
• Provide technical support for the implementation of the strategy
• A report based on data analysis based on the evaluation of the strategy
• Technical report on the identification of Malaria infection characteristics and risk factors in Rwanda
• Support manuscripts development for results disseminate
• Final report on the experience and lessons learnt in execution of the proposed TOR

7. Working language

The working language for this assignment will be English.

8. Selection criteria

Applications will be assessed on cost reasonableness (30%) and technical competence (70%)

9. Timeframe (duration of the assignment)

This assignment is expected to be implemented within a timeframe of 10 months and is expected to starting from the date of signing the consultancy contract September 2023 to June 2024 with possibility of extension.

10. Ethical considerations

Ensure that ethical guidelines based on the Rwanda National Ethics Committee (RNEC) for research involving human subjects are followed, including protocol presentation and approval, obtaining informed consent and protecting the privacy and confidentiality of participants.

11. Reporting and accountability

The Individual consultant/consultancy firm shall report regularly to the Rwanda NGOs Forum Management Team and provide updates on progress. Quality of deliverables must be ensured by the consultant and validated by other technical working groups in Malaria Response

12. Required Qualifications

12.1. Educational background

1. MSc and above in epidemiology, public health, social sciences, data science, entomology, computation sciences, mathematical modelling, statistics, or related field.
2. A PhD holder in the related field is a plus

12.2. Research experience

1. Experience with technical malaria control interventions
2. Experience in developing protocol related to malaria research projects
3. Experience supporting field activities related to malaria research projects
4. Proven record of understanding field survey, synthesis and interpretation of epidemiological and entomological data
5. Experience working in malaria surveillance at the national and regional level is a plus
6. Demonstrated publication records (in the field of malaria) in peer-review journals
7. At least two-year experience in the field of malaria
8. Experience working with the community malaria based surveillance and response is a plus
9. Prior experience with local context for international consultant is a plus

12.3. Policies/Strategies

Knowledge of broader health policies and National Malaria Control Programmes

12.4. National/Regional/International

Experience working in national and international environments

12.5. Communication and technical Skills

Skills in strategic analysis, protocol and proposal writing

Communication skills in (English ) writing and speaking

12.6. Report writing

Strong written and verbal communication skills to prepare comprehensive research reports, present findings to stakeholders, and make actionable recommendations

13. The application file will be comprised of:

• Letter expressing interest to carry out the consultancy service required;
• Detailed CV (maximum 4 pages) of the responsible consultant
• A technical proposal written in English describing the background, methodology and timeline (maximum 5 pages)
• Price quotations for the consultancy service required
• Copy of Passport of the consultant
• Valid proof documents of completion of similar assignments
• At least 3 references from current and previous client organizations demonstrating your competence to deliver on similar assignments
• A technical and Financial Proposal

14. How to apply/ submit your application

• Documents will be submitted to Rwanda NGOs Forum via email: rwandangoforumrw@gmail.com not later than 28^th September 2023 190 at 11:00 am Rwanda time.
• Writing the Subject: “Application to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of community malaria surveillance and response strategy including the assessment of Malaria risk factors in high risk groups to accelerate Malaria reduction in Rwanda.”
• After submission, the applications will be reviewed. Due to an expected high volume of application, only selected International consultant will be informed.

15. Final Report Submission

• The final report of the assessment should be a maximum 100 pages, excluding annexes, and should be written in English. It should contain an executive summary of a maximum 2 pages. The report should follow the following format:
• Title page
• Table of contents (including figures, tables, etc)
• Short description of reviewers
• Executive summary
• Introduction/context
• Objectives
• Methodology
• Results/ findings
• Summary of findings and limitations(if any)
• Conclusions and recommendations
• Annexes

Approved on 18^th September 2023

BY: KABANYANA Nooliet

Executive Secretary

Rwanda NGOs Forum on HIV/AIDS and Health Promotion

(RNGOF on HIV/AIDS & HP)