Reports to: MEL Advisor ASCEND Kenya/MoH
Duration:
Maximum 20 days from 1st October
2020 to 31st March 2021
Introduction
Accelerating the Sustainable Control and Elimination of NTDs (ASCEND) is a £200 million investment from the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID), to advance the impact and sustainability of national programmes tackling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). ASCEND comprises of two lots – one focusing on South Asia, East and Southern Africa (lot 1) and the other on West and Central Africa (lot 2).
ASCEND Lot 1’s approach is a close collaboration with National Governments and other implementing partners, to enhance national approaches to NTD control and elimination. ASCEND’s goal is to contribute to the global goal of reducing the burden of targeted NTDs so that they are no longer a public health problem.In
Kenya, ASCEND will focus on three NTDs – Schistosomiasis, Lymphatic Filariasis
and Visceral Leishmaniasis anchored on the following broad areas of
intervention:
- Treatment
and prevention of disability,
including mass drug administration (MDA), diagnosis and treatment,
surgeries, morbidity management.***
- Increasing the integration of aspects of NTD
programmes within the health systems.***
- Strengthening
national health systems, integrating efforts to
strengthen the relevant building blocks of the health system.***
- Data
for targeting and monitoring,
including impact assessment and alignment of NTDs with national and
international MEL systems and processes.***
- Cross-sectoral
collaboration, in particular within the health and WASH/BCC
sectors. *
DFID
has contracted Crown Agents together with its consortium partners to act as
Fund Manager for ASCEND in Kenya. In Kenya, ASCEND supports the Ministry of
Health and specifically, the Kenya NTD programme which is within the Division
of Vector-Borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases (DVB&NTD) and is
responsible for coordinating all the NTD control activities in the Country. In
Kenya, both the PC – NTDs and the IDM (CM)- NTDs are endemic and thus requires
various approaches for coordination and activities to achieve the overall goal
of control and elimination of these diseases.
The
Ministry of Health with support from Sight Savers conducted a landscape
analysis for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) WASH and Behaviour change. The
landscape analysis provided insights into the situation of the WASH in NTD
endemic areas and identified the gaps and challenges that affect the
implementation of WASH and NTD activities. One of the main findings was the
existence of different stand-alone databases/reporting tools in varying formats
for collection of WASH and NTD data, which are not linked and this has resulted
to poor coordination, a barrier in joint planning of the activities and
ineffective decision making. Furthermore, it was not possible to utilize this
stand-alone data to demonstrate the contribution of WASH interventions towards
achieving the targets in the Breaking Transmission Strategy. The Kenya
National Breaking Transmission Strategy (BTS) has three pillars recommended for
achieving the main objective – breaking the transmission. They include; WASH,
BCC and MDAs.
In
order to achieve the objective of expanding the NTDs related WASH interventions,
it is imperative that the existing data and datasets are linked, analysed,
insights generated and utilized for decision making and for advocacy to ensure
that WASH-related interventions are provided in NTD endemic areas, hence the
purpose of this Technical Assistance (TA).
Scope of Work
The
technical assistance (TA) offered by the Data Manager/Analyst will be focussed
on reviewing existing WASH and NTD databases, Updating the Country Integrated
NTD database (CIND) with current and retrospective WASH and NTD data, enhancing
data quality assurance and generating strategic insights. The TA will primarily
focus on generating strategic insights which demonstrate if WASH interventions
are contributing towards achieving NTD targets in the Breaking transmission
strategy. This information will be used to advocate for additional investments
towards WASH interventions in NTD endemic areas where targets are not being
achieved and where there is little investment in WASH interventions. This role
will require a close working relationship with the MEL advisor, NTD disease
focal points, data clerks and the MEL consultant. The specific roles of the MEL
consultant will include;
- Lead the reviewing existing WASH and NTD databases
based on defined WASH/NTD indicators
- Customizing WASH indicators in the Country
Integrated NTD database to accommodate other NTDs other than the F&E
strategy for Trachoma.
- Manage Data Entry Assistants and ensure current and
retrospective NTD/ WASH data is entered in the CIND.
- Design and roll out NTD endemicity/WASH access
decision tools ( dashboards)
- Implementing and enforcing regular data security
activities such as storage, backups, archiving and user administration
- Perform various data manipulations, analysis of
NTD/WASH data and generate strategic insights and data dashboards as
required.
Key Requirements.
Knowledge (Education & Related
Experience) and Skills (Special Training or Competence):
- Master’s Degree in Data Management /Information
Science or Computer Science
- At least three years’ experience as a Data Manager
in a similar position in a research or health institution.
- Demonstrated competence in information management
and statistical analysis
- Excellent skills in systems analysis, data
management, database design and structures
- Excellent computing skills, including LINUX R and
other Open Source software
- Experience in managing multisite, distributed data
collection and integration
- Business analysis and basic SQL skills
- Ability to handle large databases and troubleshoot
issues involving complex data integration
- Expert knowledge of maintaining and debugging
software systems and of writing and editing program documentation
- Ability to work with very tight timelines
- Strong Analytical skills
Send a covering letter
and a copy of your CV to “recruitments@ascend.crownagents.com” by 25th
September 2020
NOTE: This is a national only position
For any questions regarding
the scope of the ToR, Please send them to amos.kioko@ascend.crownagents.com