Background :
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE, Office International des Epizooties) is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide. It is recognised as a reference organisation by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in 2018 counted a total of 182 Member Countries.
The OIE maintains permanent relations with nearly 75 other international and regional organisations and has Regional and Sub-regional Representations on every continent, of which 4 in Africa: Bamako, Mali; Gaborone, Botswana; Tunis, Tunisia and Nairobi, Kenya.
About The OIE andthe European Union Funding :
The OIE has a long-standing relationship with the European Union, mainly though the European Commission instruments DG-SANTE and DG-DEVCO, as well as the European Parliament (ACP Secretariat), which dates back several decades. The current project has been funded by the Parliament and implementation/coordination entrusted to the Commission, through the European External Action Services (EEAS), more specifically the EU Delegation in Nairobi. The Project under review is implemented under direct management by the Commission, i.e. applying EU financial rules and regulations.
The Project under review was approved as the result of two annual grants by the European Parliament, one in 2013 and one in 2014, for the strengthening of Veterinary Services and for the piloting of rabies elimination strategies, respectively.
Both grants were merged into one financing agreement in 2015, aimed at combining the two Project outcomes and at the same time extending the scope of the ongoing Strengthening Veterinary Governance in Africa (VETGOV) Programme, which had begun in 2012 and ended in July 2017. This European Development Fund (EDF) Programme was implemented through three distinct Contribution Agreements (CA) with the OIE, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR). As a result, both the Project under review and the VETGOV Programme are inextricably linked and overlapped in implementation (as far as the OIE is concerned) for 18 months, between January 2016 and July 2017).
About the SVSDC Project :
The Strengthening Veterinary Services in Developing Countries (SVSDC) Project is a 4-year project funded by the European Union, through the European Parliament and the European Commission, aimed at building better African Veterinary Services that deliver effective governance, health safety, food security and food safety for their citizens.
This Project specifically addresses the compliance of African Veterinary Services with the standards on the quality of Veterinary Services of the OIE.
The project consists of two components:
- Veterinary Services that deliver effective governance, health safety, food security and food safety for their citizens are improved ;
- African countries wishing to embark on rabies control and elimination programmes with relevant tools and technical assistance are supported and aims to achieve 5 outputs :
- Output 1.1: The legislative framework of African Veterinary Services is enhanced
- Output 1.2: National Veterinary Services have been gradually brought up to the standards of the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health), through the implementation of OIE PVS Pathway missions and of their recommendations.
- • Output 1.3: A PVS-based tool has been developed to enable Regional Economic Communities (REC) to exploit data from national PVS Pathway missions conducted in their Member States to develop regional investment plans and monitor progress in the compliance with OIE standards and guidelines
- Output 2.1: The implementation of the National Strategic Plan to eliminate human rabies in Kenya is being supported, in collaboration with relevant partners.
- Output 2.2: An OIE Regional Vaccine Bank for canine rabies in Africa has been established and provides technical expertise for the development and implementation of regional strategies.
The Project is therefore continental in scope as PVS Pathway missions and the Rabies Vaccine Bank benefit all African OIE Member States (MS), but with specific regional (North Africa) and national (Kenya) actions being undertaken in respect of rabies elimination.
The Project’s Financing Agreement was signed on 24 December 2015 and will end on the 23 December 2019. Initially budgeted for 36 months (three years) it was last year extended (at no additional cost) for another twelve months.
The budget stands at a total of EUR 3.5 million, of which 2.0 million is for the first component and 1.5 million for the second component, dealing with rabies. The project is 100% funded by the European Union, without (costed) counter-part contribution from either OIE or Member States.
Given the genesis of the Project as an extension of, and alignment to, the VETGOV Programme, no dedicated steering committee mechanism had been anticipated in the project document (Action Document) and hitherto SVSDC Project management has reported to the Project Steering Committee Meeting (PSCM) of the VETGOV Programme, that is, until its completion in July 2017.
More information : http://www.rr-africa.oie.int/svs.html
Duties and responsabilities :
Objectives of the assignment and scope of work :
As the SVSDC Project nears completion, and as per recommendations 9 and 10 of the Results-Oriented Monitoring (ROM) mission, conducted in October 2018, the OIE wishes to organise a formal one-day closing meeting of the SVSDC Project, during which a final report will be presented and the outcomes of the project – in particular with attention for “lessons learned” and a view to the future – will be discussed with relevant stakeholders, i.e. international technical agencies, regional technical agencies, regional economic communities and a selection of national stakeholders.
www.rr-africa.oie.int/docspdf/en/2019/C-355986_Consolidated_ROM Report_20190130.pdf
The current assignment aims to deliver this final report (and its derivatives) by 1 November 2019 in order to be widely disseminated, and presented at the above meeting before the Project comes to a close on 23 December 2019. The provisional date for the closing meeting is 4 December 2019.
