Consultant: Capacity Building Specialist – BARMM (Filipino Nationals Only)

Title: Empowering Municipalities through Participation, Organized, Well-Developed Educational Resources in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)

Duration: 12 months

Purpose:

Action Against Hunger and Integrated Resource Development for Tri-People (IRDT) are collaborating as a consortium to implement this project, combining their technical expertise and established partnerships with local authorities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The project’s objectives align with both organizations’ missions: ending hunger, addressing malnutrition, strengthening leadership, and fostering community ownership.

The consortium is committed to implementing Republic Act 11148 (An Act Scaling Up the National and Local Health and Nutrition Programs Through a Strengthened Integrated Strategy for Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition in The First One Thousand (1,000) Days of Life, Appropriating Funds Therefor and For Other Purposes).

The project seeks to strengthen the local health and nutrition system through a multi-stakeholder approach focused on evidence-based interventions and capacity-building initiatives. Targeted efforts will support Local Chief Executives (LCEs), Local Nutrition Councils (LNCs), and Islamic leaders, with particular emphasis on promoting leadership, community engagement, and interventions tailored to the needs of pregnant women, newborns, and young children. Implementation will extend from the municipal to the barangay level.

Background

Operating in the BARMM region since 2000, Action Against Hunger’s key objectives are: 1) saving lives, 2) promoting capabilities, and 3) transforming systems. Through a multisectoral approach, Action Against Hunger implements nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions across emergency and development contexts, collaborating closely with government institutions, donor agencies, technical working groups, private sector partners, NGOs, and civil society organizations to enhance nutrition outcomes. Capacity building remains central to Action Against Hunger’s programming, particularly in governance and health service delivery. From 2018-2023, Action Against Hunger’s health and nutrition programs reached 239,916 individuals in the Philippines. Action Against Hunger currently has two ongoing health and nutrition projects in the BARMM region, focusing on training Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) to deliver essential primary health care and working under an MoU with the BARMM Ministry of Health.

Together, Action Against Hunger and IRDT bring complementary expertise essential for the success of this project. The project employs a structured, systemic approach, beginning with a comprehensive assessment of the existing municipal health system. This is followed by targeted training in leadership, service delivery enhancement, and behavioral change communication. The capacity-building efforts aim to empower health and nutrition leaders at every level, from Local Chief Executives (LCEs) to barangay health workers (BHWs), supporting informed decision-making that fosters sustainable community efforts to improve the health and nutrition system in BARMM. Post-training coaching and mentoring will ensure reliable service delivery and sustained project outcomes.

SCOPE OF WORK

The consultant (Training / Capacity Building Specialist) will work closely with the Team Leader.

They will be responsible for:

1. Design and facilitate participatory action research activities (Family Behavior on Pregnancy and the First 1,000 Days of Newborn).
2. Analyze research findings and develop training materials based on the data collected.
3. Plan and conduct workshops to develop effective communication strategies for behavioral change.
4. Collaborate with municipal stakeholders to ensure the relevance and applicability of communication materials.
5. Develop and deliver training programs to enhance the capacity of municipal health workers from forty (40) municipalities on nutrition and primary health care.
6. Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of capacity-building initiatives
7. Conduct follow-up visits and technical training sessions to reinforce learning.
8. Provide ongoing support and mentorship to ensure successful implementation of training outcomes.
9. Facilitate quarterly participatory assessments and action planning sessions on the implementation of RPAN.
10. Assist in the development of action plans based on the assessment findings.
11. Train local staff on how to update and interpret the data on scoreboards
12. Review and update data quality control guidelines and materials for Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health.
13. Develop and deliver training sessions on the updated guidelines and materials.
14. Create comprehensive Learning and Development Intervention (LDI) materials, including modules on data quality control system usage.
15. Ensure that the materials are user-friendly and tailored to the needs of the target audience.
16. Implement the Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI) Framework
17. Conduct training sessions to familiarize stakeholders with the MELLPI framework and its application
18. Provide mentoring and coaching to Local Chief Executives (LCEs), and Local Nutrition Committees (LNCs) to enhance their leadership and governance skills
19. Support the development and implementation of local nutrition action plans and initiatives.
20. Other tasks assigned by his/her supervisor to achieve the goals and objectives of the project.

COORDINATION

1. Coordinate with the Team Leader and Health & Nutrition Coordinator the schedule of planned activities.
2. Coordinate with the Head of Project on security and agenda.
3. Coordinate with all stakeholders of the project.

TIMELINE OF ENGAGEMENT

Total consultancy days: at least 20 working days/month for one (1) year. Either consecutive or intermittent, depending on the work plan agreed upon between Action Against Hunger and the Consultant.

OBLIGATION OF ACTION AGAINST HUNGER

Action Against Hunger will provide:

• Relevant documents, primer, code of conduct, PSEA, security in the field relevant program documents.
• The Consultant will be integrated as part of the project implementation team.
• Basic logistic support (area-to-area field visits/activities).
• Technical and operational oversight.
• Payment of the consultant upon successful completion and submission of agreed outputs.

KEY COMPETENCY OF CONSULTANT

The Consultant (Training / Capacity Building Specialist) has preferably the following key competencies:

• University degree in nutrition, medicine, public health, epidemiology, statistics, information systems, or other related fields
• At least 8 years of experience in nutrition, public health, including child health programming and implementation.
• At least 8 years of experience in designing and conducting capacity building activities including trainings and post-training support on health and nutrition programmes at national and sub-national levels in Philippines.
• Work experience in conducting trainings and data quality checks of administrative data sources such as FHSIS, and OPT Plus
• Work experience with BARMM MOH / NNC or other BARMM government agencies at national and sub-national levels, particularly at municipal level.
• Work experience in conducting trainings specific to nutrition leadership and governance.
• Work experience on competency-based approaches in development of Learning and Development Interventions for nutrition leadership and governance.

CONDITIONS

• The consultant will provide his/her food and accommodation.
• The consultant shall provide all equipment needed for the conduct of the consultancy such as laptops, and mobile phones.
• All outputs must comply with Action Against Hunger Branding and Visibility Guidelines, and policies on Data Protection, Child Protection, Safeguarding, Gender, and other related policies.
• The Facilitator should be available to work on weekends if needed.

Payment Terms are as follows:

The Consultant (Training / Capacity Building Specialist) shall bill Action Against Hunger monthly with their corresponding reportorial for the month. A monthly payment shall be made upon review and validation of the Team Leader, Head of Base, and H&N Coordinator.

How to apply

Consultants are requested to submit their CV with letter of intent indicating your date of availability and daily rate, and portfolio/sample works on or before 23 MARCH 2025. Application should be sent to Anthony Abustan at aabustan@ph.acfspain and Junie Laguidao at jlaguidao@ph.acfspain.org keep in cc Philipp Danao at pdanao@ph.acfspain.organd Muntazar Mukarram at mmmukarram@ph.acfspain.org . Kindly use “Consultant: Capacity Building Specialist” as the subject of email.

Action Against Hunger provides equal opportunities to candidates regardless of their origin, nationality, race, gender, regional, and sexual orientation. This vision aims to integrate equal treatment and opportunities among females and men in all processes and policies within the organization.

Action against Hunger is also committed to preventing any type of unwanted behavior at work such as but not limited to sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and/or financial misconduct; We expect all staff, consultants, service contractors and volunteers to share this commitment through endorsing our code of conduct and other related policies and only those who share our values and code of conduct will be recruited to work for us.