Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund

Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) is the lead apex institution for community-driven development in the country.  Set up by the Government of Pakistan, as an autonomous not-for-profit organization, PPAF enjoys facilitation and support from the Government of Pakistan, The World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), KfWEntwicklungsbank (Development Bank of Germany), Government of Italy and other statutory and corporate donors.  PPAF aims to be the catalyst for improving the quality of life, broadening the range of opportunities and socio-economic mainstreaming of the poor and disadvantaged, especially women. The core operating units of the PPAF deliver a range of development interventions at the grassroots/community level through a network of more than 100 Partner Organizations across the country.  These include social mobilization, livelihood support, access to credit, infrastructure and energy, health, education and disaster management. Externally commissioned independent studies have demonstrated positive outcomes and impact of PPAF interventions on the lives of benefiting communities related to their economic output, household incomes, assets, agricultural productivity skills and other quality of life indices. 

Background

The Italian Development Cooperation (IDC) has entrusted to PPAF €40 million soft-loan for the execution of the Programme for “Poverty Reduction through Rural development in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and neighboring districts/ Programme for Poverty Reduction/PPR)”.

The Pakistan-Italy partnership to support beneficiaries rural Communities within the PPAF methodology framework will encompass leading principles of Italy’s Official Development Assistance (ODA), including its adhesion to the Aid Effectiveness agenda (Paris, Accra and Busan), mainstreaming guidelines, local coordination and sharing of responsibility with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Development Partners. Capitalization and appropriation of output results of PPAF and Italian Cooperation portfolio will be a logical scope to pursue, in response to the aforementioned criteria. The Programme funding encompasses untied and tied components: the first for the preparation and execution of all field activities, the latter, worth € 2 million, for the procurement of goods and services of Italian origin. Harmonized and coherent utilization of tied funds will also be part of the technical package adopted for Programme implementation.

The Programme covers 14 districts and 38 Union Councils in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and FATA. The population is approximately 995,000, constituted by 136,000 households, out of which 86,000 HH (63%) are involved directly and indirectly with agriculture/horticulture and livestock, and 12,000 HH (9%) are earning their livelihoods through fisheries. Remaining 38,340 HH (28%) are either employed, self-employed or have established their own small businesses/enterprises.  The components covered under the PPR include Social Mobilization, Livelihoods and Enterprise Development/LEP, Construction and improvement of small-scale community-infrastructures/CPI, Health and Education.

Selected local communities, cooperating with a variety of national to local level stakeholders, will be supported to use and manage their resources and capacities in a proactive and sustainable manner, not only to improve their livelihoods, but to also contribute to ecosystem stability, functions and services. Lessons learnt from successful activities will be documented, and widely disseminated to encourage up-scaling in other areas of the country.

The AICS has entrusted to World Bank, via an "Agreement for Advisory Services",as the supervision body for the program including oversight andmonitoring, implementation and compliance of environmental and social management framework and fiduciary (financial management and procurement) control of the Programme, which is carried out on regular basis and through semi-yearly "Implementation Support Missions/ISM".

The PPR unit intends to engage an individual consultant to support the implementation of new activities as per health and nutrition strategy including sensitization and capacity building of PPR, POs and Community. Key elements of nutrition strategy include:

• Behavior change and communication (BCC) Approach including awareness raising on nutrition sensitive topics such as dietary diversity, basic health and hygiene, safe drinking water, malnutrition, stunting, the importance of first 1000 days  Capacity building in Behavior change and communication.
• Nutrition specific model of community managed Acute malnutrition(CMAM):Under PPR as a pilot on nutrition, four POs in districts (Killa Abdullah, KillaSaifullah, Pishin&Lasbela) of Balochistan have been engaged withGovernment Nutrition department to implement Community Managed Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) interventions. A  joint effort has been started for  CMAM ( activity in which community resource persons have been trained under PPR component for  screening of malnourished children (under five), pregnant and lactating mothers with referral mechanism to the service delivery point (outpatient therapeutic department)  where they will  be provided nutrition supplements for improved nutrition.

The consultant will also be required to monitor the work of partner organizations and undertake regular monitoring visits to project areas for quality control, review the adequacy of PO implementation arrangements including number, type and capacity of staff and guidance of partner organizations. Design and take corrective actions in case of any challenges and lessons learnt and update and implement nutrition and health component activities accordingly. The consultant will be provided working space and internet access in PPAF for the time frame of the work assignment.

Rationale for the Consultancy

PPR health component is more focused towards preventive health which requires frequent field visit in order to measure behavior change at community level. Similarly establishment of curative health services and innovation needs technical expertise for quality control and technical guideline.  Due to limited team members under PPR health component, hiring of a technical consultant will contribute in quality program implementation   and in achieving program objectives.