The objective of this assignment is to produce a reader-friendly, engaging and visually appealing account of the best outputs and outcomes the Project has produced since 2015, using a mixture of facts and references to the delivery of the work plan (and activities) as well as simple statistics, side-stories, anecdotes and personal views (testimonies) from beneficiaries and stakeholders on the achievements of the Project, but more importantly: on the underlying challenges of “strengthening Veterinary Services in developing countries”, specifically in Africa, and the piloting of “rabies elimination mechanisms” in various settings, using various tools, in Africa.
In pursuit of these objectives and results, the Consultant(s) shall :
- Familiarise him/herself/themselves with the technical issues covered by this Project, and with the respective roles and mandates of the OIE and the EU, and all other relevant stakeholders, in particular the European Union (EU), the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) ;
- Analyse and determine key audiences (including media and the public) and suitable communication instruments/conduits (such as press releases, reports, story-telling, interviews) in close cooperation with the OIE ;
- Ensure the collection or generation of video and/or photographic materials to be used in the final report and its (online) derivatives ;
- Guide and coordinate the process of developing “Lessons Learned”, especially with regard to the contributions of the interviewees (and the photographer, where applicable) ;
- Interviews with individual persons need their consent before they can be used for OIE or EU publication purposes (written consent if requested). Photo- and/or film material utilised for the publication either needs to be the legal property of OIE or the copy right needs to be available in writing for the specific form of use ;
- Manage the publication process until the final products are available.
The visibility of the implementing agency, the OIE, will have to be appropriately ensured, in accordance with the Organisation’s 2013 corporate identity guidelines :
www.rr-africa.oie.int/docspdf/en/2013/Visual_identity_OIE.pdf
The visibility of the donor, the European Union, will have to be appropriately ensured, in accordance with the bloc’s 2018 Communication and Visibility Requirements for EU External Actions : https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/node/17974
Expected outputs and deliverables :
The assignment should be concluded and deliverables surrendered latest by 31 October 2019 to the OIE Representation in Nairobi (srr.eastern-africa@oie.int), with copy to p.bastiaensen@oie.int and l.greve@oie.int.
The consultant should ensure the delivery of the following outputs :
- A final report of the SVSDC Project (maximum of 30 pages, including all infographics, tables, maps and photographic materials) ;
- Executive summary (1,000 to 1,500 words, text only) ;
- Article for a broader non-technical audience (for web publication purposes) 600 – 800 words ;
- Power-point presentation (20 – 30 slides), using the OIE template ;
- The language and spelling/grammar of all output materials is UK/English .
All documents are to be submitted electronically, in Word format, Power-Point format and/or Acrobat Reader format (pdf) as appropriate. Maps are submitted in high resolution format as separate jp(e)g or png files.
Copyright and usage :
The OIE will have the full copyright for the raw material as well as for the final documentation. None of the reports, documents and related supports may be used in other publications, whether paper-based or electronic, without the prior and written approval of the OIE Director General.
Work arrangements :
Organisation of the work :
This is a field- and home-based assignment expected to require a total of 45 man-days, whereby there is freedom to conduct this study as an individual, or as a team, but with a minimum of 15 actual days.
All necessary support and documentation will be provided to the Consultant(s) by the OIE Representation in Nairobi (srr.eastern-africa@oie.int)
The Consultant(s) is/are not authorised to contact OIE Delegates or any other Member Country representatives directly. All introductions and appointments are to be made through the OIE Representatives in Nairobi, Tunis and/or Gaborone. Only after an initial introduction may the Consultant(s) fine-tune itineraries and appointments.
