Consultant, Support to Optimizing Insecticide-Treated Net (ITN) Access in Africa (OPITACA) Project

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 Global Health Protection (UHC) pillar houses and chairs the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP), a global partnership including government, private sector, faith-based and humanitarian organizations, focused on three main activities: (1) coordination of partners involved in insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaign and continuous distribution (CD) activities; (2) development of operational guidance for planning and implementing of ITN distribution based on an iterative process; and (3) providing technical assistance to national malaria programmes and partners based on requests. AMP’s activities support achievement of the WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) targets for high coverage and use of ITNs. AMP is a member of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria’s Country Regional Support Partner Committee (CRSPC) steering group. Harnessing the global leadership and management systems of IFRC, AMP is uniquely positioned to support and advance country-level efforts to optimize ITN distribution and ensure that the right nets reach the right people at the right time through both campaign and continuous distribution channels.

In 2023, IFRC/AMP was awarded a three-year grant by the Gates Foundation focused on optimizing ITN access in the face of limited resources for the fight against malaria.  In this grant, AMP will focus on implementing activities across five workstreams designed to address identified gaps. The primary objectives are to enhance data utilization for informed decision-making and to leverage digital tools for optimization of ITN campaigns and continuous distribution, ensuring that the right nets reach the right people at the right time. These workstreams ultimately aim to reduce the malaria burden through effective malaria prevention with ITNs.

The proposed work aims to ensure timely availability of deliverables for the Optimizing ITN Access in Africa (OPITACA) project by developing operational guidance, tools, and materials for planning and implementing ITN distribution through continuous distribution, training package for household registration/ITN distribution quality assessment for campaign distribution and guidance for effective virtual/e-learning. 

Please find here the deliverables overview.

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy:

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention’s mandate aligns to the Federation’s Strategy 2030 as it supports the achievement of strategic aims:

1) Save lives, protect livelihoods and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises

2) Enable healthy and safe living.

Project objectives and timelines:

Objective #1: To generate new evidence and best practices that will support optimized ITN distribution through campaigns and continuous distribution channels.

Desired outcomes: Increased availability of evidence-based approaches and guidance for optimizing ITN distribution through non-campaign channels.

Support to be provided to the consultant:

The consultant will be supported by the Lead, Malaria Programmes, Senior Officer, OPITACA and the Officer, AMP Country Support.

Time allocation, for budget purposes

This consultancy is based on an estimate of 35 billable working days

Compensation is based on a daily rate, with eight billable hours equalling one day for billing purposes.

The consultancy timeframe will be from 01 November 2025 to 15 October 2026.

Preferred

• Master's degree in public health.

Required

• 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.
• Experience conducting operational research
  • Designed and conducted field-based research studies.
  • Collected, analyzed, and interpreted health program data.
  • Prepared research reports and recommendations for policy or program improvement.
  • Applied quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate program performance.
• Experience 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.
  • Conducted community outreach on malaria prevention measures.
  • Monitored malaria incidence and program coverage data.
  • Coordinated distribution of insecticide-treated nets and preventive therapies.

Required

• 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.

Preferred

• Expertise in ITN distribution activities.

Application Instruction

Please submit your application in English only.