Private Sector Market Strengthening (PHC/SRH) Consultant Full-Time

Who we are

We’re Population Services International (PSI), the world’s leading non-profit social marketing organization. We work to make it easier for people in the developing world to be healthy by providing access to products and services that range from mosquito nets to HIV testing.

There are over 7,000 “PSI’ers” around the world. It’s a motley group of entrepreneurs and professionals with a diverse range of backgrounds all the way from the medical industry to the music business, all with unique skills we bring to the job.

Partner with us!

The Private Sector Market Strengthening (Consultant), will work under direct supervision of the Country Representative and with close collaboration with PSI Mozambique’s technical, marketing and evidence teams. During this specific project, the consultant will focus on developing actionable recommendations to strengthen the private sector’s contribution to PHC/SRH service provision based on an extensive market landscaping and in dialogue with key national stakeholders.

The Consultant will be responsible for coordinating with the PSI team, MISAU, donor, multilateral organizations and external partners to formulate the recommendations.

Project Context

Mozambique is a developing country with a population of 28.9 million (INE, Census 2017), and is expected to reach 37,2 million by 2030 (INE, 2007 Census Projections). Between 2007 and 2017, the population increased by about 35% (20.6 million in 2007), the rural population reduced from to 6%, the percentage of individuals between 0-14 and between 15-40 years old remained 47% and 38%, respectively. Currently, 53% of the population is under 18 years old. Despite the burden of a rapidly growing population, Mozambique has made some progress in health and development in recent years, largely due to strong public health programs, with focus on health promotion, disease prevention and control of the major endemic diseases ( Malaria, TB and HIV- AIDS), and communicable diseases. Between 2007 and 2017, life expectancy at birth increased from about 51.9 years to 53.7 years old, being 56.5 for women and 51.0 for men. The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), an indicator that assesses whether a health system is providing effective services and care for a given population, has declined slightly from 500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2007 to 452 maternal deaths in 2017. The mortality rate of children under one year made progress, decreasing from a rate of 93.6 to 67.3 deaths per thousand live births in the same period. The total fertility rate remains almost unchanged, with a rate of 5.7 births per woman in 2007 and 5.2 in 2017. These measures are progressing slowly and remain at unfavorable levels.

Project Objective

The USAID-funded Support for International Family Planning Organizations 2 (SIFPO2): Sustainable  Networks  project  is  a  five-year  initiative  implemented  by  Population  Services International (PSI). SIFPO2 works to strengthen voluntary family planning (FP) programs and other health services worldwide, with a focus on strengthening private sector channels, including social franchise networks. SIFPO2 is committed to the principles of voluntarism and informed choice in FP and reproductive health, while reaching underserved populations, particularly youth.

With SIFPO2 support, PSI/Mozambique will document and develop a more comprehensive picture of private sector activities within the health system in Mozambique. This will involve exploring and analyzing supply and demand side factors for greater engagement with private sector services and products to improve health outcomes in Mozambique. PSI/Mozambique anticipates that this research will provide potential areas for the Mozambique private health sector to contribute to MISAU and USAID/Mozambique strategic objectives. Ideally, this work will produce an initial road map to harness private sector potential in a select number of strategic health areas to be determined between PSI/Mozambique, USAID/Mozambique, MISAU, and other local stakeholders.

The primary objectives of the proposed activity are:

• Recommend and prioritize potential synergies/complementarity between the private sector and the national health system;
• Provide actionable recommendations to USAID/Mozambique, MISAU, and other stakeholders on how to strengthen future engagement on primary health care and FP objectives.

In parallel, PSI has commissioned a research partner to conduct an exhaustive supply and demand side landscaping with the objectives:

• Map local private sector actors, confirming whether/how they provide FP services;
• Identify supply and demand side opportunities and constraints The results will inform the consultants.

Sound like you? Read on.

Your contribution

• Deliver a detailed work-plan for the stakeholder engagement, prioritization and recommendation definition phase;
• Co-design the consultation and engagement process with MISAU, USAID, multilateral partners, bilateral donors, private sector actors and NGO partners;
• Co-design and lead/facilitate stakeholder workshops with various stakeholders;
• to facilitate a common understanding of the private sector health market assessment;
• Build consensus to prioritize private sector market strengthening opportunities, as well as, deliver recommendations about who (government, manufacturer, importer, distributor, clinic, pharmacy, financial institutions, NGOs, etc..) has the capacity to finance and implement the activities;
• Use primary data collected as well as the private sector market assessment to develop a set of recommendations for a national health market private sector strategy, along with anticipated impacts on the local health market;
• Provide evidence/examples of how interventions have helped strengthen markets in similar country context or address similar market failures.

What are we looking for?

The consultant should have strong quantitative, qualitative and analytical abilities with a passion for the private sector’s potential to strengthen national health markets. We’d like to see someone with experience leading similar engagements in comparable markets. Demonstrated ability to engage with a diverse team, while delivering well thought though, detailed recommendations. A strong communicator, verbally, in writing and visually, that can simplify complex ideas into compelling summaries.

Minimum Requirements for Recruited Consultant:

• 15 years experience engaged with public health policy/programming, preferably with a strong integration of private and public sector markets;
• Must have documented experience in synthesizing quantitative and qualitative research;
• Ability to translate from Portuguese to English and back to Portuguese (both written and orally);

Deliverables

Report (word and ppt) prioritizing recommendations on how Mozambique can shape the national health market to optimize the contribution of the private sector to increase access to quality PHC and SRH services. Recommendations should be SMART.

Timeline:

Work is expected to start 1 August and be completed by 31 September. The exact start and end date are dependent on the approval of the research protocol.