Table 1. Proposed work plan and itinerary :
Man-days Day Date Month Itinerary
- 1 Sunday 22 September Flight : home Nairobi
- 2 Monday 23 September Nairobi
- 3 Tuesday 24 September (OIE regional office) Nairobi
- 4 Wednesday 25 September (OIE regional office) Nairobi
- 5 Thursday 26 September Nairobi
- 6 Friday 27 September Nairobi
- 7 Saturday 28 September Flight : Nairobi Kisumu
- 8 Sunday 29 September Siaya
- 9 Monday 30 September Flight : Kisumu Nairobi
- 10 Tuesday 1 October Drive : Nairobi Machakos
- 11 Wednesday 2 October Flight : Nairobi Pretoria
- 12 Thursday 3 October Pretoria
- 13 Friday 4 October Pretoria
- 14 Saturday 5 October Flight : Pretoria Paris
- 15 Sunday 6 October Paris
- 16 Monday 7 October (OIE head office) Paris
- 17 Tuesday 8 October (OIE head office) Paris
- 18 Wednesday 9 October Flight : Paris Tunis
- 19 Thursday 10 October (OIE regional office) Tunis
- 20 Friday 11 October (OIE regional office) Tunis
- 21 Saturday 12 October Flight : Tunis Paris
- 22 Sunday 13 October Flight : Paris Nairobi
- 23 Monday 14 October Nairobi
- 24 Tuesday 15 October (OIE regional office) Nairobi
- 25 Wednesday 16 October (OIE regional office) Nairobi
- 26 Thursday 17 October Flight : Nairobi home
- 27 Friday 18 October home
- 28 Saturday 19 October home
- 29 Sunday 20 October home
- 30 Monday 21 October home
- 31 Tuesday 22 October home
- 32 Wednesday 23 October home
- 33 Thursday 24 October home
- 34 Friday 25 October home
- 35 Saturday 26 October home
- 36 Sunday 27 October home
- 37 Monday 28 October home
- 38 Tuesday 29 October home
- 39 Wednesday 30 October home
- 40 Thursday 31 October home
- 41 Friday 1 November home
- 42 Monday 2 December Flight : home Nairobi
- 43 Tuesday 3 December (OIE regional office) Nairobi
- 44 Wednesday 4 December (closing meeting) Nairobi
- 45 Thursday 5 December Flight : Nairobi home
Payment schedule :
- Thirty percent (30%) of the total price will be paid upon the signature of the contract ;
- Thirty percent (30%) of the total price will be paid after receipt of a mid-study progress report ;
- The balance payment will be issued upon reception and validation of the final deliverables (report, executive summary, article, and presentation) by the OIE.
Structure of the response :
- Interested applicant(s) are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) including the following :
- Maximum 4-page CV with information on related experience (for each of the candidates, if joint submission) ;
- Maximum 4-page ‘Expression of Interest’ that provides information on the proposed methodology for carrying out the study ;
- Two (2) work samples of peer reviewed related work ;
- Contact details of 3 academic/professional referees .
- ted. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday, 23 August 2019 and given further guidelines
Qualifications and experience :
Eligibility criteria (either united in one candidate or provided by several proposed team members, as applicable) are as follows :
- Academic degree in a relevant field of expertise ;
- At least 10 years proven experience as a writer and editor for different publication formats in international development ;
- At least 10 years of experience in writing about international animal and/or public health-related topics, including zoonotic diseases such as rabies ;
- Work experience in the African context is a must ;
- Familiarity with different lessons-learned formats ;
- Profound experience in managing publication processes up to the final products ;
- Experience in writing terms for assignments and/or tenders with regard to design and printing ;
- Familiarity with OIE’s publication and corporate image requirements ;
- Familiarity with the Communication and Visibility Requirements for EU External Actions ;
- Work experience with OIE is an asset ;
- Prior exposure to the PVS Pathway methodology is regarded as a strength, but is not essential ;
- Proficiency in English (oral and written English) ;
- Command of French and Spanish/Portuguese (by one or more of the proposed candidates) is regarded as a strength, but is not essential ;
- Excellent software skills (MS Office) ;
- Strong social competence, cultural sensitivity and excellent communication skills.
Conditions :
- Type of contract : International short – term consultancy
- Location : Nairobi, Pretoria, Paris, Tunis, home-based
- Starting date : September 22nd, 2019
- Expected working days : 45 man-days (no less than 15 days)
- Expected duration : From September 22nd – December 5th, 2019
- Application deadline : August 9th, 2019
Response procedure :
The OIE places high value on a multicultural and positive work environment and seeks gender and geographical balance in its international consultants. The OIE welcomes applications of all qualified candidates, irrespective of their ethnic origin, gender, opinions or beliefs.
If you are interested in the assignment, please complete your application online by 9 August 2019 at the latest by clicking on the following link : https://urlz.fr/aebe
Should you have any questions, please contact the OIE Regional Representation in Nairobi (srr.eastern-africa@oie.int).
Note that all financial proposals should include all domestic and international ground transportation and flights, accommodation / daily subsistence expenses (meals) and the expected terminal expenses (visas, taxis, excess luggage, internet vouchers, cell phone credit, etc) whilst in France, Kenya, South Africa, Tunisia.
Proposed consultant(s) should be readily eligible for Schengen visas, on short notice.
In the first phase, short listed candidates/teams will be invited to make a (video-link) presentation on their EOI’s after which a final screening will be conducted. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday, 23 August 2019 and given further guidelines.
