International consultancy to lead a comprehensive assessment of quality improvement initiatives in perinatal healthcare in Tajikistan, Dushanbe,107 w/ds

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For every child, the right to health, 

Tajikistan has implemented maternal and newborn healthcare initiatives over the last decades through partnerships with WHO, UNICEF and other partners. As a result, a significant reduction in maternal and newborn mortality was reached. Despite that, sustainable quality of care improvements has not strongly aligned with the modest neonatal and maternal mortality reduction trend seen over time, including a seeming stagnation when compared with the rest of Europe and Central Asia region. 

To address inequalities within the country and fragmented information on the quality of care for mothers and newborns, the evidence emerging from the assessment will be instrumental in informing the country’s strategic approach to quality-of-care needs at both national and sub-national levels.  The planned assessment will further interrogate the progress in the country with a focus not only on outcomes and impact but also on looking specifically at process, key success and failure factors, system bottlenecks, and exploring where and what types of practical solutions to those bottlenecks have been implemented by national authorities and why they were or were not successful. Therefore, the assessment will be critical for identifying good practices and sharing experiences on what worked to inform the following stages of strengthening the quality of perinatal programmes. In addition, modelling the assessment in Tajikistan will enable the development of methodology and tools to identify systemic bottlenecks and the root causes of sustainability challenges in reducing perinatal mortality. New tools and methodology will be utilized in countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the overall oversight of the Chief of Section and direct supervision of the Health Specialist, the consultant will work closely with national consultants, the Steering Committee (SC), the MoHSPP’s Maternal and Child Health department and UNICEF/WHO regional offices. The consultant will be the primary technical liaison between UNICEF, WHO, MoHSPP and other development and local partners involved in perinatal healthcare in Tajikistan.  

The WHO framework for the quality of maternal and newborn health care is presented below to inform the development of the assessment approach and conceptual understanding. This will need to be complemented with bottlenecks and root cause analysis to understand the systemic factors that contribute to success or failure in sustaining gains. 

 

Work assignment: Tasks/Milestone: Deliverables/Outputs: Anticipated Timeline/% of payment:

1.Submission of inception report.

Del. 1: The inception report with the retrospective analysis, contextual description, and a detailed methodology and tools of the assessment. In addition, IR should describe quality assurance strategies for managing data gaps or data reliability issues, and include ethical considerations related to primary data generation and use, in line with UN guidelines; 40 w/ds (March – May 2026); 30 % payment.

2.Conduct bottleneck and root cause analysis jointly with a national consultant (in-country), including field visits to healthcare facilities and communities of at least four regions (Dushanbe, Khatlon, Sughd, GBAO).

Del. 2. Report on the country visit, with detailed information on visited facilities, communities, and the # of interviews and focus groups; 30 w/ds (25 w/ds- country visit, 5 w/ds-remote work; June–July 2026; 20 % payment. 

3.Final assessment report with targeted activities, interventions, or strategies aimed at addressing the identified root causes. 

Del. 3.  Final report including the activities, interventions, or strategies to address the identified root causes is submitted to UNICEF and SC. Policy brief for key decision-makers, 30 w/ds, Sep.2026; 40 % of the total cost. 

4.Co-facilitation of country-level meeting to present results and make commitments (in-country). 

Del. 4. Presentation of the assessment report with targeted strategies to address identified root causes.  Presentation of the assessment methodology and tools, with recommendations on utilization by other countries in the region; 7 w/ds (4 w/ds- remote work; 3 w/ds-country visit), Sept.–Oct. 2026; 10 % of the total cost. 

Total:107 w/days

Travel (international) involved:

Two trips to Tajikistan for 32 w/ds are planned. 

Per Diem/DSA: approximately 32 w/ds

Travel Local: Within the visit, approximately one trip to three regions for at least 20 days is planned (travel cost will be done as per the agreed Travel Plan).

If you would like to know more details about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  TOR IP conslt Perinatal assessment for advert.docx

References:

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7750018

[2] https://qualityhealthservices.who.int/quality-toolkit/qt-catalog-item/hospital-care-for-mothers-and-newborn-babies-quality-assessment-and-improvement-tool

[3] https://qualityhealthservices.who.int/quality-toolkit/qt-catalog-item/hospital-care-for-children-quality-assessment-and-improvement-tool-a-systematic-standard-based-participatory-approach

[4] Assessment report “Quality of perinatal care with focus on the neonatal service in selected maternity facilities of the Republic of Tajikistan”. March 2024. UNICEF & MoHSP (unpublished report).

[5] https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/mca-documents/qoc/quality-of-care/standards-for-improving-quality-of-maternal-and-newborn-care-in-health-facilities_1a22426e-fdd0-42b4-95b2-4b5b9c590d76.pdf?sfvrsn=3b364d8_4

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

Minimum requirements:

Education: Advanced university degree in health, Public Health or another relevant field. PhD is an advantage.  

Work Experience: 

-At least 10 years of strong international experience in assessment/evaluation of health programs with including maternal, newborn and child healthcare. 

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

• Profile (CV, Cover letter)
• Technical proposal describing approach/methodology to achieve the tasks of the ToR, workplan with concrete timeframes
• At least 2 papers / concept notes previously developed by the candidate or when candidate provided substantial inputs to the documents
• Financial proposal in USD-all inclusive, indicting breakdown of fee per day and cost of the travel   Annex 3.docx
• Contacts of three referees (recent direct supervisors) 
• Applications without technical and financial proposals will not be considered.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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