Purpose and Scope of the Consultancy Services

The purpose of consultancy services is to assist the health and nutrition team of PPR for the implementation of project activities. Consultants is expected to do, but not limited to, the following tasks:

Capacity building:

• Support the PPR team in implementation of PO specific activities under health component with special focus on outputs and outcomes,
• Facilitate PPR team and partner organizations in identifying gaps in implementation of component strategy and recommend for improvements.
• Sensitization and Capacity Building of PPR and community groups around health and nutrition
• Build capacity of partner organizations with reference to nutrition, health, analytical work and reporting on health. This capacity building includes orientation of POs on health component‘s objective and outcomes, on job training on infection prevention techniques, ESM compliance and on any other topics as identified during field.
• Implement the CRPs training on nutrition, health and hygiene seeking behavior and MNCH, WASH and ODF and monitor the subsequent household sessions by the trained CRPs.
• Work closely alongside existing partners on programme delivery and implementation to maintain strong and quality interventions, including joint development of work plans and monitoring compliance.
• Monitor the work of partner organizations and undertake regular monitoring visits to Programme areas for quality control and guidance of partner organizations. Design and take corrective actions in case of any challenges and lessons learnt and update and implement health component activities accordingly

Linkages development:

• Identify various health and nutrition related stakeholders in the project environment and facilitate in developing and strengthening (where existing) linkages to ensure achievement of health component’s outcomes with special focus on nutrition
• Facilitate in setting the agenda for PPR supported District Health Forums and their organization and follow-up. Ensure that specific issues and requirements of the programme are discussed in the forums along with development of action points for further followup. The consultant will also be required to facilitate in followup on action points and programme requirements and also to devise a strategy in this regard.
• Coordinate with other PPAF units and other components of the project and design activities that complement and supplement the work of other  components considering link between income generation and improved nutrition behavior

Sustainability and exit strategy:

• Develop exit strategy for the component with clear framework of activities and linkages with government and other existing facilities and service providers/ departments. This is aimed at ensuring sustainability of the activities.
• Timely reporting and documentation: Progress report on nutrition, health component, documenting case studies and lessons learnt. Analyze reports of partner organizations.

We would expect the selected consultant to:

• Work closely with the concerned executives to accomplish their tasks as laid down in the “Scope of Work”.
• The Consultants shall be stationed at PPR unit PPAF Head office; however has to travel extensively to the program areas.
• All the information gathered/generated during the process shall be the intellectual property of the PPAF, which shall not be shared with any third party without prior written consent of the PPAF through its CEO.
• PPAF shall not pay any compensation in any form except for the amount agreed as consultancy fee for the agreed scope of work and time.
• PPAF shall not be responsible for any damage caused to the consultant by any other party or by the consultants to any other party during the execution of the contract.
•  PPAF does not accept any responsibility of any other communication or commitment made by the consultants to any other party during the course of the contract.
• Equipment provided to the Consultants for the purpose of the study will remain the property of the client and will be returned to PPAF on the completion of the consultancy.

Deliverables

The Consultant will submit 05 (one every two months) reports explaining the details of the performed activities as described in the “scope of work”. These reports must have annexes of reports/documents produced:

• Effective monitoring reports for PPR team, POs and Communities.
• Inputs and Reporting of the innovative health projects.
• Report on Capacity Building  of PPR, POs and Community Groups
• Participation in and collecting reports of the awareness campaigns to ensure quality

Report on Integration with the WSP and CPI component on the effective execution of the ODF activities

• Identification of the institutes that provide the customized health trainings and leveraging the partners with them and monitoring and reporting the subsequent activities.
• Detailed overall consultancy report with all mentioned details
• Any other task assigned by PD- PPR

Source of funds

• This consultancy will be charged to PPR Health Component.

Schedule

• After consultation with PPAF, a detailed work plan for workshops on participatory monitoring and documentation for communities and POs will be developed.

Duration

• The assignment is to be completed within a span of10 months including reporting and documentation.

Institutional Arrangements and Reporting:

• The Consultant will report to the Programme Director-PPR

 Consultant Qualification

• MBBS / MPH OR Master  degree in  Nutrition or any related subject
• At least 5 years of experience of working at grass root level and nutrition relevant projects
• Familiar with project cycle management
• Experience of working with NGOs (preferably for health or nutrition projects).
• Familiar with the working structure of Basic Health Units,Rural Health Centers, Mother and Child Health centers/ national programs of nutrition
• Experience of preparing work plans and progress reports
• Experience of coordinating training for staff and/or community members
• Willing to travel in various parts of Pakistan specifically Programme areas
• Good in written and spoken English

Selection Method

The Consultant will be selected as per the World Bank Procurement Guidelines for Selection of Consultants (January 2011).