JSI Research & Training Institute Job Vacancy Available

Company Profile

JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), a leader in global health, is nonprofit public health management consulting and research organization dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. (JSI) is implementing the USAID-funded Strengthening the Care Continuum Project in Ghana.

The Care Continuum project is working to expand existing support to the Government of Ghana (GOG) and to accelerate Ghana’s progress in attaining the 95-95-95 UNAIDS goal by achieving HIV epidemic control in high HIV disease burden region(s) by scaling up evidence-based interventions.

Activities include active case finding of persons living with HIV (PLHIV), including key populations (KPs), getting them on treatment, retaining them, and ensuring they are virally suppressed in Ghana. The activity will be funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through September 2023.

Job Description

• Job Title: Review of Food and Nutrition Aspects of MTDPs of 17 District Assemblies
• Job Location: Accra and Selected Districts in Northern Ghana
• Job Type: Short Term Contract (30 days)
• Posting Date: December 2, 2021
• Deadline: December 9, 2021

DESCRIPTION: 

USAID Advancing Nutrition is USAID’s flagship multi-sectoral nutrition project that seeks to improve the nutritional status and health of vulnerable populations around the globe. In Ghana, the project provides technical support and assessment services to advance the Government of Ghana’s efforts to improve district planning for equitable delivery of services that promote household resilience and early childhood growth and development.

It is implemented in 17 districts in four regions – Northern, Upper East, Upper West, and North East regions. Since its inception in June 2020, USAID Advancing Nutrition has provided financial and technical assistance to 17 District Assemblies in Ghana to prepare their medium-term development plans (MTDPs) for 2022-2025, with particular focus on supporting them to integrate into these plans evidence-based strategies that will help to address malnutrition.

Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are required to prepare MTDPs every four years with guidance from the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). These plans serve as the blueprint for guiding development in those districts and therefore an important entry point for ensuring that food and nutrition issues are prioritized by local governments to reduce the problem of malnutrition.

Accordingly, USAID Advancing Nutrition supported the NDPC to develop the ‘Ghana Multi-Sector Food and Nutrition Security Guidelines’ to guide district assemblies on how to mainstream food and nutrition in their plans. USAID Advancing Nutrition and the United Nations Capital Development Fund supported the NDPC to conduct orientations on the FNS guidelines for regional officials from Ghana’s 16 regions and district officials in the 17 project districts.

District Nutrition Coordinating Committees (DNCCs) of the 17 districts were further supported to apply these guidelines to integrate in the draft 2022-2025 MTDPs of their assemblies effective FNS strategies to address malnutrition in their respective districts.

The committees, which were formed with the support of the project, worked with the plan preparation teams of their assemblies to conduct a situational analysis of food and nutrition and to formulate objectives and strategies to address the key issues affecting food and nutrition security in their respective districts.

USAID Advancing Nutrition, therefore, seeks to conduct a review of the 2022-2025 MTDPs of the 17 districts to examine the level of integration of food and nutrition security (FNS) strategies or actions in comparison with the 2018-2021 MTDPs. This will help to establish whether the 17 districts, following the support provided, have improved in integrating FNS into their MTDPs and whether these actions are multisectoral in nature.

This review will contribute to enhancing learning among stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels on FNS planning and integration into MTDPs. It will provide evidence on what works or otherwise and what is required to ensure that multisectoral nutrition becomes part and parcel of local government’s development programs, with resources allocated.

JOB SUMMARY

The consultant will conduct the review along with the following objectives.

1. Establish whether there have been improvements in the integration and prioritization of food and nutrition in the 2022-2025 MTDPs of the 17 districts.

• To what extent are FNS activities (both nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive ) activities included in the 2022–2025 MTDPs compared with the 2018-2021 MTDPs of the 17 districts?
• How much funds have been allocated to nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive activities in the 2022-2025 MTDP budgets compared with the allocations in the 2018-2021 MTDP budgets?

1. Examine the 2022-2025 MTDPs of the 17 districts to determine adherence to a multisectoral approach and alignment with the NDPC’s planning guidelines

• Will the prioritized actions/interventions adequately address the issues in the district/municipality (this is to find out if the strategies are mainstream or specific to the district)?
• Were the FNS components of the 2022-2025 MTDPs of the 17 districts appropriately aligned with the NDPC’s food and nutrition planning guidelines?
• Were all relevant stakeholders involved in the planning of the FNS components of the 2022-2025 MTDPs?
• Do the FNS activities captured in the 2022-2025 MTDPs reflect a multisectoral approach?
• To what extent have districts incorporated into their 2022-2025 MTDPs mechanisms to measure progress towards FNS results?

1. Examine the processes that influenced the integration of FNS issues and strategies into the 2022-2025 MTDPs of the 17 districts.

• What were the processes or experiences of district staff in getting food and nutrition security integrated into the 2022–2025 MTDPs and budgets?
• What worked and what could have been done better to get FNS integrated into the 2022–2025 MTDPs?

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following activities will be performed by the consultant within a 30-day period:

1. Planning:

• Draft a relevant and feasible plan/methodology for the review.
• Work with the project team to consult with the relevant national, regional and district stakeholders to help shape the review plan/strategy and inform them of the review.
• Finalize the plan/methodology and data collection tool(s) as agreed upon with the relevant stakeholders.
• Seek approvals where necessary.
• Establish the necessary protocols to enhance validity and reliability of the process and the findings.
• Establish a data collection team. It is proposed that USAID Advancing Nutrition team members and some district staff be constituted into teams to support the consultant.
• Train the team that will support in the review.

1. Data collection, analysis, and validation:

• Conduct the review in accordance with the approved methodology.
• Conduct a validation workshop, bringing together all key partners to review and validate the preliminary results.

Required Skills or Experience

The contractor/consultant should possess these skills and have these experiences:

• Relevant experience in Development Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Science, Public Health, Food Systems or Nutrition or relevant discipline preferred.
• Must have in-depth knowledge of the local government planning process in Ghana.
• At least seven years of progressively increasing responsibility working in policy planning and implementation including nutrition, food security and local government planning processes or related fields.
• Previous work with NDPC in a similar capacity is an added advantage.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft software packages: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other relevant statistical packages