TA Support in Pilot Districts of Balochistan and Health Facilities of ICT

Purpose of consultancy:

Provide technical support to the Health and Population Department of the Government of Balochistan and DOH Islamabad for adapting of Sindh’s ECR (Electronic Client Record) Model and its interfacing with cLMIS in pilot districts of Balochistan and health facilities of ICT to improve contraceptive data visibility and last mile availability.

Scope of work:

UNFPA’s landscape analysis conducted in 2020 revealed that challenges facing Pakistan are complex involving multiple factors for the frequent and long term stock outs especially at the last mile (1) Resources (allocations/spending): insufficient allocations (though increasing trend); delayed releases of funds; less than optimal spending rates; diversion of funds to other emergencies (2) Procurement challenges: delayed initiation of procurement; lack of procurement capacity; weak monitoring of procurement processes and international procurements challenges (3) Storage & distribution: non data-driven distribution; lack of emergency supplies mechanism; lack of transportation financing / delays in transportation; absence of robust track and trace mechanism (4) Human Resource: lack of technical capacity in strategic supply chain planning to achieve long term goals; lack of procurement capacity; lack of capacity for M&E, LMIS reporting and data use and continuous improvement; and (5) M&E / LMIS: low LMIS reporting and uncovered SDPs; lack of structured validation of LMIS data; less than optimal use of LMIS data; absence of robust supply chain monitoring mechanisms

Building on technical support provided in 2023 under the Global Supplies Partnership support, UNFPA CO will continue to provide technical support to the federal and provincial governments for improving capacity of relevant staff at all levels of the supply chain on use of an online LMIS for contraceptive data reporting and analytics. Sindh province has successfully upgraded the existing Contraceptive Logistics Management Information System (cLMIS) and introduced/ deployed an additional feature of Electronic Client Record (ECR) Model in almost all districts and health facilities of the province. According to PWD Sindh, ECR is embedded in the cLMIS and besides public sector, other private sector stakeholders like PPHI, HANDS, Vital Pakistan, FPAP etc are also benefiting from the system. While looking at the value-added feature of ECR in the cLMIS, other provinces have also shown interests and requested at the CEWG forum to support them in introducing the ECR Model in their respective provinces.

Under the Global Supplies Partnership program in 2024, UNFPA CO planned to support few pilot districts of Balochistan province and SDPs of Islamabad Capital Territory to adapt and introduce the Sindh’s Electronic Client Record (ECR) Model for FP commodity and client data visibility.

Main objective of the TA is to adapt the existing software of Sindh’s ECR Model, interface it with cLMIS, and develop capacity of relevant staff in pilot districts and health facilities of health and population department of Balochistan and ICT respectively for improved FP data reporting and informed decisions making for availability of contraceptives at last mile.

The proposed IC will specifically support the following activities:

A) Development/ Adaptation:

i. Facilitate consultation and consensus building among all stakeholders in Balochistan and ICT on adding of ECR feature in the cLMIS.

ii. Adaptation of the existing Sindh’s web based ECR Module/components of cLMIS for Balochistan and ICT.

iii. Assist in ensuring inter-operability of various data sources.

iv. Assist in development of ECR User Manual for end-users.

v. Review, validate, and maintain large datasets of ECR from various departments.

vi. Devise format for the customized progress reports on monthly/ quarterly basis or as required by the concerned province/ region and update / include that in the ECR software for generating accurate and complete reports.

B) Roll out:

i. Assist in preparing plan for deployment of ECR Component of cLMIS in the pilot districts / health facilities of Balochistan and ICT.

ii. Conduct user testing exercise followed by capacity building and training workshops for field staff of the pilot districts / health facilities of Balochistan and ICT.

iii. Hands-on and remote support to field staff during the TA period.

C) Maintenance and Sustainability of ECR:

i. Capacity building of designated staff at provincial level on trouble shooting of ECR including usability, data consistency, and rendering issues.

ii. Assist the designated Technical Person/ Team at provincial level in updating of ECR Modules of cLMIS as and when required.

iii. Ensure data security by putting in place adequate security measures against the data hacking/ tampering, data access.

iv. Supervision of data entry process at all levels.

v. Ensure data accuracy and consistency by ensuring data quality and cleaning processes.

vi. Devise complete Quality Assurance protocols of all the processes involved in data punching.

vii. Handling operational process of cLMIS.

viii. Conduct field visits for validation & verification of cLMIS data with manual data at health facilities.

D) Coordinate with all relevant departments/stakeholders for data reviews, troubleshooting, verification & validation during the TA period.

E) Provide support to the Technical Focal Person/Team in verifying data integrity and accuracy.

Duration and working schedule:

60 days Level of Efforts

Place where services are to be delivered:

Islamabad, Balochistan, and could be Karachi for meeting with PWD Sindh

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered :

All material will be submitted to UNFPA in soft/electronic form.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

All deliverables will be subject to quality assurance by the technical team.

Deliverables and payment schedule:

The key deliverables and payment schedule are as follows:

Deliverables

1.Inception report, outlining methodologies and timelines for ECR adaptation/ modification, interfacing with cLMIS and deployment in pilot district of Balochistan and ICT.

2.Consultative meetings with PWD Sindh and PWD and DOH Balochistan and DHO ICT for consensus building on what, and how Sindh’s ECR Model should be adapted/ modified to meet the provincial and ICT requirements

3.Adapt/ modify Sindh’s ECR Model in accordance with feedback received during consultative meetings for Balochistan and ICT and prepare User Manual

4.Conduct user testing exercise and capacity building and training workshops for field staff of the pilot districts / health facilities of Balochistan and ICT

5.Capacity building of designated staff at provincial and ICT level on trouble shooting of ECR including usability, data consistency, and rendering issues

6.Devise complete Quality Assurance protocols of all the processes involved in data punching and coordinate with all relevant departments/stakeholders for data reviews, troubleshooting, verification & validation

Supervisory arrangements:

The consultant will report to Program Specialist – SRH and Program Analyst SRH – Supply Chain Management

Expected travel:

Travel to provincial and regional capitals for consultations and trainings of PWD and DoH staff. The total TA amount is inclusive of travel, boarding and lodging cost.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

• Master in Computer Sciences/ BSc Hons CS or equivalent with 16 Years education from HEC recognized university with at least 5 years’ experience in relevant field.

• Experience in PHP, jQuery, JavaScript, CodeIgniter, FileZilla and MySQL

• Experience with health/development sector will be preferred.

• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills

• Proven ability to design, develop, and implement EC, training material and methodology in the public and private sector of Pakistan.

• Knowledge of Pakistan’s SRH/FP landscape, supply chain data issues, and population dynamics will be advantage.

• Proven ability to work effectively with government officials and private sector.

• Languages: Fluency in oral and written English.

• Excellent interpersonal and general communication skills.

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner :

Consultant is expected to use his/her own laptop or any other equipment if required.